Weekly Ratings: Kimmel’s Return Lifts Jimmy Kimmel Live! 59%

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Late night came back to life last week after an end-of-summer lull, with Jimmy Kimmel Live!, The Tonight Show, and The Daily Show all returning to first-run episodes after Labor Day.

Jimmy Kimmel Live! rebounded sharply, averaging 2.171 million total viewers for the week of Sept. 6, up 59 percent from the previous week’s all-repeat slate. The show also climbed 36 percent among adults 18–49 to 232,000, leading the 11:35 p.m. hour in both measures.

Jimmy Kimmel himself returned Tuesday after a two-month summer break, with each of his three first-run episodes drawing more than 2.5 million total viewers. Those originals were bookended by repeats on Monday and Friday.

NBC’s The Tonight Show Starring Jimmy Fallon also rebounded after two weeks of repeats, averaging 1.311 million total viewers, up 18 percent, and 216,000 adults 18–49, up 74 percent week over week.

Fallon got an especially large boost Wednesday night, when Tonight aired nearly an hour later than usual following NBC’s NFL kickoff game. That episode, as we’ve reported, was the show’s highest-rated in six months.

The late-running football telecast also lifted the NBC repeat of Late Night with Seth Meyers that followed. Despite airing repeats all week, Late Night averaged 705,000 total viewers, up 16 percent week to week, while nearly doubling its adults 18–49 audience to 117,000, a 94 percent increase.

Over on CBS, it was a down week for Byron Allen’s all-repeat block. Across its full hour, Comics Unleashed averaged approximately 570,000 total viewers and 69,000 adults 18–49, down about 12 percent and 23 percent, respectively, from the previous week.

Funny You Should Ask averaged approximately 400,000 total viewers across its hour and 46,000 adults 18–49, down about 11 percent and 28 percent, respectively.

The Daily Show returned from its five-week summer break with three first-run episodes, averaging 937,000 total viewers and 140,000 adults 18–49. With Monday dark for Labor Day, Jon Stewart shifted from his usual Monday perch to host a rare Tuesday edition, which itself drew 1.2 million total viewers and 171,000 in the demo.

No week-over-week comparison is available for The Daily Show, since Comedy Central aired alternate programming in its time slot the previous week.

ABC’s Nightline averaged 879,000 total viewers across five first-run episodes, up 4 percent, and 114,000 adults 18–49, up 2 percent.

Fox News’ Gutfeld! aired three first-run episodes and was preempted Wednesday and Thursday. It averaged 2.126 million total viewers, down 11 percent from the previous week, and 142,000 adults 18–49, down 16 percent.

Bravo’s Watch What Happens Live also returned from two weeks off with three first-run episodes, averaging 370,000 total viewers and 113,000 adults 18–49. Like The Daily Show, it has no week-over-week comparison because Bravo aired alternate programming in its time slot the week before.

A reminder that linear ratings represent only one slice of the viewing audience, with additional viewing taking place on streaming services, YouTube, and other social media platforms.

Complete Nielsen Live+3 ratings for the week of Sept. 6–12, 2026, follow below.

Live+3 Ratings — All Viewers (P2+)

Live+3 Ratings — In the Demo (P18-49)

Ratings data © The Nielsen Company, used under license.