Week of Sept. 30, 2024 Late Night Ratings

Note: LateNighter generally posts late night weekly live-plus-three ratings on a three (business) day delay, which is how they are released by Nielsen.

Many late-night shows saw a drop-off in viewership during the week beginning September 30. Nevertheless, CBS’ The Late Show with Stephen Colbert remained the most-watched show at 11:35 p.m. for the second consecutive week, and also managed to sneak past ABC’s Jimmy Kimmel Live! in the key P18-49 demographic.

The Late Show averaged 2,279,000 total viewers with 262,000 P18-49 for the week of Sept. 30, per Nielsen live-plus-three-day data. That’s down -3% in total viewers but up +1% among P18-49 from broadcast TV premiere week (Sept. 23-27). The year-over-year trend wasn’t quite as positive for Colbert, as the program fell by -7% in total viewers and -5% among P18-49 from the year-ago week (Oct. 2-6, 2023).

With a lift from the Sept. 30 edition of Monday Night Football on ABC, Jimmy Kimmel Live! remained ahead of its NBC timeslot counterpart this past week, both in total viewers and among P18-49. Kimmel averaged 1,890,000 total viewers with 258,000 for the week. That’s up +1% in total viewers, but down -7% among P18-49 from the week before. Kimmel also saw year-over-year growth in total viewers (+5%), but shed P18-49 (-7%).

Third at 11:35 p.m., NBC’s The Tonight Show Starring Jimmy Fallon averaged 1,239,000 total viewers with 194,000 P18-49 for the week beginning Sept. 30. That’s down -8% in total viewers and -11% among P18-49 from the week prior. Fallon also shed -13% in total viewers and -15% among P18-49 from the year-ago week.

Following Kimmel, ABC’s late night news program Nightline averaged 981,000 total viewers with 145,000 P18-49 for the week of Sept. 30, per Nielsen live-plus-same-day data. That’s down -3% in total viewers and -18% among P18-49 from the week prior; down -6% and -23%, respectively, from the year-ago week.

After The Tonight Show, NBC’s Late Night with Seth Meyers averaged 947,000 total viewers with 147,000 P18-49 for the week of Sept. 30. That’s down -2% in total viewers, but up +5% among P18-49 from the previous week; -1% and -14%, respectively, from the year-ago week. Meyers’ week of Sept. 30 Nielsen ratings averages are based on data from four new episodes (Monday-Thursday) and a Friday rebroadcast. This was also true for the week prior.

After The Late Show, CBS’ After Midnight averaged 617,000 total viewers with 129,000 P18-49 for the week of Sept. 30. That’s down -10% and -4%, respectively, from the week prior. Week of of Sept. 30 Nielsen ratings averages for the Taylor Tomlinson-led program are based on data from four new episodes (Monday-Thursday) and a Friday rebroadcast; same as the week prior.

Finally, The Daily Show aired four new episodes (Jon Stewart on Monday, Michael Kosta on Tuesday through Thursday) for the week of Sept. 30. The program averaged 960,000 total viewers with 188,000 P18-49. That’s up +2% in total viewers and a solid +21% among P18-49 from the week prior.

The week’s complete ratings charts follow below.

Weekly live+3 ratings (Viewers 2+)

Weekly live+3 ratings (P18-49 Demo)

Ratings Data © The Nielsen Company, used under license.