The Numbers Don’t Lie — Stephen Colbert Just Dominated Late-Night TV in Q3 2025.QT

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

As the third quarter of 2025 came to a close, the late-night hierarchy held steady—with CBS’s The Late Show with Stephen Colbert once again leading the 11:35 PM hour in total viewers, and NBC’s Late Night with Seth Meyers continuing its dominance in the 12:37 AM slot across both ratings metrics.

Q3 is traditionally a softer period for late-night television, reflecting both seasonal viewing habits—fewer people watching live late at night—and prime-time programming slowdowns as networks rely more on repeats.

Against that backdrop, CBS’s Late Show not only held steady but posted growth, averaging 2.84 million total viewers across 31 first-run episodes, up 17 percent from Q2. The surge followed CBS’s mid-July announcement that it was canceling the long-running franchise, prompting a wave of curiosity and renewed loyalty from viewers tuning in ahead of the show’s final season. In the key 18–49 demographic, Colbert averaged 260,000 viewers, up 19 percent quarter to quarter—its best showing since mid-2023 and enough to comfortably maintain its lead over broadcast rivals.

ABC’s Jimmy Kimmel Live! averaged 1.85 million viewers and 243,000 in the demo, showing modest overall growth but a clear late-quarter boost following Kimmel’s late-September return from suspension. NBC’s Tonight Show Starring Jimmy Fallon also ticked up slightly to 1.23 million viewers and 170,000 in the demo, maintaining third place in both categories.

At 12:37 AM, NBC’s Late Night with Seth Meyers once again led the late-late landscape, averaging 923,000 total viewers and 109,000 in the demo. ABC’s Nightline followed with 745,000 viewers and 96,000 in the demo, declining by 8 percent and 11 percent, respectively.

Fox News’s Gutfeld!, which airs at 10:00 PM ET / 7:00 PM PT, drew an average of 3.20 million viewers and 231,000 in the demo, down slightly from Q2. Bravo’s Watch What Happens Live with Andy Cohen averaged 286,000 total viewers and 62,000 in the demo, down 17 percent and 35 percent, while Comedy Central’s The Daily Show held steady with 1.01 million total viewers and 207,000 in the demo at 11 PM, up 9 percent.

Across all shows tracked by LateNighter, aggregate late-night linear viewership was essentially flat quarter over quarter in total viewers but up slightly—around 3 percent—among adults 18–49, thanks primarily to gains from Colbert and Kimmel.

Complete ratings charts for Q3 2025 follow below.

Note: Quarterly ratings averages include only first-run episodes (rebroadcasts and specials are excluded). Time period listed is most common airtime for show.

Live+7 Ratings – All Viewers (P2+)

† = airs at 7pm PT, * = 30-minute program

Live+7 Ratings – In the Demo (P18-49)

† = airs at 7pm PT, * = 30-minute program

Ratings data © The Nielsen Company, used under license.