The era of falling asleep to the hum of a network monologue is officially on life support. Honestly, if you look at the 2025 data, it’s not just a slow decline anymore; it’s a full-on structural collapse of the traditional 11:35 PM habit. We used to talk about the "Late Night Wars" like they were heavyweight title fights. Now? It feels more like watching a few remaining giants try to stay upright while the floor turns into a treadmill moving in the opposite direction.
Nielsen numbers from the past year tell a pretty grim story for the big three. While the total late-night ecosystem stayed somewhat flat at around 13 million viewers, the way that pie is sliced has changed forever. The "demo"—that 18–49 age group advertisers crave—dropped by a staggering 17% in just twelve months.
The Late Night TV Talk Show Ratings Reality Check
If you still think Stephen Colbert is the undisputed king of the hill, you've only got half the picture. Yes, The Late Show technically finished 2025 with the largest total audience, averaging about 2.54 million viewers. But there’s a massive asterisk next to that trophy. Colbert’s show is actually set to end its historic run in May 2026, and the "victory" feels more like a legacy lap.
The real shocker of the year? Jimmy Kimmel. Against all odds, Jimmy Kimmel Live! was the only network show at 11:35 PM to actually grow its audience in 2025. He was up 14% in total viewers and managed a rare 4% bump in the demo.
Why is Kimmel surging while Fallon and Colbert are sliding? Part of it is the sheer volatility of the current political climate. Kimmel has leaned hard into a specific, aggressive lane of commentary that seems to be resonating with people who used to just flip the channel. Meanwhile, The Tonight Show Starring Jimmy Fallon saw its 18–49 viewership crater by 29% in some quarters. Fallon’s "fun and games" vibe, once the gold standard for viral clips, is struggling to hold onto a linear audience that wants something more substantive—or at least more opinionated.
💡 You might also like: Brother May I Have Some Oats Script: Why This Bizarre Pig Meme Refuses to Die
The Gutfeld Factor Nobody Wants to Admit
We can't talk about late night tv talk show ratings without mentioning the elephant in the room: Greg Gutfeld. Whether you love the show or can't stand it, the numbers are undeniable. Gutfeld! on Fox News basically blew the doors off the competition in 2025, growing its total audience by 21%.
It routinely pulls in over 3.3 million viewers.
Now, purists will argue that his 10 PM time slot isn't "true" late night. They’ll say he has a built-in cable news lead-in that Fallon or Colbert can only dream of. They aren't wrong. But for advertisers looking at raw eyeballs, Gutfeld is currently the most-watched man in the space. It’s a weird, partisan shift that has fundamentally broken the old "broad appeal" model of Johnny Carson.
Jon Stewart and the Social Media Mirage
Then there’s the curious case of The Daily Show. If you only looked at Twitter (or X, whatever) or YouTube, you’d think Jon Stewart was the only person on television. And in a way, he is. In 2025, The Daily Show accounted for 15 of the top 20 most-watched YouTube clips across all late-night shows. Stewart’s return to Monday nights has been a goldmine for Comedy Central, driving a 72% increase in social views.
📖 Related: Brokeback Mountain Gay Scene: What Most People Get Wrong
But here's the kicker: social views don't pay the bills the same way a 30-second TV spot does. Jimmy Kimmel recently went on the record at a conference saying that while he loves the reach of YouTube, it’s a "quite a deal" for the platform and a raw one for the networks. ABC pays for the lights, the cameras, and the writers; YouTube keeps half the ad revenue and pays nothing for the production.
The linear ratings for The Daily Show hover around 931,000 viewers. It’s a hit for cable, and it grew 16% in the demo this year, but it’s still a fraction of the reach these shows had a decade ago. We are living in a "clips-first" world where the actual broadcast is just the raw material for a TikTok feed.
The 12:37 AM Survivors
Down at the "late-late" slots, things are even more precarious. Seth Meyers is still the "quiet king" of the 12:30 hour, holding onto about 945,000 viewers. He’s survived while others have vanished. Remember After Midnight on CBS? It was canceled in 2025 after its demo numbers fell off a cliff, dropping nearly 42%.
Networks are realizing that they can't just throw anything at the wall after midnight and hope people stay tuned. If the lead-in is weak, the follow-up is doomed. ABC’s Nightline actually saw a 4% increase in total viewers, mostly because it functions as a news program in a year where people were obsessed with the headlines.
👉 See also: British TV Show in Department Store: What Most People Get Wrong
What Happens Next for Late Night?
The big takeaway from the latest late night tv talk show ratings isn't just that "TV is dying." It's that the "cultural middle" is gone. You either have to be a partisan firebrand like Gutfeld, a sharp political satirist like Stewart or Colbert, or you have to accept that your audience will mostly watch you while eating lunch the next day on their phones.
If you’re a fan of the format, don't expect things to stay the same. We’re likely heading toward a world where:
- Monologues get shorter and are designed specifically to be chopped into 90-second vertical videos.
- Networks consolidate their late-night blocks, potentially moving toward more "limited run" or weekly formats rather than the five-night-a-week grind.
- Streaming deals become the primary metric. NBC is already pushing Fallon and Meyers hard on Peacock, but the transition from "free TV" to "paid app" is a hurdle many casual viewers won't jump.
The era of the "national conversation" happening at 11:35 PM is over. It’s been replaced by a thousand different conversations happening in niche corners of the internet. The ratings aren't just numbers; they're the sound of a 70-year-old habit finally breaking.
To stay ahead of these trends, keep an eye on the Live+3 and Live+7 data rather than just overnight numbers. These metrics account for the "DVR and Chill" crowd, which is the only reason some of these shows are still on the air. You should also watch how networks handle the 2026 upfronts—if they start selling "social engagement" over "household ratings," you'll know the linear ship has officially sailed.