Late Night Ratings Revealed: Who’s Top & Who’s Lagging Behind?

The ratings are in for the second quarter of 2025, and things remain competitive across late-night, with Stephen Colbert holding onto the top spot in his hour and Greg Gutfeld dominating his slot, and having huge gains year-on-year.

According to LateNighter.com, citing Nielsen ratings, CBS’ The Late Show with Stephen Colbert topped the 11:35 pm hour in total viewers with an average of 2.417 million across 41 first-run episodes. The Late Show was also the only program to show an increase over the first quarter, with the show up 1%. In the coveted 18–49 demo, Colbert brought in 219,000 viewers.

ABC’s Jimmy Kimmel Live! came in second for the 11:35 pm slot with an average of 1.772 million viewers; however, the show edged out Colbert in the demo with 220,000 viewers. Meanwhile, NBC’s The Tonight Show Starring Jimmy Fallon finished in third with an average of 1.188 million viewers and 157,000 in the demo.

The biggest ratings winner, however, was Fox News’ Gutfeld! in the 10 pm slot. The show, which takes a satirical look at the weekly news with a panel of comedians and political commentators, averaged 3.289 million viewers for the second quarter and 238,000 in the demo.

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Compared to the same period last year, Gutfeld! was up 31.5% among total viewers and 24% in the demo. However, the show was down compared to the first quarter of 2025 in both metrics, by -9% in total viewers and -22% in the demo.

Elsewhere, NBC’s Late Night with Seth Meyers continued to stay on top at the 12:37 am slot with an average of 900,000 total viewers and 111,000 in the demo across 35 episodes. In comparison, ABC’s Nightline averaged 810,000 total viewers and 108,000 in the demo, and CBS’ After Midnight, which wrapped up its run last month, averaged 591,000 total viewers and 89,000 in the demo.

Finally, Comedy Central’s The Daily Show averaged 994,000 viewers and 190,000 in the demo in its 11 pm slot. While this was down -2% compared to quarter one, the show was up by 2.7% in the demo compared to the same period last year (though it was down -1.2% in total viewers).