The Late Show with Stephen Colbert ratings sink to another low
By Hector Cruz
The Late Show with Stephen Colbert dipped to a new low with viewers 18-49, trailing in third place in the demo and among total viewers.
Stephen Colbert recently marked his first year as host of The Late Show, but there wasn’t much to celebrate given the show’s falling ratings. For the week of September 5, the CBS late-night series fell from a 0.39 to a 0.36 demo rating. That’s below its previous low of 0.38 that it set in June, hitting an all-time low in the demo since Colbert succeeded David Letterman as host of The Late Show early last September. The talk show trailed both The Tonight Show Starring Jimmy Fallon and Jimmy Kimmel Live in the 18-49 demo and in total viewers, averaging 1.98 million viewers for the week.
NBC had another dominant week with The Tonight Show once again leading the way with a 0.97 rating, rising significantly from its previous 0.81. It also took the top spot among total viewers with an average of 3.42 million viewers between September 5-9. Late Night with Seth Meyers also rose, ticking up to a 0.52 adults 18-49 demo rating from a 0.42 for the week before, achieving its best ratings since January while averaging 1.61 million viewers. Jimmy Kimmel Live also had a good week, beating Colbert by a wide margin with a 0.46 rating and 2.06 million viewers.
Despite the dip for The Late Show, James Corden’s Late Late Show remained steady with a 0.22 for a second week in a row, but it fell under an average of 1 million viewers. That was below Last Call with Carson Daly (0.34, 990,00 viewers), which returned with new episodes for the first time in months, despite the fact that the NBC program begins an hour later. It was also out-rated by Nightline (0.29, 1.34 million viewers) in both measures, lost to The Daily Show in the demo (0.31), and barely edged out Conan, which dropped from a 0.27 to a 0.21 for a week of repeats. However, it did do better than Comedy Central’s @midnight (0.18).
Fortunately for Colbert and Corden, many of CBS’ primetime shows are debuting this week as the official start of the 2016-2017 TV season begins, which may prop up the network’s struggling late-night lineup. Colbert will also welcome such high-profile guests as First Lady Michelle Obama and Bruce Springsteen, while Corden is fresh off of two Emmy wins at last week’s Creative Arts ceremony, though he lost to Last Week Tonight with John Oliver in the main category on Sunday night.
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For Colbert’s entire first season, he managed to take second place in the coveted 18-49 demographic over Kimmel (0.60 vs. 0.53) thanks to several high-rated episodes at the beginning of his tenure, and a ratings bump for his live convention coverage. CBS is hoping that The Late Show will see ratings growth once again when Colbert goes live to cover the upcoming presidential and vice presidential debates. CBS’ sister network Showtime is also courting the former Comedy Central personality to host a live special on Election Night, though a deal has yet to be finalized.