Stephen Colbert beat Jimmy Fallon in ratings for a second week
By Josh Hill
Late Show with Stephen Colbert once again topped Tonight Show with Jimmy Fallon, which is pretty significant.
When the Nielsen ratings were revealed last week, it marked the first time since 2015 that Stephen Colbert was ahead of Jimmy Fallon. It was generally assumed — unfairly — that this was a bad week for Fallon and the surge by Colbert was a fluke.
Think again.
All apologies to Colbert, as he has once again beaten Fallon in overnights.
The ratings are in and Colbert’s rise to the top two weeks ago wasn’t a fluke after all. According to Nielsen (via Variety), Late Show posted a 2.4 rating but is still losing to Tonight Show in key demos.
"In the continuing late night wars, Colbert’s “Late Show” once again topped Fallon’s “Tonight Show,” drawing a 2.4 household rating in Nielsen’s metered market overnights to Fallon’s 2.1 household rating; Fallon is still leading in the demo, with a very preliminary 0.6 rating to Colbert’s 0.5."
You might be sitting there wondering what the hell all of this means. It’s not as complicated as it may see. Colbert is beating Fallon in overall ratings, which is the number that we all pay attention to since it’s the easier number to follow.
But Fallon still has the edge in the key 18-49 demographic, which is what advertisers pay attention to. That’s where things get slightly complicated since it’s a sect of the late night game that doesn’t effect us at all.
Advertisers are what keep the shows on the air, for the most part. It’s the cherry on top of the overall ratings race that is more widely paid attention to. It’s like Colbert has more home runs than Fallon but Fallon plays for a team with a winning record.
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It seems small to most but it’s one more hill that Colbert needs to climb if he wants to turn this into the year where Late Show finally become everything we thought it might be when he was announced as David Letterman’s replacement.