When it comes to the late-night TV ratings, there are always going to be some shows more popular than others. Sometimes, this comes down to the networks, but it also comes down to the hosts. However, the latest ratings for The Late Show with Stephen Colbert prove that good ratings are all about one thing: star power.
A fandom will follow someone they love. And when it comes to Swifties, they are a wild bunch. So, is it that surprising that the Taylor Swift episode of The Late Show became one of the most-watch shows (in the 18-49 demo) of 2025?
The Late Show’s most viewed show since the Super Bowl
Late Nighter shared the linear ratings for The Late Show with Stephen Colbert for Wednesday, Dec. 10, and it showed a huge increase from previous recent episodes. In fact, it was the best performance since the post-AFC Championship episode from January 2025. At least, that was in terms of the demo.
The 18-49 demo tends to hold a lot of weight in the primetime linear ratings, even now with many people turning to streaming. However, when it comes to late-night TV, it’s not as important. The total viewer audience is important, and even that was up for the series, pulling in the fourth-largest viewer audience of 2025, with 3.2 million viewers tuning in.
Timing and star power are essential for late-night TV
It’s not just about star power. The three most-viewed episodes before Swift’s appearance were all about timing.
The post-AFC episode on Sunday, Jan. 26 pulled in 3.6 million viewers. Then the episode following Colbert’s announcement that The Late Show had been canceled pulled in 3.4 million. After that, it’s the episode that saw Colbert issue a response to Jimmy Kimmel’s suspension in September, pulling in 3.3 million.
That being said, as it’s the fourth-largest audience, it shows that star power is essential. I don’t think it was all that surprising that someone like Taylor Swift pulled in such a large audience. She doesn’t just capture the hearts of younger fans who would have been in bed by the time The Late Show aired.
Is there another celebrity that can bring in this sort of star power, though? Maybe the Jensen Ackles fans would tune in, but still not in these huge numbers!
The Late Show isn’t the only late-night series to see a surge in viewership because of Swift. The Tonight Show Starring Jimmy Fallon and Late Night with Seth Meyers also saw ticks up in the ratings — and not by a small amount. This really is the Swift Effect, and it makes it clear that ratings are all about star power.