Over the last several years, it has been fascinating to see how new entertainment options have affected traditional ones. The most notable example of that has been observing the fact that social media and streaming services have undeniably caused the ratings for the television networks to fall.
On the bright side for the late-night talk shows, their clips can perform very well on social media. In fact, there have been examples of clips from talk shows featuring surprising celebrities that have gotten huge viewership numbers on YouTube. On the other hand, recently released late-night talk show ratings show that viewership for the genre are declining, aside from two notable examples.
Gutfeld! and Jimmy Kimmel Live! are enjoying rare late-night talk show success
On Jan. 12, 2026, LateNighter published an article examining the Nielsen Live+7 ratings data for the late-night talk shows. Those results were fascinating to see, especially considering their coverage revealed the dichotomy of the two shows that enjoyed rare success in 2025.
After a year of headlines involving Jimmy Kimmel openly feuding with Donald Trump, his talk show has enjoyed success in 2025. The overall ratings for Jimmy Kimmel Live! rose by 14% and viewership in the 18-49 demographic also went up by 4%. While there is no way to know exactly what caused that success, it is notable that Kimmel recently thanked Donald Trump after he won an award.
The other late-night talk show that enjoyed ratings success in 2025 covered political stories from a very different perspective. Fox News' Gutfeld!, which begins airing earlier in the night at 10 p.m. ET/PT, enjoyed an overall ratings bump of 21% and a 2% rise in the much-coveted demographic. It is fascinating to see that the only thing the two talk shows that saw growth in 2025 have only one thing in common, including an exclamation mark in their titles.
The ratings for every other notable late-night talk show suffered in 2025
The rest of LateNighter's coverage painted a pessimistic picture of the state of late-night talk shows. Only two more shows could claim they got any good news in the ratings data. The Daily Show's ratings in the key demographic rose by 4%, but the show's overall ratings diminished by 12%. Nightline experienced a similar situation due to a 4% demo boost being mitigated a 14% overall drop.
While those two shows enjoyed a silver lining, the rest of the late-night talk shows had nothing to be happy about while looking at their 2025 Nielsen Live+7 ratings. For example, After Midnight's overall ratings were diminished by 8% while the show saw a staggering 42% fall in the main demographic. All the late-night talk show's ratings LateNighter reported on, including the rest of the shows whose ratings fell, are represented in the following table.
TV Show | Overall Ratings % Change | 18-49 Ratings % Change |
|---|---|---|
Jimmy Kimmel Live! | +14 | +4 |
Gutfeld! | +21 | +2 |
Nightline | -14 | +4 |
The Daily Show | -12 | +4 |
After Midnight | -8 | -42 |
Watch What Happens Live | -21 | -25 |
The Late Show with Stephen Colbert | -1 | -19 |
The Tonight Show Starring Jimmy Fallon | -4 | -17 |
Late Night with Seth Meyers | -5 | -19 |
What does this mean for the state of late-night TV? Only time will tell, but things are sure to change.