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Which late-night hosts have the highest ratings and how have those trended this year?
Executive summary
The late-night ratings picture in 2025 remains led by CBS’s The Late Show with Stephen Colbert, which averaged about 2.42 million viewers in Q2 2025, followed by Jimmy Kimmel Live! at roughly 1.77 million and The Tonight Show Starring Jimmy Fallon near 1.19 million (Q2 2025 averages) [1] [2]. Quarter‑to‑quarter movement through 2025 showed Colbert slightly up Q1→Q2 while several other shows fell; Greg Gutfeld and Seth Meyers posted notable strength in their respective slots [3] [4] [5].
1. Colbert still rules the 11:35 p.m. hour — and by a clear margin
Multiple outlets relying on Nielsen data report The Late Show with Stephen Colbert as the top performer in the 11:35 p.m. hour in Q2 2025, averaging about 2.42 million viewers, comfortably ahead of competitors in raw total‑viewer terms [3] [1] [2]. LateNighter’s quarter analysis also notes Colbert was the only show among the nine tracked to grow total viewers from Q1 to Q2 2025, though that increase was marginal (about +1%) [3].
2. Kimmel and Fallon: second and third in volume, but trending differently
Jimmy Kimmel Live! is consistently the second‑largest linear late‑night audience in Q2 2025 with roughly 1.77 million viewers; Fallon sits behind Kimmel at about 1.19 million [1] [2]. Reporting indicates Kimmel and Fallon experienced mixed trajectories across quarters — some declines year‑over‑year and quarter‑to‑quarter drops for several shows — and industry coverage highlights that Colbert and Kimmel contributed most to a small uptick in the 18–49 demo in Q3 (LateNighter’s Q3 note) [6] [4].
3. Seth Meyers dominates the after‑midnight slot and shows resilience
Late Night with Seth Meyers is the leader in the 12:37 a.m. slot, with LateNighter and TV Insider citing an average near 900,000 total viewers in Q2 2025 and strong demo numbers relative to his time slot [3] [5]. ScreenRant and other summaries single out Meyers as the program most likely to challenge incumbents in the later hour and note he fared relatively well among younger viewers versus some peers [7] [4].
4. Gutfeld! and non‑network programs are moving the needle
Greg Gutfeld’s Fox News nightly program has registered large gains year‑over‑year and, by some reports, “dominated his slot” with substantial increases, marking him as a late‑night ratings winner in 2025 [8] [5] [4]. LateNighter’s earlier coverage called Gutfeld’s growth the highest among tracked shows in Q1 and Q2, which reshapes conversations about where late‑night audiences are migrating [4].
5. Aggregate trends: linear audiences are flat or down; demo shifts matter
Analysts report aggregate late‑night linear viewership was essentially flat quarter‑to‑quarter in total viewers but rose slightly — about 3% — among adults 18–49 in Q3 2025, driven mainly by gains from Colbert and Kimmel [6]. That divergence — steady total viewers but small demo improvements — underscores the ongoing industry focus on the 18–49 advertising demo even as overall linear audiences face long‑term declines [6] [2].
6. Contextual forces: cancellations, platform shifts, and political controversy
Reporting during 2025 referenced programming changes (for example, CBS’s After Midnight being canceled), the migration of audiences to digital clips and streaming, and politically charged moments that affected distribution and perception of shows — all factors that complicate raw ratings comparisons [7] [1] [4]. Statista and other outlets also noted controversies involving network decisions and FCC attention tied to host commentary, which some observers argue shaped reach and station carriage in select markets [1].
7. What the numbers don’t show (limitations and alternative readings)
Quarterly Nielsen‑based averages cited in these reports exclude rebroadcasts and specials and focus on first‑run linear episodes; they therefore understate a show’s total multi‑platform footprint, because YouTube, podcasts, and streaming clips draw large additional audiences not counted here [3] [2]. LateNighter, TV Insider, Statista, ScreenRant and others present consistent rankings for Q2 2025, but they rely on the same Nielsen datasets; independent digital view metrics can tell a different story for cultural reach [3] [1] [2].
8. Bottom line for 2025: Colbert leads, Meyers and Gutfeld are strong, others are mixed
Across the reporting, the clear headline is Stephen Colbert leading in total viewers in his hour (≈2.42M in Q2 2025), Seth Meyers owning the late time slot, and Greg Gutfeld making notable year‑over‑year gains; Jimmy Kimmel and Jimmy Fallon occupy the next tiers but show mixed trends [3] [5] [1] [4]. For advertisers and networks the critical question is less total viewers than demo performance and multiplatform reach — areas where available sources say results diverge and require separate measurement [6] [2].
Sources referenced above: LateNighter (Q1–Q3 2025 summaries) [3] [4] [6], TV Insider (Q2 analysis) [5], Statista (Q2 chart) [1], ScreenRant (Q2 breakdown) [7], IMDb/other roundups summarizing the same Nielsen data [8] [9].