The news that “The Late Show With Stephen Colbert” will end after the upcoming TV season sent shockwaves across the industry and nation last Thursday. After the abrupt announcement, all eyes were on how Colbert — and other late night hosts — would respond, driving a ratings surge across the board.
With Colbert’s announcement breaking in the afternoon after the show’s taping but before it aired, the Thursday broadcast scored the biggest audience of the week with 2.32 million viewers, according to Nielsen live-plus-same-day figures, a 35% jump over the previous night. And Monday’s episode, which featured a rare appearance from all the other late night hosts in solidarity, kicked off the week with 2.41 million viewers, up 25.5% from the previous Monday.
Additionally, delayed viewing across three days boosted Thursday’s telecast to 3.08 million viewers, a 33% lift from the live-plus-same-day figures. The three-day viewership for Thursday’s telecast outpaced the 2.18 million viewers averaged by Monday, Tuesday and Wednesday’s episodes by 41%.
And it wasn’t just “The Late Show” that saw a spike in viewers Thursday, as late night fans tuned in for a temp check with Colbert’s peers. “The Tonight Show Starring Jimmy Fallon” and “Late Night With Seth Meyers” also had their most-watched episodes of the week that night.
“The Tonight Show” brought in 1.03 million viewers, up 4% from Wednesday’s broadcast and up 5% from the week’s previous average viewership of 978,000. Likewise, “Late Night With Seth Meyers” scored 754,000 viewers, up 7% from Wednesday and up 9% from the 691,000 averaged earlier in the week.
Perhaps most eyes were on fellow Paramount late night host Jon Stewart, who has been outspoken about the possibility of also getting the ax after the Paramount-Skydance deal goes through. “The Daily Show” averaged 592,000 viewers on Thursday and Monday, July 21, when Stewart returned for his weekly gig, up from the 489,000 viewers averaged from last week’s telecasts Monday through Wednesday.
While “Jimmy Kimmel Live!” has been helmed by guest hosts while Kimmel goes on his annual summer break, the ABC late night show delivered an average 1.095 million viewers on Thursday and Monday, up 14% over the first three days last week.
Even Fox News’ “Gutfeld!” got a boost. The Greg Gutfeld-hosted show, which airs within primetime at 10 p.m. on Fox News, averaged 3 million viewers on Thursday and Monday, up 8% from the average viewership of 2.78 million brought in on the previous Monday, Tuesday and Wednesday.
All the late night shows have struggled with declining viewership over recent years, along with the rest of linear TV.
CBS executives say letting Colbert go at the end his existing contract and canceling “The Late Show” entirely was “purely a financial decision against a challenging backdrop in late night.” But the news came days after Colbert called Paramount’s $16 million settlement with President Donald Trump a “big fat bribe” to ensure the FCC approves the media giant’s upcoming merger with Skydance Media, prompting speculation the decision was politically motivated.
WNBA All-Star events boost ESPN, ABC and Disney+ to ratings wins
The WNBA all-star events scored ratings milestones for ESPN, ABC and Disney+, starting with the skills challenge and 3-point contest on July 18, which boosted ESPN to score the biggest audience on record for the event. The telecast brought in 1.3 million average viewers — up 89% from last year — and marked the most-viewed program across all of primetime TV on Friday among adults under 35, adults 18-34 and women 18-34. The trend continued on Saturday, when the 2025 WNBA all-star game became the No. 2 most-watched WNBA all-star game ever, behind 2024.
While viewership was down from a year ago, the 2025 game scored 2.2 million viewers, up a whopping 158% from 2023.
The ratings wins come as ESPN celebrates year-over-year ratings growth for its first six months of the year. The network scored its best average primetime audience since 2014, with the network averaging 1.9 million viewers during the 183 nights of the year.
“Blindspot” is the next Netflix effect winner
While “Blindspot” hasn’t been in the cultural zeitgeist much since ending its run on NBC in 2o20, the thriller’s arrival on Netflix in early June sparked newfound interest among viewers. The series, starring Jaimie Alexander, ranked second on Nielsen’s overall viewing list during the week of June 9 with a whopping 1.87 billion viewing minutes. It sustained that momentum the following week and became the most-watched streaming program with 1.8 billion viewing minutes.
“Dexter: Resurrection” scores Showtime’s biggest premiere streaming audience yet
The latest iteration of the “Dexter” universe got off to a killer start for Showtime, with “Dexter: Resurrection” bringing in the biggest streaming audience for a premiere in Showtime history, up 44% from “Dexter: Original Sin” and 79% from “Dexter: New Blood.”
The premiere episode scored 3.1 million cross-platform viewers — up 46% from “Dexter: Original Sin” — and even drove viewership to the “Dexter” franchise, with viewership for the flagship series and its spinoffs up 132% since the “Dexter: Resurrection” premiere.
