It’s been a couple of weeks since The Late Show with Stephen Colbert went off the air, and the dust is settling on the ratings shakeup. As Puck reports, Jimmy Kimmel Live‘s ratings have surged 66%, while The Tonight Show Starring Jimmy Fallon‘s marks have grown a modest 11%.
In the week of June 1st, Kimmel pulled in 2.72 million viewers, a big leap from last year where his show earned 1.64 million viewers over the same period. Meanwhile, Fallon had 1.14 million last year and 1.27 million this year, a much more subtle uptick. And nobody has fared worse than CBS, which had first-place 1.77 million last year, and is now down 57% to 764,000 with the new show in the time slot, Comics Unleashed. To be fair, only Comics Unleashed creator Byron Allen needs to sweat the ratings, since he is leasing the time slot (Comics Un-leased? Call me, Byron!) from CBS. In other words, CBS isn’t losing, they already quit.
The shuffle probably isn’t much of a surprise to anyone paying attention. Both Kimmel and Colbert’s shows have been politically sharp, while Fallon tends more towards lip synchs and games and other bids for TikTok virality. It makes sense that Colbert’s audience would be more interested in what Kimmel is selling.
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As for Colbert, his next act is already going great. I mean, how many people can say they’ve done public access television in Monroe, Michigan?
Two weeks after CBS gave up on late night, ABC’s Kimmel has pulled away from NBC’s Fallon. NBA Finals has helped a lot, but Kimmel is extending lead on non-NBA nights too…. Details ⬇️⬇️ pic.twitter.com/QwxZMeyw5G
— Matthew Belloni (@MattBelloni) June 12, 2026
