Colbert beating Fallon in ratings since Trump took office
President Trump’s promise to change America is already producing results — at least when it comes to late night TV.
CBS’ “Late Show with Stephen Colbert” attracted more viewers than its rival, NBC’s “The Tonight Show Starring Jimmy Fallon,” during the week that ended Feb. 10 — the second week in a row the Peacock Network finished No. 2.
And Colbert’s margin of victory is growing.
In the week ended Feb. 3 — Colbert’s first week of new shows since Trump’s inauguration — “Late Night” edged out “Tonight” by a mere 10,000 viewers. Last week, that margin of victory grew to 130,000.
While Fallon still draws in a bigger audience of 18-to-49-year-olds, the demographic advertisers covet, his once comfortable margin of victory is getting slim.
In the last three weeks, including the five days of “Late Show” repeats during the week ended Jan. 27, Fallon’s margin of victory in the demo has gone from 0.36 to 0.19 to 0.17.
Colbert’s resurgence could be tied to his show having a sharper political bent than “Tonight.” Colbert’s opening monologue and at-desk banter is dominated by jokes and banter that take aim at Trump’s missteps.
Fallon’s show is more skit-focused and covers a wider range of topics.
On ABC, “Jimmy Kimmel Live” usually draw about 1 million fewer total viewers than his CBS and NBC rivals and trails significantly in the demo, statistics show.