In the odds battle between Colbert, Kimmel and Fallon – Deadline

The first night that The Late Show with Stephen Colbert beat Tonight’s Show with Jimmy Fallon In total viewers after its opening night, the bespectacled host rushed for a pizza for his team.

It was the first week of February 2017, shortly after Donald Trump was sworn in as President of the United States of America.

It has to be assumed that some members of the team are fed up with the pepperoni pie, as CBS has continued to dominate late night odds for the past four years.

However, with Joe Biden’s inauguration next week, late-night watchers wonder if there will be another change in the long-running ratings battle between The late show and The show tonight. There is also the question of Jimmy Kimmel Live !, which is now in the midst of its competition.

The late show, with 3.46 million viewers on average, won the 2019-2020 broadcast season, which ran from September 2019 to September 2020. It was his fourth consecutive victory, the longest winning streak in the world emission and the greatest margin of victory on Tonight’s show, which has averaged 1.94M since 1993-94.

This has continued for the past four months, with Nielsen data showing that until January 8, The late show on average 3.1 million viewers against Jimmy Kimmel Live! with 1.78M and Tonight’s show with 1.56 million viewers. These are what Nielsen calls the “latest” numbers, a combination of Live + 7, Live + 3, and Live + Same Day.

It’s closer, however, in the demos, with The Tonight Show and Jimmy Kimmel Live! on average 0.3% and The late show 0.4% average using L + 7 data through January 8.

The late show enjoyed four crazy years in politics with the former host of The Colbert report become a trusted voice against the corruption and dishonesty of the Trump administration. There’s no doubt that Colbert’s late-night retaliations to the president helped him against the more entertainment-focused Fallon show, with Kimmel standing somewhere in the midst of politics and silliness.

“Stephen Colbert is better when he’s political. Jimmy Fallon is the best when it comes to pop culture, ”a late night source said. “Political culture has become pop culture [over the last four years] It is therefore logical that a Kimmel or a Colbert, who are more politically minded, do better when everything is political.

All of these numbers are a long way from the days when over 20 million viewers watched Tiny Tim marry Miss Vicki on Johnny Carson. Tonight show in 1969.

There is a silver lining for NBC, however, as many in the end-of-night world expect a little more frivolity to appear on screens as we step into a Biden administration.

In the last nine weeks of the year, including after Biden’s election victory, Tonight’s show was # 1 in adults aged 18 to 49 in six of those weeks for L + SD numbers. Live + 7 digits have The late show still winning the demo 18-49 during that time, except for a tie in the last week of November. ABC Jimmy Kimmel Live! also won the Live + 7 demo 18-49 in the last week of September and the first week of October, helped by coming out of the NBA playoffs.

Tonight’s show insiders also point to its digital fan base. The NBC show has 27 million subscribers on YouTube, ahead of The late show with 25.6M, 17.6M for Jimmy Kimmel Live! and 8.29M for The late show. Fallon is also a leader on Instagram, Facebook, Twitter, and TikTok.

But while sketches such as The Tonight Show’s 2020: The Musical, who saw Andrew Rannells and Fallon recap the year with songs from Broadway, had 2.7 million views on the Google-owned video platform, clips mocking Donald Trump always get the highest scores for the three hosts; Colbert amassed 11 million views on YouTube for his live monologue on Wednesday, Jan.6 after the attacks on the U.S. Capitol.

Last Friday, The late show has been watched by 3.8 million viewers – its largest three-day audience since November 2019 – and it will be interesting to see if that continues for the next 12 months, or if late-night viewers turn to Tonight’s show for fun. This may depend on how much political tensions in the United States diminish over the next few months.

The odds battle between The late show and Tonight’s show dates back to 1993 and there were fluctuations before Jay Leno finally passed David Letterman. In 2003, NBC boss Jeff Zucker said, “There is no more late night war,” but that is obviously not the case for the past four years. We will see if this continues.

The best clips of the week

Lilly Singh came back with A bit late for the first time in eight months. The Canadian comedian showed viewers how she now films her 1:30 a.m. show in a Los Angeles home rather than a studio. She mixed sketches with interviews and also gently poked fun at her late time slot, as well as her budget, on her opening night and being away for almost a year.

“We thought we were so smart, we store this evergreen content, we can stream it anytime, it will always make sense. And then a global pandemic literally hit and I was the only show that had a live audience. Literally every day in Season 1, I got a million tweets that said “Why do you have a live audience” and “Why don’t you wear a mask”? I filmed these episodes in 2019 when the only people wearing masks were thieves and Jim Carrey, ”she said.

Elsewhere, it was generally business as usual for hosts before Joe Biden’s inauguration. Late nights Seth Meyers watched Trump leaving the White House, Colbert spoke of the threat of more violence, and Kimmel gloated over Trump’s second impeachment.

Fallon put Anthony Mackie’s robot skills to the test, while Chris Rock was on The late show.

There were also a few late night host appearances; Singh appeared on The show tonight while Full frontalSamantha Bee is turned on The late show.

Finally, before the return of The Daily Show with Trevor Noah On Tuesday, the Comedy Central show posted a video of Jordan Klepper’s experiences with the Capitol Attacks. It’s funny and terrifying.