【family Archives】

The family Archivesratings are in and a winner for this year's battle of the late night shows has been declared: Stephen Colbert.

Thanks to a valiant effort and lots of Trump-inspired material, Colbert's The Late Showhas successfully bested its worthy opponent, Jimmy Fallon's The Tonight Show in the 2016 - 2017 ratings.

Congrats, dude.

SEE ALSO: In Trump's America, MSNBC and Stephen Colbert are super successful

According to Nielsen data that spans until May 19, Colbert's CBS show has an average of 3.195 million viewers per episode, while Fallon is averaging 3.173 million on NBC, Varietyreported. That's still pretty freaking close, Fallon. Yeesh.

Mashable Top Stories Stay connected with the hottest stories of the day and the latest entertainment news. Sign up for Mashable's Top Stories newsletter By clicking Sign Me Up, you confirm you are 16+ and agree to our Terms of Use and Privacy Policy. Thanks for signing up!

Though Colbert had been struggling to gain a solid viewership and was reportedly "losing by more than a million viewers" this time last year, the late night host has been continually beating Fallon's ratings this season, even throwing his staff members pizza parties to celebrate the victories.

Credit: MASHABLE COMPOSITE: PAUL ZIMMERMAN/GETTY; SHUTTERSTOCK

The New York Times refers to the comeback as "one of the most surprising turnaround stories in recent television," but Colbert admits he couldn't have done it without Donald Trump and all of the political inspiration 2017 has unleashed on the world.

At a CBS presentation for advertisers, Colbert recently acknowledged his success, announcing, "It’s been a great year for Late Show. Thank you, Donald Trump."

Despite the Late Show's rise to the top, the Tonight Showis still scoring higher ratings with adults ages 18 to 49 -- a key demographic for advertisers. Fallon is averaging a 0.81 rating here, as compared to Colbert’s 0.58 rating.

Fallon may be down, Colbert, but he's definitely not out.

---

Featured Video For You

---

Donald Trump lets Jimmy Fallon ruffle his hair and some people aren't happy

---

Topics Stephen Colbert The Tonight Show Starring Jimmy Fallon Donald Trump Politics Celebrities

• Games
• Tech
• Science
• Life
• Deals
• Digital Culture
• Entertainment
• Social Good

• New MIT report reveals energy costs of AI tools like ChatGPT
• 5 Windows File Explorer Alternatives You Should Try
• 17 Years of Far Cry
• FIFA Club World Cup 2025 livestream: Watch Club World Cup for free
• Pairing CPUs and GPUs: PC Upgrades and Bottlenecking
• Best Fire Stick deal: Save $20 on Fire Stick 4K Max
• AMD Smart Access Memory Tested, Benchmarked
• How USB Works
• Bomb Envy
• Making a Fast Quad

• iPhone X automatically blocks message notifications by default
• 'The Walking Dead' episode 2 brings back Morales
• Ford's Argo AI acquires supplier to firm up its self
• The shadiest details from Puerto Rico's contract with Whitefish Energy
• Seth MacFarlane seemed to hint about the Kevin Spacey allegations back in 2005
• 'Rocket League' is finally coming to the Nintendo Switch in November
• School throws surprise pep rally for 88
• Encrypted message service Signal is down in possible DDoS attack
• Whitefish Energy's scandalous power contract with Puerto Rico is cancelled
• D.I.Y. these 'Stranger Things' mini pumpkins while you're binge

• President Trump says semiconductor tariffs are next
• Making a Fast Quad
• 10 Most Memorable Fictional Technologies
• Making a Fast Quad
• Put Me In, Coach!
• Bath vs. Leicester 2025 livestream: Watch Premiership Rugby final for free
• CPU and GPU Availability and Pricing Update: April 2021
• CPU and GPU Availability and Pricing Update: March 2021
• How to Remotely Sign Out of Gmail on Multiple Devices
• Intel B560 is a Disaster: Huge CPU Performance Differences and a Power Limit Mess

• NYT mini crossword answers for April 24, 2025
• Apple M1: Why It Matters
• When will 'A Minecraft Movie' be streaming? How to watch at home.
• How CPU Cores & Cache Impact Gaming Performance
• The Beatles biopic casts all the internet's boyfriends in one movie
• NYT Connections Sports Edition hints and answers for June 15: Tips to solve Connections #265
• GPU Availability and Pricing Update: August 2021
• Intel B560 is a Disaster: Huge CPU Performance Differences and a Power Limit Mess
• Best iPhone deal: Save $147 on the iPhone 15 Pro Max
• CPU and GPU Availability and Pricing Update: May 2021