Stephen Colbert leads The Late Show to its first victory among young viewers in 24 years

The Hollywood Reporter

The last time The Late Show finished the season No. 1 in the all-important 18-49 demo was at the end of David Letterman's second year on CBS in 1995, two months before Hugh Grant visited Jay Leno's Tonight Show to change late-night history. After three consecutive seasons of Colbert being the No. 1 late-night show in total viewers, he has now taken the demo crown away from Jimmy Fallon by a narrow margin. The Late Show is averaging 677,000 viewers in the 18-49 demo to Fallon's 659,000. Meanwhile, Colbert continues to have a substantial lead in total viewers, averaging 3.8 million to Jimmy Fallon's 2.4 million and Jimmy Kimmel's 2 million. As Josef Adalian points out, however, "there’s a warning light flashing for Colbert. After two years of growth, powered in no small part by an aggressive focus on President Trump’s travails, the Late Show gave back some of its recent gains this season, particularly among younger viewers. The good news for Colbert: His rivals suffered even steeper declines." While Colbert is shedding younger viewers, losing about 12% of his 18-49 viewership, other late-night shows suffered even worse declines. Kimmel saw an 18% drop and Fallon's young viewership nosedived 22%. "Is this a sign younger audiences are growing tired of anti-Trump humor? Probably not," says Adalian. "Fact is, younger viewers are fleeing network (and cable) TV at a far faster clip than audiences over 50, so it’s not surprising that Nielsen gravity has caught up to the Late Show."