Colbert’s Late Show Hits Season-High Ratings With Strike Force Five Reunion
LateNighter • • entertainment
Key Points:
- Stephen Colbert’s Late Show achieved a season-to-date ratings high on Monday night with 2.819 million total viewers and 231,000 viewers aged 18-49, driven by the Strike Force Five reunion.
- This episode marked the largest live-plus-same-day audience since January 26, 2025, and the highest regular weeknight ratings since October 2024 when Vice President Kamala Harris appeared.
- The Strike Force Five reunion featured Colbert, Jimmy Fallon, Jimmy Kimmel, Seth Meyers, and John Oliver together for the first time on a single late-night show, boosting viewership significantly.
- Both Jimmy Kimmel Live! and The Tonight Show aired repeats that night and drew less than half of Colbert’s audience, with 1.32 million and 1.28 million viewers respectively.
- Online views, including a YouTube upload of the reunion episode which has over 3.2 million views, are expected to further increase the total audience beyond the initial Nielsen ratings.