The series finale of The Colbert Report was the most-watched episode in its history with 2.5 million viewers. For comparison sake: Earlier this month, when Colbert rushed in where Democrats feared to tread — hosting President Obama not long after the midterm elections — he’d been rewarded with what was then considered a really big turnout, audience-wise. With POTUS as his guest (and The WORD anchor), Colbert’s show jumped nearly 50 percent compared to its season average. An average of 1.732 million people watched that Monday telecast, in which Colbert was telecast from George Washington University in Washington, D.C.

Colbert’s most recent original episode before Obama’s visit, the previous Thursday, had averaged 1.092 million viewers. The episode in which Obama took over The WORD segment to talk about Obamacare, clocked 520,000 18-34 year olds, compared to previous Thursday’s 278,000; calendar year to date, the show was averaging 364,000 viewers in that demo. More than half Obama’s audience — 953,000 viewers — was aged 18-49, compared to calendar year’s 628,000 viewers in the bracket.

Source: Deadline.com