With only three nights remaining in the season, THE LATE SHOW WITH STEPHEN COLBERT once again will be crowned the most-watched late night program and will win the traditional broadcast season in viewers, according to Nielsen most current ratings through May 18.

THE LATE SHOW currently leads "The Tonight Show" by +1.17 viewers (3.85m vs. 2.68m, +44%), a huge increase over last year's +22,000 viewer win (3.195m vs. 3.173m). This marks CBS' second consecutive late night win and the largest margin of victory for CBS over "The Tonight Show" since 1993-1994. THE LATE SHOW will also finish only -77,000 viewers (-0.1) behind in adults 18-49, cutting NBC's advantage in half from last season (-0.2). THE LATE SHOW showed the most growth of any late night show - up a big +21% (3.85m from 3.20m).

For the most recent week (ending May 18) according to Nielsen live plus 3-day ratings, THE LATE SHOW WITH STEPHEN COLBERT delivered 3.50m viewers, 0.8 in adults 25-54 and 0.5 in adults 18-49. THE LATE SHOW added +570,000 viewers (from 2.93m), +0.2 rating point in adults 25-54 (from 0.6) and +0.1 in adults 18-49 (from 0.4). With this 3-day lift, THE LATE SHOW improved its advantage over "Tonight" in viewers to +1.11m (vs. 2.39m) after leading by +650,000 with same day viewers (vs. 2.28m). With 3-day viewing, THE LATE SHOW moved into a tie with "The Tonight Show" in adults 25-54 (0.8, each) and adults 18-49 (0.5, each) after trailing in both measures by -0.1 live plus same day.

Last week's shows were highlighted by the surprise appearance of Ryan Reynolds as Deadpool hilariously interrupting Stephen's monologue. The clip was a viral hit and has garnered 5.7 million views on Youtube to date,making it the #1 late night clip on the platform for the week.

With 3-day ratings, THE LATE SHOW won every week of first-run broadcasts against first-run weeks of "The Tonight Show" in viewers, with 21 of the 25 weeks posting a margin of victory of +1-million viewers or more.

View More TV Stories Related Articles

More Hot Stories For You