Late Night TV Ratings Surge Amid Trump’s Fiery Criticism
Controversy has once again proven to be late-night television’s best marketing tool. As President Donald Trump and his administration ramp up their attacks on TV hosts and the companies behind them, the very programs under fire are seeing something unexpected — viewership surges that defy the pressure. But here’s where it gets controversial: are these spikes a show of public solidarity, or just curiosity driven by outrage?
Jimmy Kimmel’s situation has become the most striking case study. After returning from a brief break hosting Jimmy Kimmel Live!, the comedian’s sharp remarks about Charlie Kirk’s murderer unleashed a whirlwind. Within days, network affiliates Nexstar Media Group and Sinclair Broadcast Group — along with ABC — pulled the show off the air on September 17. Yet, paradoxically, the controversy sent viewers flocking to their screens. During the week of September 15, Kimmel’s Monday and Tuesday episodes averaged 1.96 million viewers, up from the previous two weeks’ 1.56 million and 1.43 million, according to Nielsen’s live-plus-three-day data.
As debate erupted nationwide over free speech and media censorship — with high-profile voices like FCC Chairman Brendan Carr, Disney CEO Bob Iger, and Trump himself weighing in — Kimmel’s temporary suspension only fueled public curiosity. When he finally returned to ABC on September 23, curiosity turned into record-breaking viewership. Nielsen’s expanded big data metrics show that his shows that week averaged 4.21 million viewers, nearly doubling prior weeks. His return episode alone drew a staggering 6.26 million linear viewers — easily one of his biggest nights ever.
But that’s not all. The surge is even more impressive when you consider that Kimmel’s show wasn’t aired in 23% of American households until the following Friday, when Nexstar and Sinclair fully reinstated it. Many fans went online instead — his comeback monologue quickly amassed more than 15 million YouTube views in just 24 hours.
Some analysts have claimed a ratings dip followed the massive comeback week — but that’s hardly surprising. After all, how do you top a nationwide event? The full figures for the week of September 29 are still pending, but Kimmel’s year-over-year quarter performance remains virtually steady. His 2025 third quarter averaged 1.37 million viewers and a 0.12 rating — a modest decline from last year’s 1.44 million and 0.14.
And Kimmel isn’t alone in this strange wave of politically charged ratings boosts. When CBS suddenly canceled The Late Show with Stephen Colbert in mid-July — shortly after Colbert accused CBS of paying a “$16 million bribe” to the Trump administration — viewers turned up in droves. The show’s average viewership jumped from 2.56 million during the cancellation week to 3.06 million the following week, a surge of nearly 20%. The momentum continued for several weeks, with audiences consistently topping 3 million before leveling off in August. Interestingly, Colbert’s audience spiked again during Kimmel’s suspension in mid-September, hitting 2.9 million viewers.
As of late September, The Late Show has stabilized at around 2.65 million weekly viewers, while still outperforming last year. In fact, as Colbert’s final season approaches its May 2026 conclusion, the show’s Q3 average of 2.84 million viewers marks a 14% year-over-year gain — proof that controversy and consistency can coexist.
NBC’s The Tonight Show Starring Jimmy Fallon and Late Night with Seth Meyers have also maintained solid footing. Both programs benefited from NFL lead-ins, with Fallon drawing 1.27 million and Meyers pulling 776,000 viewers during the week of September 15. Ratings for The Daily Show remain undisclosed — adding an air of mystery to its current performance.
One memorable late-night highlight came on September 30, when Kimmel hosted Colbert and Meyers on one stage. The resulting Jimmy Kimmel Live! episode drew 2.46 million total viewers and earned a 0.20 rating among adults 18–49 — a strong symbol of late night’s collective power amid political tension.
Beyond talk shows, sports and streaming are breaking their own records. ESPN’s coverage of the 2025 MLB Wild Card Series was a grand slam, attracting 4.63 million viewers across 11 games — a remarkable 64% jump from last year and the most-watched series under the current format. Even more striking was the youth engagement: viewership among adults under 35 rose 89%, while kids under 17 more than doubled, soaring 108% year over year.
Meanwhile, director Spike Lee’s Apple TV+ crime thriller Highest 2 Lowest made a quiet but powerful streaming debut on September 5. The film racked up an impressive 281 million viewing minutes during its first weekend, landing as Nielsen’s No. 7 most-watched streaming movie for the week of September 1. Nielsen data reveals the audience skewed heavily toward millennials and Gen X — with 65% between ages 35 and 64 — and notably, it held the highest proportion of Black viewers (40%) of any title that week.
Finally, Prime Video’s Thursday Night Football game between the 49ers and Rams became another ratings landmark. The September broadcast averaged 14.79 million viewers, peaking at 17.01 million between 11:00 and 11:14 p.m. ET — the highest recorded peak yet for Thursday Night Football on the platform. Compared to last season’s similar matchup (Bucs vs. Falcons), that’s a 20% jump in total viewers. Even more impressively, it matched that same 20% gain over the 2024 Rams-49ers game.
So, what does all this mean? Late-night TV, sports, and streaming may appear worlds apart — but they share one undeniable truth: controversy and conversation are ratings gold. Whether viewers tune in to support, to criticize, or simply to witness the drama, they’re proving that the line between politics, entertainment, and media power has never been thinner.
Do you think these spikes reflect genuine fan loyalty — or is America just addicted to outrage? Share your thoughts below. Debate encouraged.
