Ratings for the Late Show with Stephen Colbert continue to drop.
Just three months after so much hype, hoopla, money, and marketing went into Stephen Colbert’s debut as the new host of Late Night, the former Comey Central star has fallen into 4th place in ratings.
According to reports, Stephen Colbert’s late show is ranked 4th in the key demographic and he’s now being doubled up by NBC’s Jimmy Fallon (outscored by 137%) and hasn’t beaten ABC’s Jimmy Kimmel in over a month.
But, it’s about to get worse. During the week of November 23-27, the 11:35 PM Late Show on CBS was beaten by Seth Meyers, who happens to be on one hour later on NBC.
Colbert’s numbers are down almost 45% since his debut, and have only increased once week-to-week since September 21st, but slowly decreasing every week.
Stephen Colbert averaged a .58 in the key demographic in November, a 16% rise over David Latterman’s numbers last year, which is an improvement, but given that it was Letterman’s lasst year, its hard to believe that CBS had plans on creating such a poorly watched TV.
Some people argue that Stephen Colbert’s hosting style is too political. According to a Hollywood Reporter survey of late night viewers watching Colbert, only 17% of Republicans say they do while 47% of self-described Democrats report they watch Colbert. For Fallon, the spread is just five points (36-31 Democrats). For Kimmel, the spread is one (34-33). The perception of a political agenda may be distracting audiences and causing them to change the channel.
CBS hired Stephen Colbert to reach younger audiences. The former Comedy Central host achieved high ratings at first, but the numbers are starting to drop now and even those appearing one hour later are beating the late night host now.
What do you think CBS should do? Should CBS fire Stephen Colbert? Share with us your thoughts in the comments below!
