Trump Gives Colbert Best Audience Since Debut; Fiorina Powers Fallon to Biggest Rating in 18 Months
There was a time when politicians were considered boring, manufactured, homogenized.
That was before 2015… the year of the outsider, the anti-politician.
Those looking to live at 1600 Pennsylvania Avenue in 2017 continue to be ratings gold not only across the cable news landscape, but for the late-night talk shows as well. Exhibit A is Donald Trump, who propelled Stephen Colbert’s Late Show to its highest rating since launching two weeks ago. The news is particularly significant in terms of the late-night ratings race, as Jimmy Fallon had easily won the previous nine nights in the demo (nine of ten overall). As anyone in the industry would tell you, the honeymoon shouldn’t have ended that quickly for Colbert given the hype, marketing and big guests to kick off the first two weeks of the show.
But Stephen is finding his niche in terms of conducting heavier, more substantive interviews with political candidates than the Jimmys on NBC and ABC. Whether that offering pays dividends outside of an unpredictable and unfiltered guest like Trump—who provides major bumps to any program despite joining by phone.
But despite the Trump factor, Colbert could only manage a tie with Jimmy Fallon in the all-important 18-49 demo (the only age group advertisers care about). In Nielsen’s 25 markets with Local People Meters, Colbert and CBS earned a 1.0 overnight rating, as did Fallon on NBC. Overall audience is a different story, with Colbert besting Fallon with a 3.7/10 share vs. 2.8/7. Jimmy Kimmel on ABC finished a distant third (0.6).
And it isn’t just Trump who is drawing eyeballs. Carly Fiorina—up 12 points to second in this week’s CNN/ORC post-debate poll—helped propel Fallon’s Tonight Show to its best Monday audience in 18 months (3.2/8). The Monday numbers are particularly impressive, as Monday Night Football/ESPN’s postgame coverage usually draws a nice chunk of viewers away from the networks in the fall.
Ted Cruz joined the new CBS late-night host on Monday. Hillary has done Ellen and Fallon in the span of one week, while even Bernie Sanders (who MUST be played by Larry David in an upcoming bio if HBO is smart enough to do such a project), known and respected by the base for being all-business, turned in a understated and hilarious spot on Larry Wilmore’s Nightly Show on Comedy Central.
We keep hearing that this is the most important election of our lifetime, with serious issues facing this nation during serious times. But at the same time, from the Fox debate to the demolition derby that was CNN version, this road to 2016 seems more of a personality contest than anything else thus far…a contest cable news and late-night will be happy to host.
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>> Follow Joe Concha on Twitter @JoeConchaTV
This is an opinion piece. The views expressed in this article are those of just the author.
