Ladies and gentlemen, we have a late-night race.
On Night 2 of Stephen Colbert‘s “Late Show” tenure, Jimmy Fallon‘s “Tonight Show” nearly tied the shiny new CBS offering in metered market household ratings, with a 3.1 versus a 3.2.
It wasn’t so much a bad night for Colbert as it was a big one for Fallon. The latter scored his highest metered market household rating for a Wednesday in five months. The 3.1 was also 19 percent better than Fallon’s summer average, and 29 percent higher than Tuesday’s result.
Colbert’s 3.2 was still up 118 percent versus the “Late Show’s” same night last year. For those keeping score at home, Jimmy Kimmel was a distant third, with a 1.5 household rating.
Per the local people meters, “Tonight” actually bested “The Late Show” in the 18-49 demographic, with a 1.2 versus a 0.8, respectively. That 1.2 was up 50 percent from NBC’s Tuesday finish.
An hour later, Seth Meyers took back his time slot from James Corden by growing 27 percent night over night in households. Meyers’ 1.4 was was 17 percent higher than his summer average and marked “Late Night’s” top Wednesday in more than four months.
Fallon’s guests Wednesday included Justin Timberlake, Ellen DeGeneres and musical guest Macklemore & Ryan Lewis. Meyers’ guests were Craig Ferguson, Gabourey Sidibe and the winner of “Last Comic Standing,” Clayton English.
All numbers in this story should be considered very preliminary and subject to change. Nielsen will release more accurate numbers later in the day.