It’s not exactly a runaway victory for Colbert, as he only managed to beat Fallon by about 12,000 viewers (and Fallon still beat Colbert in the all-important “under 50-years-old” demographic), but he’s been steadily gaining on NBC’s late-hight hose for a while now, initially coming the closest in the week of January 16 before Trump’s inauguration. That does seem to suggest that Colbert taking his show in a more political direction while Fallon continues playing beer pong with celebrities was a wise decision, especially when Colbert can easily grab headlines with an appearance from Jon Stewart.
The New York Times story notes that these ratings could swing back the other way at any moment, “particularly if these frenetic opening weeks of the Trump presidency show any signs of dying down,” but seeing as how Trump (or recent gift to the world Sean Spicer) say or do something stupid pretty much every day, it seems safe to assume that this freneticism won’t die down anytime soon. That could be very good news for Colbert and CBS.
