Jimmy Fallon may have been reigning the late night ratings lately but over the weekend, Stephen Colbert managed to bag a whole lot of viewers when the "Late Show" aired after Super Bowl 50.
According to The Hollywood Reporter, the "Late Show" got an average of 21.1 million viewers on Sunday night. The late night show also got an 8.4 rating from its 18-49 demographic. The numbers were based on Nielsen's early ratings.
As told by Fortune, the numbers also were a record-high for Colbert since taking over the "Late Show." When he debuted the show back in September, it only got 6.5 million viewers.
Despite the sudden surge in viewers and ratings, some analyst don't believe that Stephen Colbert would be able to sustain the same amount of people watching him in the coming days and beat Jimmy Fallon from the top spot.
Zap2It's TV By The Numbers said most shows that enjoy quite a surge in ratings after the Super Bowl don't likely experience the same numbers as days move forward. They even enumerated past shows that followed the Super Bowl that got great ratings but weren't able to maintain the high numbers on ordinary days.
Just last year when Super Bowl aired on NBC, the TV series "The Blacklist" got an 8.4 rating but just days later got back to its usual ratings.
Bill Carter has cited back in December that part of the reason Stephen Colbert probably can't beat Jimmy Fallon in the ratings was because of the kind of show they give audiences. While the "Tonight Show" has resorted to viral topics and fun antics to lure its audience, it was noted that the "Late Show" has stuck to traditional late night with serious interviews that don't appeal to the masses.
CBS though has not been worried about Colbert's ratings and much more of his style.
"We want Stephen to be Stephen, and that's exactly what he's doing," CBS president Glenn Geller stated last month as quoted by A.V. Club.
