“The Late Show with Stephen Colbert” went out on a literal high note.
Thursday night’s series finale was the most-watched weeknight episode of Colbert’s eleven-year tenure on the show, according to overnight Nielsen ratings.
Colbert and co. averaged 6.a74 million viewers, even beating his first episode as host back in 2015, which averaged 6.55 million viewers.
The ratings results must be bittersweet for Colbert since it wasn’t his choice to sign off. CBS decided last summer to cancel the show, citing financial pressures evident across the late-night TV landscape.
Late-night talk shows like “The Late Show” have been shedding viewers for years in an increasingly fragmented media environment. Many fans who used to watch at 11:35 p.m. simply catch up later on YouTube or via social media.
