• by Wayne Friedman , September 10, 2015

Lower late-night viewers sampling of Stephen Colbert’s CBS show was the result of the show’s second night, with NBC’s “Tonight Show” resuming its top ranking.

“Late Show with Stephen Colbert” dropped 44% to a Nielsen 3.66 million viewers on Wednesday night, with NBC’s “Tonight Show with Jimmy Fallon” pulling in 4.06 million viewers.

On Tuesday, the first night of “Late Show,” the CBS effort posted 6.55 million viewers to “Tonight Show”’s 2.9 million. ABC’s “Jimmy Kimmel Live” also moved up on Wednesday night -- to 1.85 million from 1.75 million on Tuesday.

After two nights, “Late Show with Stephen Colbert”’ is still above the last season’s average for “Late Show with David Letterman,” which was at 3.0 million viewers.

“Tonight” also resumed its strong leadership role among key 18-49 viewers -- a Nielsen 1.24 rating; with “Late Show” at a 0.77 and “Kimmel” at a 0.46.

NBC also reversed the trend of other later-night talk shows -- with “Late Night with Seth Meyers” getting back to first place with 1.70 million viewers to “Late Late Show with James Corden” at 1.05 million viewers. “Corden” -- getting big lead-in help from Colbert”s start -- scored 1.85 million on Tuesday night to Meyers’ 1.30 million number.

NBC says “Tonight” and “Late Night” efforts on Wednesday were the highest 18-49 ratings for original episodes since February.