• by Wayne Friedman , August 18, 2017

CBS’ “The Late Show with Stephen Colbert” is besting all broadcast networks in late-night total viewers. It is also closing the advertising revenue gap with NBC’s “The Tonight Show with Jimmy Fallon.”

From August 14, 2016 to August 13, 2017, “Colbert” pulled in $402.5 million in national TV advertising, according to iSpot.tv. “Fallon” is still ahead with $409.5 million. ABC’s “Jimmy Kimmel Live” is at $324.9 million.

The big five advertising categories for all late-night shows include automakers, movies, insurance companies, mobile devices and department stores.

Through August 11, season-to-date viewers for “Colbert” drew an average 3.3 million Nielsen total viewers, when looking at live program-plus-seven days of time-shifted viewing. “Fallon” had 3 million and “Kimmel” had 2.2 million.

NBC’s “Fallon” still has a commanding lead for key 18-49 viewers — averaging a Nielsen 0.78 rating/4 share, while “Colbert” is at 0.58/3 and “Kimmel” has 0.48/3.

Network late-night programming remains a strong lure for TV advertisers. In the broadcast networks' recent upfront, they claimed high double-digit cost-per-thousand viewer gains — (CPMs) — for late-night shows.