• by Wayne Friedman , November 21, 2018

Through eight weeks of the new TV season, CBS’ “The Late Show with Stephen Colbert” continues its winning streak when it comes to total viewers, as well as improving its 18-49 viewer metric.

“Late Show” is averaging a big Nielsen 3.57 million viewers, looking at the season-to-date metric, well above NBC’s “Tonight Show with Jimmy Fallon” at 2.37 million and ABC’s “Jimmy Kimmel Live” at 2.09 million.

In recent weeks, “The Late Show” has moved up the ranks in 18-49 viewers -- now virtually tied with “Tonight Show” -- earning 663,000 18-49 viewers (a 0.51 rating/4 share) for “The Late Show” and 664,000 for “Tonight” (a 0.52 rating/4 share).

In week ending November 16, “Tonight” was tops among 18-49 viewers -- at 0.49/3; “Late Show” at 0.43/3; and “Kimmel” at 0.42/3.

The week before, “Late Show” was in first place: 0.48/3 in 18-49; “Tonight” came in at 0.43/3 and “Kimmel” scored a 0.38/3.

The big three TV late-night shows pulled in a collective $1.1 billion in national TV advertising in the November 2017 to November 2018 period, according to iSpot.tv -- the same as the previous-year period.