In the year 2025, being the King (or Queen) of Late Night TV isn’t quite the illustrious title it used to be.
However, even in the increasingly uninhabitable landscape that is linear television, late night hosts still hold some level of cultural cache. Sure, we’re not close to Johnny Carson or David Letterman levels of influence these days, but being the most popular host on late night television still has to count for something, right?
Allow me to introduce one name into the modern day late night conversation that should probably be discussed on the same level as any other network late night show: Scott Van Pelt.
Since moving his eponymous show back to his hometown of Washington D.C. in 2020, SVP has beamed out his signature commentary on the day’s sports news well into the early a.m. hours on the East Coast.
And so far this year, the show is clearly resonating with viewers.
According to ESPN PR, SportsCenter with Scott Van Pelt is averaging 1.5 million viewers per episode in the month of January, up 37% versus January of 2024. That’s the show’s best month since December of 2017, when SVP still anchored from ESPN’s headquarters in Bristol, Connecticut.
Late night ‘@SportsCenter with @notthefakeSVP‘ continues to be the post-game destination for sports fans
Viewership after the #CFBPlayoffs & #NFLPlayoffs contributed to the 2nd-largest month in show history pic.twitter.com/cqZ4Ad8b3T
— ESPN PR (@ESPNPR) January 29, 2025
Yes, that average has been boosted by some strong lead-ins. Van Pelt’s show serves as the postgame for ESPN’s flagship properties — which in January included the College Football Playoff and an NFL Wild Card game.
But 1.5 million viewers on average puts SVP firmly in the ballpark of network late night hosts like Jimmy Fallon, Stephen Colbert, and Jimmy Kimmel.
In 2024, The Tonight Show Starring Jimmy Fallon averaged just 1.37 million viewers on NBC according to data from audience measurement firm Nielsen. Jimmy Kimmel Live! notched an average of 1.77 million viewers on ABC. And The Late Show with Stephen Colbert secured the largest audience in late night with an average of 2.57 million viewers on CBS.
Additionally, Van Pelt’s show consistently ranks first among its late night competition in the advertiser-coveted young male demographics.
So it’s very fair to say that SVP is keeping pace with his compeition. And when considering where and when Van Pelt’s show airs, his success is even more impressive.
First off, his show is airing on a cable instead of broadcast, a substantial disadvantage in the age of widespread cord cutting. And often, SVP’s show is starting much later than the traditional late night shows when games run late. Just this Monday, SportsCenter with Scott Van Pelt didn’t begin until nearly 1 a.m. ET after an Iowa State-Arizona college basketball game went into overtime. Conversely, the network late night shows all begin at the same time: 11:35 p.m. ET every single night.
The other impressive thing? Van Pelt does his show live. Those other shows? Pre-taped in the afternoon.
That, in particular, probably gets to the heart of why SVP’s show has been such a huge success for ESPN. His commentary resonates. It’s timely. It’s authoritative. And you know when you watch the show, you’re going to hear directly from the key people involved; coaches, players, analysts and all.
So while SVP is perhaps a nontraditional nominee for the late night throne, he’s a name that should at least be discussed, especially in our current television landscape where a greater percentage of viewers are tuning in for one thing and one thing only: sports.
