Colbert up again in late-night heir tussle

“The Late Show with Stephen Colbert” racked up more viewers than “The Tonight Show Starring Jimmy Fallon” for a sixth consecutive week, giving CBS its longest late-night winning streak since the 2009-2010 season.

For the week ended March 10, the “Late Show” averaged 3.23 million viewers — its largest weekly audience since its premiere in September 2015, according to Nielsen.

Fallon’s “Tonight Show” averaged 2.47 million viewers in the same period.

Sources attributed much of “Tonight Show’s” sharp falloff from 2.92 million average viewers the previous week to Fallon’s airing repeats from March 6 to March 10.

Despite the reruns, though, Fallon still drew more viewers in the coveted demographic of 18 to 49, with a rating of 0.6. But Colbert’s 0.5 rating with the ad- vertiser-favored group left Fallon with just a minuscule lead.

For CBS’ total-audience winning streak, “Late Show’s” six-week average of 3.43 million viewers (including delayed viewing) represented an increase of 23 percent over the year-earlier sixweek period.

The streak began the week of President Trump’s inauguration and continues as many Americans relish the CBS host’s satirical take on the country’s controversial leader.

“Stephen Colbert’s kind of humor is clearly working now,” CBS Chief Executive Les Moonves said at a media conference last week. “People want to see social commentary. They don’t want to see fun and games.”

Known for his fawning interviews, Fallon even struck some in his own fan base as being overly obsequious during his playful hair-tussle interview with candidate Trump last September.