Seth Meyers' election special reaches 73% more viewers than in 2020

As TheWrap exclusively revealed, Seth Meyers' post-debate primetime special, “A Closer Look,” drew 73% more viewers than his 2020 entry.

The hour-long election special, which aired Wednesday, Sept. 11 — one day after the first debate between Vice President Kamala Harris and former President Donald Trump — drew 2.6 million viewers when it aired from 10 p.m. to 11 p.m. ET on NBC, according to Nielsen live-plus-same-day numbers.

That's a 73% increase from Meyers' 2020 election special, which aired as a half-hour segment in October 2020. The 2024 episode, “A Closer Look,” also saw an increase in the key broadcast demo among 18- to 49-year-olds compared to four years ago.

The special was viewed over 2 million times on YouTube and attracted more than 5.5 million viewers on social media platforms such as Instagram, TikTok and X (formerly Twitter).

Broadcasting live from Studio 8G at Rockefeller Center, “Late Night With Seth Meyers” extended its regular “Closer Look” segment into prime time to analyze the Harris-Trump debate, which aired live from Philadelphia the night before, Tuesday, Sept. 10.

Meyers mocked projections that predicted the debate would draw a larger audience than the 1998 series finale of “Seinfeld.” That ultimately didn't pan out, as the ABC News-hosted event drew 67.14 million viewers — not quite enough to surpass the finale's 76 million viewers. Still, the moderator pointed to parallels between the events.

“I mean, Trump is afraid of germs, is a pathological liar, is a completely unpredictable human being, and Harris is, you know, vice president,” Meyers joked, showing graphics of Jerry, George Costanza, Kramer and Julia Louis-Dreyfus for the respective descriptions.

“Late Night With Seth Meyers” is produced by Universal Television, a division of Universal Studio Group, and Broadway Video. Lorne Michaels is executive produced and Mike Shoemaker is producer.

The special is now streaming on Peacock.