What To Know
- Jimmy Kimmel’s summer vacation boosted The Tonight Show Starring Jimmy Fallon to the top of late-night ratings.
- Jimmy Kimmel Live! aired only reruns and saw a significant ratings drop.
- Kimmel’s summer breaks have been part of his contract since 2020.
Jimmy Kimmel’s summer vacation is good business for The Tonight Show Starring Jimmy Fallon, which topped late-night broadcast TV’s ratings chart during the week of June 21, during Kimmel’s absence.
NBC’s The Tonight Show won the 11:35 p.m. ET hour, averaging 1.48 million total viewers (up 14%) and 186,000 adults 18 to 49 (up 1%) across four original episodes and one rerun that week, according to Nielsen ratings cited by LateNighter.
ABC’s Jimmy Kimmel Live!, meanwhile, aired only reruns and averaged 1.42 million total viewers (down 44%) and 150,000 adults 18 to 49 (down 45%).
And CBS’ Comics Unleashed With Byron Allen, which recently replaced the canceled Late Show With Stephen Colbert, stayed in a distant third place, averaging 700,000 total viewers and 85,000 adults 18 to 49 across its two half-hour episodes during the same time slot.
Comics Unleashed/YouTube
ABC’s Nightline won the 12:35 a.m. ET hour, scoring 857,000 total viewers (down 15%) and 75,000 adults 18 to 49 (down 30%) with five first-run episodes.
In the same time slot, NBC’s Late Night With Seth Meyers averaged 692,000 total viewers (down 24%) and 86,000 adults 18 to 49 (down 15%) with five repeats.
CBS’ Funny You Should Ask averaged 480,000 viewers (up 7%) and 77,000 adults 18 to 49 (up 33%) at 12:35 a.m.
Kimmel has been taking summer breaks from Jimmy Kimmel Live! since 2020, with those vacations a part of his contract with ABC, according to Deadline. He signed off for his latest break on June 18, and guest hosts will soon emcee his show in his absence. Tiffany Haddish will start guest-hosting the show on Monday, July 6, and Colman Domingo, Ike Barinholtz, Anthony Anderson, and Jelly Roll will do so later this summer.
