Jimmy Kimmel is pushing back on the familiar storyline that late-night TV is fading into irrelevance. In a new Variety interview published Monday morning, the Jimmy Kimmel Live! host allowed that “network television is declining, there’s no question about that,” but pointed out that late night’s reach is greater today than it’s ever been.
“When Carson was at his peak, he was getting around 9 million viewers a night,” Kimmel said. “Our monologues get between 2 and 5 million views, sometimes more, every night. Seth Meyers gets 2 million on YouTube alone. The Daily Show—Jon Stewart on a Monday night will get 5 million views. Then you add in the TV ratings.” By that math, Kimmel insisted, “the idea that late-night is dead is simply untrue.”
The problem, he said, is that the industry and press still focus on the shrinking linear-TV audience. “People just aren’t watching it on network television in the numbers they used to—or live, for that matter,” Kimmel explained.
Kimmel argued that when compared to streaming benchmarks, late night looks even stronger: “If you really look at how people are watching these shows, and the numbers, it’s right up there with the top shows on Netflix and Hulu.”
So while it may be an easy headline to say late night is past its prime, Kimmel dismissed the idea: “In the media, you’d think this is a rotting corpse—which it most certainly is not. It just doesn’t add up. It’s a great storyline for the press, but it’s simply not true.”
Speaking of not adding up, Kimmel also slammed reports that Colbert’s Late Show is losing $40 million. “I just want to say that the idea that Stephen Colbert’s show was losing $40 million a year is beyond nonsensical,” he said. “These alleged insiders who supposedly analyze the budgets of the shows—I don’t know who they are, but I do know they don’t know what they’re talking about.”
He argued that analysts are ignoring a huge part of the financial picture. “They seem to only be focused on advertising revenue and have completely forgotten about affiliate fees, which number in the hundreds of millions probably in total billions—and you must allocate a certain percentage of those fees to late-night shows,” Kimmel explained. “It really is surprising how little the media seems to know about how the media works.”
The notion that Colbert’s show could be bleeding that much money, Kimmel said, is absurd: “There’s just not a snowball’s chance in hell that that’s anywhere near accurate.”
Kimmel also pointed to his own experience with similar speculation. “I will tell you, the first 10 years I did the show, they claimed we weren’t making any money—and we had five times as many viewers on ABC as we do now,” he recalled. “Who knows what’s true? All I know is they keep paying us—and that’s kind of all you need to know.”
Before any trolls try to claim first comment and bash Kimmel, gonna say that I’m glad Kimmel has been very proactive and insightful in reaction to Colbert’s cancellation and late night as a whole. He hasn’t hosted all summer but he’s definitely been making media waves voicing support for Colbert all the way
It was also nice to know that his friendship with his fellow late night hosts happened because of the strike and has continued ever since; if history had to repeat itself, I’m glad that the strikes brought the late night hosts closer as it was with Colbert, Stewart and Conan back in 2008
To put it simply, late night isn’t dead, it just had to keep up with the internet landscape and the real $$$ should come from those online ad revenues~
Crossing my fingers Kimmel is right about Colbert and the Late Show getting an upset win~
Late night died when Conan left NBC. You cannot seriously claim it’s still alive. It’s a relic and the clowns at the helm are doing nothing but sowing seeds of seperation. If you watch a show that’s 90% about a certain politician, sorry, you’re obsessed and it’s time to go. Late night shows are for emergency waiting rooms and fir white noise when the elderly fall asleep at night.
Okay, Conan bias. I’ve seen the internet be very vocal and lamenting when he left late night, but you can’t generalize the death of late night to one guy. And as someone who is fond of almost every late night host, Conan included, I can tell late night is dead to “you”. Even if you aren’t fond of the other hosts, they’re at least authentic and still have integrity whether or not you agree with their opinions and segments. And the current roast of hosts at least lead their staff respectfully and don’t treat them like shit.
You can call me obsessed and unserious, but I would rather lean on late night and comedians detecting BS more than conspirators, ego-playing debate bros, and heartless pundits who truly divide the country further in fear.
Wait about Craig Ferguson? David Letterman? Jon Stewart? God forbid Jay Leno? Or when Conan left TBS, because he was still pretty damn popular and influential despite being kicked out of NBC.
It died when Leno weaseled his way back into the Tonight Show chair, then handed it off to Fuckface Fallon, who has no business hosting a talk show!
Several national TV commercials on late night make more than any online ad revenue
Online ad revenue is less than nothing compared to national tv linear commercials.
Late night TV is the only thing that saves us from this insane administration.
Love all of them
And here it is.
Once late-night programs became therapy for only liberals exclaiming how awesome they are and their opinions are 100% correct, the die was cast.
And here IT is!
Whiny assed excuses from right wingers, like this loser, in order to make them feel good about themselves, rather than have to make the effort to improve their lot in life!
Trump’s in the Epstein Files lol
That’s right, stupid, he is! Why the fuck do you think he’s staging all this bullshit right now? He’s trying to distract everyone!
And you’re bone numbingly stupid enough to begin with!
Kimmel is either being stupid or lying on two main items:
“Our monologues get between 2 and 5 million views, sometimes more, every night. Seth Meyers gets 2 million on YouTube alone. The Daily Show—Jon Stewart on a Monday night will get 5 million views. Then you add in the TV ratings.”
Those views are not unique viewers and they are world-wide. Carson, Leno, Letterman were getting those millions from mainly American TV viewers on an individual basis.
“They seem to only be focused on advertising revenue and have completely forgotten about affiliate fees, which number in the hundreds of millions probably in total billions—and you must allocate a certain percentage of those fees to late-night shows,”
Those affiliate fees come from the entire network and not just 1-hour program in late-night. And half of the advertising revenue for late night goes to the affiliates, not just CBS and ABC. So, yes, they were losing tens of millions per year
“I will tell you, the first 10 years I did the show, they claimed we weren’t making any money—and we had five times as many viewers on ABC as we do now,” he recalled. “Who knows what’s true? All I know is they keep paying us—and that’s kind of all you need to know.”
The chutzpah on this guy. As if the networks can keep on throwing aways millions to money-losing programs for more decades. Geez.
I stopped reading your post after the first sentence, because it was stupid. So everything else is automatically stupid.
So much time you wasted, typing that shit down!
You do have difficulty reading. It must be the public school education.
Still, you seem slightly saner than Dennis Perkins and Victor the KKK (Crab)
May they forever RIP.
You’re whole personna is fucking stupid! You think you’re the smartest, most cleverest person around, when, in reality, you project more than a multiplex! No wonder Drumpf loves you poorly educated! You can’t think for yourselves!
This dude seems deranged I swear. I’m not sure what kind of breast-milk Donald Trump has been feeding this guy for the past 10 years, but clearly ol’ Mark here has gone off the deep end.
He can’t help it, he was born that way! A racist, sexist, homophobic loser who thinks his pasty white skin gives him all the entitlement and privilege in the world to throw his morbidly obese weight around!
I agree with Jimmy Kimmel. I know so many people who watch the Show through Live Streaming , or when they can‘t, watch it through YouTube Here in Europe these guys are all big and are addicting.