With a steady increase in viewership over the past year and rising ad revenue, ABC’s late night talk show Jimmy Kimmel Live will officially be moving to the coveted 11.35 pm time-slot this January.
The announcement comes on the eve of the show’s 10th anniversary and an extension of Kimmel’s contract until 2015.
When the show premieres in the brand new time slot, it will effectively be competing directly with NBC’s The Tonight Show with Jay Leno and CBS’s Late Show with David Letterman.
As part of the move, ABC’s Nightline will be pushed back to 12.35 am, as well as an hour of primetime on Fridays at 9 p.m.
In a statement, Disney/ABC Television Group President Anne Sweeney released a statement earlier today, saying; “There is the potential for far greater upside over the long term with this shift, given increased advertiser demand for competitive entertainment programming in the time slots. This shift also allows us to bookend our programming day with compelling news content.”
Kimmel’s ratings have been surging in 2012, surpassing both the Tonight Show and Late Show during July rating sweeps. Kimmel has also been making gains in new media, garnering a significant following on both YouTube and the ABC website. He recently surpassed 600 million views on YouTube, with clips of his shows being made available on the site soon after broadcast.
Watch Jimmy Kimmel’s recent interview with Tom Arnold below:
http://youtu.be/G-dziom1T5o
