ABC's "Jimmy Kimmel Live" Surges to its Biggest Audience since November

Some early points on Jimmy Kimmel Live's weekly numbers, ahead of the regular press release:

During the week of March 12, 2012, ABC's Jimmy Kimmel Live grew over its most recent week of originals two weeks ago by 7% in Total Viewers to attract its largest audience in nearly 4 months - since the week of 11/21/11. JKL was also up over the same week last year by 10% in viewers and by 4% in young adults, marking its 3rd straight week to grow its overall audience over the year-ago week. In fact, JKL stood as the only late-night broadcast talk show to build year to year in either Total Viewers or Adults 18-49.

· ABC's Jimmy Kimmel Live (M-F 12am) topped CBS' The Late Show with David Letterman (M-F 11:35pm) by 14% in Adults 18-34, leading the CBS late-night program in each original head-to-head telecast of the week: Monday (+14%), Tuesday (+8%) and Wednesday (+8%).

· ABC's JKL outperformed CBS' The Late Late Show with Craig Ferguson (M-F 12:35am) by impressive double-digit margins in both Total Viewers (+38%) and Adults 18-49 (a season-best +29%), marking the 19th time in the 26 weeks of the season for the ABC late-night program to beat the CBS program in both Nielsen measures. In fact, JKL has drawn a larger overall audience than Ferguson in 25 of 26 weeks this season.

· Season to date (26 weeks), Jimmy Kimmel Live is building its overall audience through the same weeks last year by 4% in Total Viewers, growing the most year to year of any late-night broadcast talk show.

Ratings report for ABC News' Nightline For week of March 12, 2012

ABC's "Nightline" Stands as the No. 1 Program in Latenight for the 3rd Consecutive Week in All Target Demos

"Nightline" Sees Week-to-Week Improvement in Total Viewers, Adults 25-54, and Adults 18-49, Hitting a 4-Week High in the Key Adult News Demo

Season to Date, "Nightline" is Taking the Top Spot in Overall Viewers and in the Key Adult News Demo for the 2nd Straight Year

ABC's "Nightline" stood as the No. 1 program in latenight for the 3rd consecutive week in all target demos: Total Viewers (3.802 million), Adults 25-54 (1.492 million) and Adults 18-49 (1.108 million), for the week of March 12, 2012, according to Nielsen Media Research. In fact, for the 4th time in the last 5 weeks, "Nightline" has ranked No. 1 in all 3 measures.

"Nightline" saw week-to-week improvement in Total Viewers (+2%), Adults 25-54 (+4%) and Adults 18-49 (+6%), hitting a 4-week high in the key adult news demo - best since w/o 2/13/12.

Season to date, "Nightline" ranks No. 1 in latenight among Total Viewers, Adults 25-54 and Adults 18-49, ahead of both NBC's "The Tonight Show" and CBS' "The Late Show." This marks the 2nd straight year that the ABC program is taking the top spot in overall viewers and in the key adult news demo.

Note: Due to CBS' coverage of NCAA Basketball, "The Late Show" was delayed and broken out on Thu (3/15/12) and Fri (3/16/12); ratings are excluded from the averages.

ABC News' "Nightline" is anchored by Cynthia McFadden, Terry Moran and Bill Weir. Juju Chang is a correspondent. Jeanmarie Condon is the Executive Producer. The program airs weeknights from 11:35 p.m., ET to 12:00 a.m. on the ABC Television Network.

(Week of March 12, 2012)

PROGRAM AVERAGES TOTAL VIEWERS A25-54(000)/ Rtg A18-49(000)/ Rtg

ABC "Nightline" 3,802,000 1,492,000/ 1.2 1,108,000/ 0.9

CBS "Late Show" 2,736,000 1,205,000/ 1.0 952,000/ 0.7

NBC "Tonight Show" 3,773,000 1,431,000/ 1.2 1,049,000/ 0.8

Source: The Nielsen Company, NTI (Total Viewers and Adults 25-54); Live+SD for 3/12/12, 3/5/12 & 3/14/11. Most Current: 2011-2012 Season (9/19/11 - 3/18/12) and 2010-2011 Season (9/20/10 - 3/20/11).

Fringe Ratings Report: ABC Late-Night Programming Week of March 12, 2012

With its Largest Audience in 2 Months, ABC is the Week's No. 1 Network in Late-Night in Both Total Viewers and Adults 18-49

ABC's "Nightline" Sees Week-to-Week Improvement in Total Viewers, Adults 25-54 and Adults 18-49, Hitting a 4-Week High in the Key Adult News Demo

ABC's "Jimmy Kimmel Live" Soars to its Biggest Audience Since November

ABC Late-Night (Monday - Friday)

With its lineup of "Nightline" and "Jimmy Kimmel Live" during the week of March 12, 2012, ABC saw increases over the prior week of 9% in Total Viewers (2.386 million vs. 2.181 million) and 19% in Adults 18-49 (809,000 vs. 682,000), drawing its biggest audience in late-night in 8 weeks - since the week of 1/16/12.

ABC also grew its overall late-night audience year to year for the 3rd consecutive week (+2% - 2.386 million vs. 2.345 million) and once again stood as the only broadcaster to see yearly growth in Total Viewers (CBS was down -16%; NBC was down -4%).

· For the 2nd week in a row, ABC finished as the most-watched network in late-night in Total Viewers (2.386 million), beating CBS by 15% (2.067 million) and NBC by 6% (2.258 million).

· ABC also ranked No. 1 in late-night in Adults 18-49 (809,000), leading CBS by 7% (753,000) and NBC by 10% (737,000).

"Nightline" (Monday - Friday)

ABC's "Nightline" stood as the No. 1 program in late-night for the 3rd consecutive week in all target demos -- Total Viewers (3.802 million), Adults 25-54 (1.492 million) and Adults 18-49 (1.108 million) -- for the week of March 12, 2012, according to Nielsen Media Research. In fact, for the 4th time in the last 5 weeks, "Nightline" has ranked No. 1 in all 3 measures.

"Nightline" saw week-to-week improvement in Total Viewers (+2%), Adults 25-54 (+4%) and Adults 18-49 (+6%), hitting a 4-week high in the key adult news demo - best since w/o 2/13/12.

Season to date, "Nightline" ranks No. 1 in late-night among Total Viewers, Adults 25-54 and Adults 18-49, ahead of both NBC's "The Tonight Show" and CBS' "The Late Show." This marks the 2nd straight year that the ABC program is taking the top spot in overall viewers and in the key adult news demo.

"Jimmy Kimmel Live" (Monday - Friday)

During the week of March 12, 2012, ABC's "Jimmy Kimmel Live" grew over its most recent week of originals two weeks ago by 7% in Total Viewers (1.872 million vs. 1.743 million) to attract its largest audience in nearly 4 months - since w/o 11/21/11. "JKL" was also up over the same week last year by 10% in viewers (1.872 million vs. 1.706 million) and by 4% in young adults (700,000 vs. 676,000), marking its 3rd straight week to grow its overall audience year to year. In fact, "JKL" stood as the only late-night broadcast talk show to build over the year-ago week (w/o 3/14/11) in either Total Viewers or Adults 18-49.

· ABC's "Jimmy Kimmel Live" (M-F 12:00 a.m.) topped CBS' "The Late Show with David Letterman" (M-F 11:35 p.m.) by 14% in Adults 18-34 (237,000 vs. 208,000), leading the CBS late-night program in each corresponding original telecast of the week: Monday (+14%), Tuesday (+8%) and Wednesday (+8%).

· ABC's "JKL" outperformed CBS' "The Late Late Show with Craig Ferguson" (M-F 12:35 a.m.) by impressive double-digit margins in both Total Viewers (+38% - 1.872 million vs. 1.357 million) and Adults 18-49 (a season-best +29% - 700,000 vs. 541,000), marking the 19th time in the 26 weeks of the season for the ABC late-night program to beat the CBS program in both Nielsen measures. In fact, for the 25th week of 26 this season, "JKL" has drawn a larger overall audience than "Ferguson."

· Season to date (26 weeks), "Jimmy Kimmel Live" is building its overall audience through the same weeks last year by 4% in Total Viewers (1.763 million vs. 1.703 million), growing the most year to year of any late-night broadcast talk show.

Late-Night Rank (Week of Mar 12): TOTAL VIEWERS A18-49(000)

ABC 2,386,000 809,000

CBS 2,067,000 753,000

NBC 2,258,000 737,000

Note: Due to CBS' coverage of NCAA Basketball, "The Late Show" and "The Late Late Show" were delayed and broken out on Thu (3/15/12) and Fri (3/16/12); ratings are excluded from CBS' averages.

Source: The Nielsen Company, Live + Same Day National Program Ratings for week of 3/12/12, 3/5/12 & 3/14/11 or as dated. Most Current: 11-2012 Season (9/19 - 3/18/12) and 2010-2011 Season (9/20 - 3/20/11). Comparisons based on 000s. ABC Late-Night = "Nightline" and "JKL"; CBS Late-Night = "Letterman" and "Ferguson"; NBC Late-Night = "Tonight Show," "Fallon" and "Carson Daly."