ABC's "Jimmy Kimmel Live" Attracts its Biggest Audience in Nearly 6 Months

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

During the week following his headlining appearance at the 2012 White House Correspondents' Dinner (week of April 30, 2012), ABC's Jimmy Kimmel Live grew for the 2nd consecutive week in Total Viewers to draw its biggest audience in nearly 6 months - since the week of 11/21/11. In addition, JKL increased its audience over the same week last year for the 5th week in a row (+4%) and stood as the only late-night talk show (broadcast or cable) to see year-to-year growth.

· During the week, ABC's JKL stood as the #3 talk show in late-night in Total Viewers, behind only NBC's The Tonight Show with Jay Leno and CBS' The Late Show with David Letterman.

· ABC's Jimmy Kimmel Live (M-F 12am) outdrew NBC's Late Night with Jimmy Fallon (M-F 12:35am) by 11% in Total Viewers, drawing a larger overall audience than the NBC late-night program for the 6th week running.

· ABC's Jimmy Kimmel Live outperformed CBS' The Late Late Show with Craig Ferguson (M-F 12:35am) by a hefty 29% in Total Viewers, outdrawing the CBS program in 32 of the 33 weeks this season, while also beating Ferguson by an impressive 39% in Adults 18-49. The ABC late-night program topped Ferguson in 4 of the 5 days of the week on both Nielsen measures. In fact, for the 5th consecutive week, a repeat telecast of JKL on Friday outperformed an original telecast of Ferguson in both Total Viewers (+20%) and Adults 18-49 (+44%).

Season to date (33 weeks), ABC's JKL is building its overall audience through the same weeks last year by 3% in Total Viewers, standing as the only late-night broadcast talk show to grow year over year.

· Season to date, ABC's Jimmy Kimmel Live is the #3 broadcast talk show in late-night in Total Viewers, outdrawing both NBC's Late Night with Jimmy Fallon and CBS' The Late Late Show with Craig Ferguson.

Ratings report for ABC News' Nightline For week of April 30, 2012

ABC's "Nightline" Ranks as the No. 1 Program in Latenight for the 6th Consecutive Week

"Nightline" Finished as the Top Program in Latenight in All 3 Measures for the 9th Time in the Last 10 Weeks

Season to Date, "Nightline" Ranks No. 1 in Latenight Among Total Viewers, Adults 25-54 and Adults 18-49

ABC's "Nightline" finished as the No. 1 program in latenight for the 6th week in a row in Total Viewers (3.865 million), Adults 25-54 (1.514 million) and Adults 18-49 (1.141 million), for the week of April 30, 2012, according to Nielsen Media Research. "Nightline" finished as the top program in latenight in all 3 measures for the 9th time in the last 10 weeks.

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 all 3 measures.

During the week of April 30, Nightline covered President Obama's trip to Afghanistan, investigated and broke the widely covered story on a potentially deadly problem with F-22 fighter jets, looked into airlines' policies of charging overweight individuals more for extra seat space and featured an interview with William Levy.

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 April 30, 2012)

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

ABC "Nightline" 3,865,000 1,514,000/ 1.3 1,141,000/ 0.9

CBS "Late Show" 3,054,000 1,214,000/ 1.0 872,000/ 0.7

NBC "Tonight Show" 3,609,000 1,367,000/ 1.1 1,045,000/ 0.8

Source: The Nielsen Company, NTI (Total Viewers and Adults 25-54); Live+SD for 4/30/12, 4/23/12 & 5/2/11. Most Current: 2011-2012 Season (9/19/11 - 5/6/12) and 2010-2011 Season (9/20/10 - 5/8/11).

Fringe Ratings Report: ABC Late-Night Programming Week of April 30, 2012

With the Most Wins in Late-Night, ABC is Again the Week's Most-Watched Network

ABC's "Nightline" is the No. 1 Program in Late-Night for the 6th Consecutive Week

ABC's "Jimmy Kimmel Live" Attracts its Biggest Audience in Nearly 6 Months

ABC Late-Night (Monday - Friday)

· With its lineup of "Nightline" and "Jimmy Kimmel Live" during the week of April 30, 2012, ABC qualified as the most-watched network in late-night (2.432 million) for the 6th week in a row, topping CBS (2.261 million) and NBC (2.257 million) each by 8%. ABC has stood as the No. 1 network in Total Viewers in 15 of the 33 weeks this season, claiming the most number of wins in late-night.

· ABC also ranked as the No. 1 network in late-night in Adults 18-49 (818,000) for the 4th week running, beating CBS by 19% (688,000) and NBC by 8% (756,000).

"Nightline" (Monday - Friday)

ABC's "Nightline" finished as the No. 1 program in late-night for the 6th week in a row in Total Viewers (3.865 million), Adults 25-54 (1.514 million) and Adults 18-49 (1.141 million), for the week of April 30, 2012, according to Nielsen Media Research. "Nightline" finished as the top program in late-night in all 3 measures for the 9th time in the last 10 weeks.

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 has taken the top spot on all 3 measures.

"Jimmy Kimmel Live" (Monday - Friday)

During the week following his headlining appearance at the 2012 White House Correspondents' Dinner (week of April 30, 2012), ABC's "Jimmy Kimmel Live" grew for the 2nd consecutive week in Total Viewers (1.907 million) to draw its biggest audience in nearly 6 months - since the week of 11/21/11. In addition, "JKL" increased its audience over the same week last year for the 5th week in a row (+4% - 1.840 million on week of 5/2/11) and stood as the only late-night talk show (broadcast or cable) to see year-to-year growth.

· During the week, ABC's "JKL" stood as the No. 3 talk show in late-night in Total Viewers (1.907 million), behind only NBC's "The Tonight Show with Jay Leno" (3.609 million) and CBS' "The Late Show with David Letterman" (3.054 million).

· ABC's "Jimmy Kimmel Live" (M-F 12:00 a.m.) outdrew NBC's "Late Night with Jimmy Fallon" (M-F 12:35 a.m.) by 11% in Total Viewers (1.907 million vs. 1.715 million), drawing a larger overall audience than the NBC late-night program for the 6th week running.

· ABC's "Jimmy Kimmel Live" outperformed CBS' "The Late Late Show with Craig Ferguson" (M-F 12:35 a.m.) by a hefty 29% in Total Viewers (1.907 million vs. 1.475 million), outdrawing the CBS program in 32 of the 33 weeks this season, while also beating "Ferguson" by an impressive 39% in Adults 18-49 (700,000 vs. 505,000). The ABC late-night program topped "Ferguson" on 4 of the 5 days of the week on both Nielsen measures. In fact, for the 5th consecutive week, a repeat telecast of "JKL" on Friday outperformed an original telecast of "Ferguson" in both Total Viewers (+20% - 1.802 million vs. 1.501 million) and Adults 18-49 (+44% - 583,000 vs. 405,000).

Season to date (33 weeks), ABC's "Jimmy Kimmel Live" is building its overall audience through the same weeks last year by 3% in Total Viewers (1.783 million vs. 1.729 million), standing as the only late-night broadcast talk show to grow year over year.

· ABC's "Jimmy Kimmel Live" is the No. 3 broadcast talk show in late-night in Total Viewers (1.783 million) this season, outdrawing both NBC's "Late Night with Jimmy Fallon" (1.765 million) and CBS' "The Late Late Show with Craig Ferguson" (1.533 million).

Late-Night Rank (Week of Apr 30): TOTAL VIEWERS A18-49(000)

ABC 2,432,000 818,000

CBS 2,261,000 688,000

NBC 2,257,000 756,000

Source: The Nielsen Company, Live + Same Day National Program Ratings for week of 4/30/12, 4/23/12 & 5/2/11 or as dated. Most Current: 11-2012 Season (9/19 - 5/6/12) and 2010-2011 Season (9/20 - 5/8/11). 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."