ABC's "Jimmy Kimmel Live" Grows for the 2nd Straight Week to its Best Numbers in 1 Month

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

During the week of July 16, 2012, ABC's Jimmy Kimmel Live grew for the 2nd consecutive week in both Total Viewers and Adults 18-49 to deliver its best performance in 1 month - since the week of 6/18/12. JKL was also up over the year-ago week by 11% in Viewers and by 5% in young adults, marking its 2nd straight week of year-over-year growth. In fact, the ABC program stood as the only late-night broadcast talk show to see yearly increases in both Nielsen measures.

· During the week, ABC's Jimmy Kimmel Live (M-F 12am) stood as the #3 talk show in late-night in Total Viewers, behind only NBC's The Tonight Show with Jay Leno (M-F 11:35pm) and CBS' The Late Show with David Letterman (M-F 11:35pm).

· ABC's JKL topped NBC's Late Night with Jimmy Fallon (M-F 12:35am) by 5% in Total Viewers and by 2% in Adults 18-49. In addition, on Friday, a repeat telecast of JKL outdelivered an original Fallon by 5% in Viewers and by 33% among young adults.

· ABC's JKL outperformed CBS' The Late Late Show with Craig Ferguson (M-F 12:35am) in both Total Viewers (+59%) and Adults 18-49 (+64%) for the 19th week in a row. In fact, JKL has drawn a larger overall audience than Ferguson in 43 of the 44 weeks this season. In addition, the ABC late-night program beat Ferguson in all 5 days of the week in both Viewers and young adults for the 6th time in the last 7 weeks.

· Season to date (44 weeks), JKL is building its overall audience over the comparable weeks last year by 4% in Total Viewers, growing the most year to year of any late-night broadcast talk show.

Fringe Ratings Report: ABC Late-Night Programming Week of July 16, 2012

ABC Ranks as Late-Night's No. 1 Network in Total Viewers and Scores its 2nd-Biggest Audience This Summer

ABC's "Nightline" Ranks No. 1 in Late-Night for the 2nd Week in a Row

ABC's "Jimmy Kimmel Live" Delivers its Best Performance in 1 Month

ABC Late-Night (Monday - Friday)

During the week of July 16, 2012, ABC grew its overall audience for the 3rd week in a row to deliver its 2nd-most-watched week in late-night this summer to date (2.212 million). ABC was also up over the prior week for the 2nd consecutive week among Adults 18-49 (732,000) to earn its best young adult number in late-night in 1 month - since the week of 6/18/12. Together, "Nightline" and "Jimmy Kimmel Live" form ABC's winning late-night strategy of airing news and entertainment programming.

ABC posted year-to-year gains for the 2nd week in a row in both Total Viewers (+8%) and Adults 18-49 (+4%) and stood as the only broadcaster to see yearly growth in either Nielsen measure, as CBS both (-14%/-28%) and NBC (-8%/-13%) each saw losses.

· ABC (2.212 million) outdrew CBS (1.722 million) by 28% and NBC (2.061 million) by 7% to rank as late-night's most-watched network for the 3rd week running. In fact, ABC has ranked as the No. 1 network in Total Viewers in 24 of the 44 weeks of the season - more than CBS (14) and NBC (6) combined.

· Standing as late-night's No. 1 network for the 2nd week running in Adults 18-49, ABC (732,000) increased its leads over CBS to 39% (527,000) and NBC to 11% (662,000), from 33% and 5%, respectively, the prior week. ABC has qualified as the top-rated network among young adults for the 23rd time this season, marking the most number of wins in late-night.

"Nightline" (Monday - Friday)

For the week of July 16, 2012, ABC's "Nightline" ranked as the No. 1 program in late-night for the 2nd week in a row across all key target demos: Total Viewers (3.606 million), Adults 25-54 (1.376 million) and Adults 18-49 (1.049 million), according to Nielsen Media Research. "Nightline" has ranked as the No. 1 late-night program in all 3 demos in 15 of the last 17 weeks.

"Nightline" has taken the No. 1 position in 31 weeks in Total Viewers, 35 weeks in Adults 25-54 and 34 weeks in Adults 18-49 of the 44 weeks of the season to date.

For the 2nd straight week "Nightline" saw gains over the previous week in Total Viewers (+1%), Adults 25-54 (+4%) and Adults 18-49 (+4%), drawing its largest overall audience in 5 weeks - since w/o 6/11/12.

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 3rd straight season that the ABC program is taking the top spot in overall viewers and 2nd season in a row in the key adult news demo.

"Jimmy Kimmel Live" (Monday - Friday)

During the week of July 16, 2012, ABC's "Jimmy Kimmel Live" grew for the 2nd consecutive week in both Total Viewers (+1% - 1.649 million vs. 1.629 million) and Adults 18-49 (+2% - 604,000 vs. 593,000) to deliver its best performance in 1 month - since w/o of 6/18/12. "JKL" was also up over the year-ago week (1.489 million and 573,000 on w/o 7/18/11) by 11% in Viewers and by 5% in young adults, marking its 2nd straight week of year-over-year growth. In fact, the ABC program was the only late-night broadcast talk show to see yearly increases in both Nielsen measures.

· During the week, ABC's "Jimmy Kimmel Live" stood as the No. 3 talk show in late-night in Total Viewers (1.649 million), behind only NBC's "The Tonight Show with Jay Leno" (3.294 million) and CBS' "The Late Show with David Letterman" (2.408 million).

· ABC's "JKL" (M-F 12:00 a.m.) topped NBC's "Late Night with Jimmy Fallon" (M-F 12:35 a.m.) by 5% in Total Viewers (1.649 million vs. 1.573 million) and by 2% in Adults 18-49 (604,000 vs. 592,000). In addition, on Friday, a repeat telecast of "JKL" outdelivered an original "Fallon" by 5% in Viewers (1.873 million vs. 1.786 million) and by 33% among young adults (765,000 vs. 575,000).

· ABC's "JKL" outperformed CBS' "The Late Late Show with Craig Ferguson" (M-F 12:35 a.m.) in both Total Viewers (+59% - 1.649 million vs. 1.035 million) and Adults 18-49 (+64% - 604,000 vs. 368,000) for the 19th week in a row. In fact, "JKL" has drawn a larger overall audience than "Ferguson" in 43 of the 44 weeks this season. In addition, the ABC late-night program beat "Ferguson" in all 5 days of the week in both Viewers and young adults for the 6th time in the last 7 weeks.

· Season to date, ABC's "Jimmy Kimmel Live" is building its overall audience over the comparable weeks last year by 4% in Total Viewers (1.780 million vs. 1.711 million), qualifying as the only late-night broadcast talk show to grow year to year.

Late-Night Rank (Week of July 16): TOTAL VIEWERS A18-49(000)

ABC 2,212,000 732,000

CBS 1,722,000 527,000

NBC 2,061,000 662,000

Source: The Nielsen Company, Live + Same Day National Program Ratings for week of 7/16/12, 7/9/12 & 7/18/11 or as dated. Summer = Memorial Day through Labor Day. 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."