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What’s Behind Jimmy Kimmel’s Ratings Surge?

Dec 3, 2013  •  Post A Comment

Jimmy Kimmel is recording his highest numbers since his time slot change put him in direct competition with Jay Leno and David Letterman, reports the Los Angeles Times’ Company Town.

“Jimmy Kimmel Live” drew an average of 2.86 million viewers for the week of Nov. 18, the most recent numbers available. That was up 15% from the previous week and the biggest audience since the show moved to 11:35 p.m. in January, the piece notes.

"Still, NBC’s ‘Tonight Show with Jay Leno’ and CBS’s ‘Late Show with David Letterman’ drew bigger overall audiences, with 4.12 million for Leno and 3.07 million for Letterman," the Times adds.

In 18 to 49, Kimmel’s program was up 29% week-to-week, the story says, also marking the show’s best performance since the time switch, not including the weeks helped by the NBA Finals in June.

The show may have received a bump from a controversy over his Oct. 16 broadcast, in which a Kids Table segment included a child saying the U.S. should “kill everyone in China” to get rid of the country’s $1.3 trillion debt to the Asian nation, Deadline.com notes. That controversy stirred up a flurry of publicity for the show — negative publicity, for the most part, but publicity nonetheless.

The original skit can be seen by clicking here.

One Comment

  1. I would like to watch Jimmy Kimmel, but in Chicago, it’s nothing but endless commercials (10-minute blocks of ads), so it’s impossible to watch.

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