Media Decoder Blog: Kimmel Gains in Coveted 18-49 Age Group

On his third day as an 11:35 p.m. late night host, Jimmy Kimmel took his biggest step yet to separate himself from the two titans of that time period, David Letterman and Jay Leno. He started pulling away, at least for one night, among the most important audience in late night.

Those would be viewers between the ages of 18 and 49, who are most desired by late-night advertisers. On Thursday night, Mr. Kimmel put distance between his ABC show and those on NBC and CBS. He attracted 1.24 million viewers in that category, giving him a substantial margin over both Mr. Leno, who had 938,000, and Mr. Letterman, who had 929,000.

In moving Mr. Kimmel up to 11:35, ABC’s chief goal has been to seize control of the younger portion of the late-night audience. Mr. Kimmel, who is 45, is 20 years younger than Mr. Letterman and 17 years younger than Mr. Leno. In displacing the long-time news show, “Nightline,” ABC was seeking to increase its revenue in late night by bringing in more young viewers.

Mr. Kimmel managed to do that Thursday, even though he continued to trail slightly in terms of overall audience numbers. He attracted 3.17 million total viewers, third behind Mr. Leno’s 3.4 million and Mr. Letterman’s 3.29 million.

But Mr. Kimmel and ABC will happily take that outcome because it means the younger composition of his audience is a positive factor for advertising sales.

Article source: http://mediadecoder.blogs.nytimes.com/2013/01/11/kimmel-gains-in-coveted-18-49-age-group/?partner=rss&emc=rss