Overview
- Nielsen figures show Jimmy Kimmel Live! averaged 3.15 million viewers in June, the program’s strongest monthly audience in its 23‑year run.
- The June jump represented roughly a 17 percent rise in total viewers from May and a 109 percent increase in adults 18–49, producing the show’s best demo performance in six years.
- Kimmel told Variety on Wednesday that he cheekily thanked CBS for the boost and said he invited Stephen Colbert to guest‑host, an offer Colbert declined as “premature.”
- Kimmel is on his summer sabbatical and the show is running a guest‑host rotation that has included Tiffany Haddish, Anthony Anderson, Ike Barinholtz, Colman Domingo, Rosie O’Donnell and Jelly Roll.
- CBS announced last July that it would end The Late Show and the timing of that decision, tied in coverage to a Paramount settlement with President Donald Trump, has fed viewer movement and could prompt networks to rethink late‑night programming and the value of live television.