‘Tonight Show’ Repeats Win Week; ‘Jimmy Kimmel Live’ Grows In Brooklyn

Broadcasting from Brooklyn, New York, ABC’s Jimmy Kimmel Live delivered its largest overall audience since airing from Austin, Texas back in March, growing over the prior week by 25% in total viewers, to 2.78M viewers. Kimmel also climbed 29%, week to week, in the demo (0.67/3), posting a four-month high with his best stats since the week of June 8. (Excluding the NBA finals-led week in June, Kimmel delivered his best performance among young adults since the week of March 9.)

But repeat episodes of NBC’s Tonight Show Starring Jimmy Fallon won the week, besting Kimmel’s Brooklyn broadcasts and repeats of CBS’s Late Show with Stephen Colbert (2.30M). Fallon’s 0.88/4 rating in the demo and his 3.220 million total viewers overall were his highest stats in both metrics for a week of repeats since last New Year’s Week, December 29, 2014-January 2, 2015. Kimmel’s Brooklyn broadcasts tied Fallon for No. 1 status with men 18-34; in all other key metrics, Fallon’s encores ranked No. 1, including adults and women 18-34, and adults, men and women 18-49 and 25-54. (The Late Show repeats logged a 0.57/3 in 18-49 for the week).

Fallon’s repeats weren’t just any repeat episodes; show cleverly packed the week with some of his most popular recent guests, including Justin Timberlake and Hillary Clinton.

Kimmel, meanwhile, improved on his first JKL Brooklyn week, three years ago, by 21% in overall audience; his stats held steady in the demo.  This latest Brooklyn week grew over year-ago week by 3% in the demos and held steady in total viewers. His Wednesday show’s Back to the Future Day celebration, featuring  Michael J. Fox and Democratic Presidential candidate Bernie Sanders scored Jimmy Kimmel Live’s strongest Wednesday telecast in almost a year in total viewers and in the demo. Thursday’s broadcast with Bradley Cooper, Joy Behar and Paul Shaffer and music from Esperanza Spalding, marked the show’s most-watched telecast on any night since June 11.