We’re three days into Jimmy Kimmel’s ABC late night show airing at 11:35, and he’s already beating Leno and Letterman in the 18-49 demographic but not overall.  The 18-49 age group is a very lucrative market for advertisers that makes shows that can draw said audience very appealing to networks. Here’s the ratings data (via Deadline) for those of you who follow these late night battles like sports people follow sports stuff:
Thursday audience, 18-49:
Kimmel: 1.241 million
Leno: 938,000
Letterman: 929,000
Thursday audience, overall:
Leno: 3.4 million
Letterman: 3.289 million
Kimmel: 3.167 million
The 18-49 age group is a very lucrative market for advertisers that makes shows that can draw said audience very appealing to networks.Over his first three days, Kimmel has been beating Leno in the 18-49 demo by 3% and Letterman by 23%. It’s typical for a late night host to score big ratings during his first week at a new timeslot (just look at Conan O’Brien’s Tonight Show numbers from 2009), but Kimmel being two decades younger than both of his competitors might make him more appealing to folks in the 18-49 demo who are anywhere between two and five decades younger than Letterman or Leno. We’ll see how these numbers are looking in a few weeks, once Jimmy Kimmel settles into his new timeslot. And of course, Kimmel shouldn’t get too cocky with his early success because Arsenio Hall is returning to late night in September and will probably capture the entire 18-49 audience.