When Disney President and Chief Creative Officer Dana Walden was asked about the longevity of “Jimmy Kimmel Live!” at Thursday’s Bloomberg Screentime conference, she deferred on making any forward-looking statements.
“I’m certainly not going to make that announcement with you here today,” Walden said, joking she was leaving the news-breaking to HBO boss Casey Bloys, who also spoke at the conference on Thursday.
“The truth is, it’s a very challenging day part — late night,” she expanded. “That’s not to say that Jimmy is not doing a phenomenal job, and his ratings are up, but they’re up relative to a smaller audience that’s watching late night on broadcast television.”
Walden specifically pointed to the difficulties facing the late night ecosystem, which sees Kimmel’s monologues and segments drive massive viewership on YouTube. “Millions of people are watching on demand the parts of that show,” she said. “That is not a lucrative opportunity for a very premium talk show.”
“We’re trying to make sense of the business while also honoring a deep partnership,” Walden said. “I love Jimmy. We have a great friendship. He’s close to a number of the people at Disney, and again, we’re trying to work through it and make sense of both what does Jimmy want, what’s the right thing to do, and what’s the right thing for our business?”
Walden’s remarks come just weeks after news broke that ABC and Kimmel had begun negotiations to renew his late night show, which will continue through the 2026-27 television season. But, beyond that, Kimmel and Disney executives are in talks about how the show will proceed at the network.
The one-year contract, lessened from the typical three-year deals, for Kimmel comes amid turbulence for the late night space, especially following the cancellation of “The Late Show with Stephen Colbert.”
