Jimmy Kimmel knows the late night genre is due for a transformation as TV economics change with the rise of streaming, starting with reducing the projected $120 million budget for his own show.
“I don’t think there’s a reason for these shows to go away,” Kimmel said pondering the future of late night in an appearance at the Bloomberg Screentime conference on Wednesday. “These shows were a way to get high-priced talent for almost free. That was the whole trick. That was the whole reason they started these shows.”
“These shows don’t need to cost $120 million and somebody will figure it out,” he added.
The late night host shared the projected budget for “Jimmy Kimmel Live!” during the conversation as he doubled down on criticism of the cancellation of Stephen Colbert’s “The Late Show,” specifically reports of big money losses being at the center of the cancellation — rather than political pressure from Trump’s White House and the FCC as CBS’s parent company Paramount closed a merger with Skydance.
“I know what the budgets for these shows are. I know what I make. I know what Stephen makes. I know what the ad sales people make. I know that there are values that nobody bothers to consider,” he said. “If they lost $40 million last year they would have sent everyone home already.”
Kimmel also detailed the saga of his show’s six-day suspension at ABC following backlash to his comments about Charlie Kirk, praising Disney CEO Bob Iger and Disney Entertainment co-chairman Dana Walden for shepherding “really good conversations” to get the show back on the air.
He admitted to thinking “Jimmy Kimmel Live!” might not return at all given the demands from affiliates Nexstar and Sinclair he was not willing to comply with, recalling he told his wife, “This is it. It’s really over.” Thankfully the show did make it back on the air — initially without those affiliates on Sept. 16, before he was fully back on the air by the end of that week.
When asked who should be the next CEO, Kimmel shared his love for Walden and praised her for doing “a great job” through the years.
As for his own future on television, Kimmel refused to answer if he had made a decision about renewing his contract — which is set to expire in May 2026 — recalling how he had previously said he wouldn’t before changing his mind “the last three times.”
When asked if he would invite FCC chair Brendan Carr or President Trump on his show after the saga, Kimmel seemed uninterested in Carr but said he’d “love to have Trump on the show, for sure.”
He also celebrated his show’s performance on YouTube, while noting how the decline in linear ratings is likely “what has killed late night.”
“More likely, the fact that our lead ins are a 10th of what they were when I started. That’s probably more likely the reason. But I love the idea that people in other countries are watching YouTube,” he said.
