ABC Sees a Contender in Jimmy Kimmel

In 2002, ABC pulled out every stop to lure David Letterman away from CBS, offering him the time period occupied by its news program “Nightline.” The network failed, and soon after inserted a new late-night host, Jimmy Kimmel, in the hour after “Nightline.”

In 2008, ABC aggressively pursued Jay Leno, who was about to be displaced at NBC’s “Tonight” show by Conan O’Brien, looking to give Mr. Leno the same slot still owned by “Nightline.” Mr. Leno decided instead to try his ill-fated prime-time show on NBC. ABC stuck with Jimmy Kimmel.

Now, the network has decided that it finally has the man to take on both Mr. Leno and Mr. Letterman: Jimmy Kimmel.

ABC announced Tuesday that in January it would move “Jimmy Kimmel Live” to the 11:35 time slot, the same time as both Jay Leno’s “Tonight Show” and the “Late Show With David Letterman.”

For the network, the change represents a significant gamble.

First, ABC is removing “Nightline” when that program finally has audiences larger than Mr. Leno’s or Mr. Letterman’s. The 32-year-old news program will surely see a decline in viewership after being asked to follow Mr. Kimmel at 12:35. As a concession, ABC is giving “Nightline” a prime-time hour on Fridays at 9 p.m. starting in March.

Second, ABC is betting that a generational shift is going on in late-night television, and that it will be in position to capitalize. ABC is hoping to increase its percentage of viewers between the ages of 18 and 49 — the favorite of many advertisers — with an entertainment program headed by a star two decades younger than Mr. Letterman and Mr. Leno.

NBC had a similar motivation when it replaced Mr. Leno, the dominant ratings leader in late-night television, with Mr. O’Brien in 2009. NBC succeeded in sharply dropping the median age of the audience of the “Tonight” show, but recoiled at the overall loss of viewers.

Mr. Kimmel’s current audience is not especially young: its median age is 53. He has fewer viewers in the 18-49 age group than either Mr. Leno and Mr. Letterman. (He also has fewer than Mr. O’Brien, who is now housed on the TBS cable channel, as well as the other cable stars, Jon Stewart and Stephen Colbert.) But Mr. Kimmel is on later than any of those hosts and inherits a news audience from “Nightline” that is generally older than entertainment audiences.

And Mr. Kimmel has also been gaining much wider praise in recent years. This year, he entertained at the White House Correspondents Dinner and will host the Emmy Awards next month.

Anne Sweeney, the president of Disney/ABC said, “This is Jimmy’s moment. It’s a culmination for him. We are looking at a landscape with two entrenched guys who are starting to fade. Their audiences are diminishing and Jimmy, who has now been on 10 years, is continuing to grow.”

Mr. Kimmel has added to his audience totals in recent months. In July, he was up 14 percent over the previous year. Some of that was because of an earlier move the network made to enhance his stature, sliding him up from a 12:05 a.m. start to one at exactly midnight.

Mr. Kimmel’s audience, about 1.8 million viewers, is smaller than “Nightline’s,” which has averaged about 3.8 million viewers.

ABC says it believes advertisers will pay a higher cost-per-thousand viewers (cpms, as it is known on Madison Avenue) for an entertainment show. As Mr. Kimmel put it, “I think they did it just because it makes financial sense.”

Ms. Sweeney said, “We saw an opportunity for Jimmy at 11:30 because we saw higher cpms and we saw advertiser demand, not just for an entertainment show but for the Jimmy Kimmel show.” ABC, she added, also saw “an opportunity for ‘Nightline’ to expand.”

Andy Donchin, the director of media investments for Carat USA, a media buying firm, said ABC “will absolutely get more revenue for the show.” He called the decision “a risk, but a smart risk” for the network.

Mr. Kimmel said in a telephone interview Tuesday, “It’s all a bit scary, but it’s very exciting.” He was coming to the end of his current contract and some at ABC were concerned he might be pursued by other parties. But Mr. Kimmel said, “This was just a decision that ABC made on their own. We didn’t push them or bully them.”

The timing was clearly critical. CBS recently extended Mr. Letterman for another two years, and it is presumed NBC will extend Mr. Leno’s tenure on “Tonight.” That opens a window for Mr. Kimmel, who is 44, to find his footing against two late-night stars in their 60s.

It also means that Mr. Kimmel will get an opportunity to become a fixture at 11:35 before NBC makes the expected move of sliding its own emerging late-night star, Jimmy Fallon, up to the “Tonight” slot.

“That’s definitely part of this,” Mr. Kimmel said, “as well as who the mystery man will be who eventually takes over for Dave.”

Mr. Kimmel has been open about how much he has idolized Mr. Letterman in his career and said it would be “a little bit strange” to have to face off against him every night. (The plan is to expand Mr. Kimmel from four nights a week to five.)

Mr. Letterman issued a statement: “The more the merrier. We like Jimmy, we know he’ll do a fine program, and we wish him well.”

Mr. Kimmel is less concerned about Mr. Leno, with whom he had an on-the-air feud. Had ABC won its campaign to win Mr. Leno, Mr. Kimmel would have been shoved back to 12:35.

Many parties at ABC profess to being relieved things did not work out that way. Mr. Kimmel said: “It seems that what you want is not necessarily what’s best and sometimes it’s a little better to be patient and let it all play out.”