Jimmy Kimmel in Talks to Stay at ABC as Late-Night Costs Bite
Jimmy Kimmel is in talks for another one-year contract extension at ABC, with the network seeking budget cuts of about 20 percent to keep the show going, according to The Hollywood Reporter.
ABC has denied a report that the show will end next year. That report, published by Page Six on 8 September 2026, said Jimmy Kimmel Live! would finish after next season after 24 years because his contract would not be extended. ABC rejected that account.
Kimmel’s latest deal with ABC was a one-year extension. That is a shift from 2023, when he had recently signed a three-year deal, and it leaves the show renewing year to year. The numbers explain why.
Puck reported on 11 September 2026 that Jimmy Kimmel Live! is losing about $40 million a year, as cited in Puck. Advertising revenue for late-night TV has fallen by 50 percent since 2018, according to media tracking firm Guideline. The audience is still there in linear terms. In Q2, Kimmel averaged more than 2.7 million viewers, ahead of NBC’s The Tonight Show at 1.4 million viewers.
NBC has already cut back. The Tonight Show cut days of production. Late Night cut its house band, the small group of musicians who play live on the show each night. Late Night averaged 974,000 viewers in Q2, while Comedy Central’s The Daily Show averaged 1.2 million viewers.
CBS has gone further. It cancelled both The Late Show and The Late Late Show and rented the hour to Byron Allen’s Comics Unleashed, a clip show built around stand-up comics. That decision removed two network hours from late night.
Stephen Colbert accepted an Emmy Award in recognition of his show’s final season. He said “free speech is alive and well” after the win and described late night as “just as vital as it ever has been,” according to Variety.
Lorne Michaels still runs Saturday Night Live and oversees NBC’s The Tonight Show and Late Night. A trailer for “Lorne,” a documentary about Michaels directed by Morgan Neville, includes him dodging a retirement question and gives no hint about when he will step down.
Kimmel returned to US late-night television on 23 September 2025 after a six-day suspension, according to Reuters. On his return, he defended political satire and free speech against bullying by the Trump administration.
For fans, this means the jokes continue for now, but the business behind them is shrinking. A crew of more than 200 people, a writers’ room and a nightly slot all depend on the next deal closing.
