‘Jimmy Kimmel Live’ To Reduce Music Performances
Recently, it was revealed that Jimmy Kimmel has signed a new extension to keep his late-night talk show, “Jimmy Kimmel Live”, on the air for another year.
It was expected that Jimmy Kimmel’s show would not be renewed, as the late-night landscape is undergoing major changes amid shifts in audience habits from linear to streaming. We’ve already seen “The Late Show With Stephen Colbert” cancelled, with the show set to end in May, and “Late Night With Seth Meyers” saw its live band removed back in 2024, with both shows reducing their live-music performances to save money.
Now, as an effort to reduce costs, it’s been revealed by THR, that the “Jimmy Kimmel Live” show will also be going through some cost-cutting exercises, as they will be reducing the number of live musical performances each week. The exact number of live-music performances to happen each week is going to vary, though it’s been reported that they are looking to ideally only have two performances each week.
Episode lengths are expected to be shortened as part of an overall plan to reduce costs, which continue to rise, while traditional viewership on linear channels declines. However, many segments of the late-night show are also released on video platforms such as YouTube, reaching a larger global audience. Though the majority of musical performances aren’t made available online.
“Jimmy Kimmel Live” broadcasts from the iconic El Capitan Entertainment Centre on Hollywood Boulevard. Jimmy Kimmel, Erin Irwin, Molly McNearney, Jennifer Sharron and David Craig serve as executive producers; Douglas DeLuca serves as co-executive producer.
New episodes of “Jimmy Kimmel Live” air Monday through Thursday on ABC, with new episodes available to stream the next day on Hulu and Hulu On Disney+ in the United States.
Roger’s Take: Unfortunately, late-night talk shows are expensive to make, and each year, there are fewer viewers watching on linear, with more people just catching the highlights on social media. With the one-year extension to Jimmy’s contract, it’s likely there were some concessions made to help reduce costs. This decision will mean music artists will have fewer opportunities to perform their new songs in front of a large general audience, which is disappointing, but it’s also likely we could see other cost-cutting measures taking place on the show in the year ahead.
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