A senior Disney executive has refrained from confirming whether ABC will extend Jimmy Kimmel’s contract, making some rather vague comments about the future of the late-night host.
During a Bloomberg conference, Dana Walden, Disney’s President and Chief Creative Officer, chose not to provide a definitive answer when asked if Kimmel would stay with the network.
Kimmel signed a one-year contract extension last December, which ensures he remains the face of “Jimmy Kimmel Live!” until the end of the 2026-27 season. His yearly pay is reportedly around $16 million.
Walden remarked, “The truth is, it’s a very challenging daypart,” referring to the term used within the industry for a specific programming slot.
She added, “That’s not to imply that Jimmy isn’t doing a phenomenal job—his ratings are indeed rising. However, they’re only up relative to a shrinking audience for late-night broadcasts.”
These remarks came shortly after Page Six revealed that Kimmel’s show might conclude when his current contract runs out in May 2027.
According to a source familiar with the matter, “His contract isn’t going to get extended.”
In response, ABC disputed this claim, stating that “any reports about the future of the show at this point are purely speculative,” according to an ABC Entertainment spokesperson.
Walden, as she tempered her comments, pointed to broader economic pressures impacting late-night programming.
While Kimmel garners a substantial following on platforms like YouTube and others, Walden explained that these views do not yield the same revenue as traditional television advertising.
“That is not a lucrative opportunity for a premium talk show,” she noted.
“We’re trying to navigate this situation while also maintaining a strong partnership,” Walden added.
Despite the uncertainty, Kimmel has seen an uptick in his ratings.
His show averaged 2 million viewers during the 2025-26 season, a significant jump from the 1.55 million the previous year, marking an approximately 29% increase, according to Nielsen data referenced by ABC.
Additionally, “Jimmy Kimmel Live!” achieved a 0.18 rating among adults aged 18 to 49, higher than the 0.14 rating from the year before.
Disney indicated that this represented Kimmel’s largest audience in eight years and his best performance in the key demographic in four seasons.
In September, Page Six suggested that financial constraints might influence the show’s future, though sources indicated that Kimmel’s contentious relationship with the Trump administration wouldn’t drive the decision to part ways with him.
Kimmel has found himself embroiled in political controversies over the past year.
For instance, ABC temporarily suspended “Jimmy Kimmel Live!” in September last year following Kimmel’s comments about the death of conservative activist Charlie Kirk, which elicited considerable backlash and scrutiny from Federal Communications Commission Chair Brendan Carr.
Consequently, prominent ABC affiliates like Nexstar and Sinclair chose to preempt the show, with Sinclair demanding that Kimmel apologize to Kirk’s family and make personal donations to them and to Turning Point USA, co-founded by Kirk.
Less than a week later, Disney reinstated Kimmel, and the affiliates resumed airing the show shortly thereafter.
Kimmel faced renewed criticism in April after joking that First Lady Melania Trump bore “the glow of an expectant widow.”
Both President Trump and the First Lady subsequently called for ABC to terminate his contract after a shooting incident at the White House Correspondents’ Dinner cast a darker light on the comment. However, ABC opted not to suspend him.
More recently, Kimmel indicated that an interview with Democratic Texas Senate candidate James Talarico was held back from ABC’s broadcast due to concerns over the FCC’s political equal-opportunity regulations.
