‘Jimmy Kimmel’ jumps again in 18-49s

ABC’s “Jimmy Kimmel Live” continued to draw strong numbers in its third night in its new timeslot, spiking to its best viewership this week.

“JKL” averaged 1.241 million adults 18-49 Thursday at 11:35 p.m., according to Nielsen, up 15 percent over Wednesday’s broadcast and topping NBC’s “The Tonight Show with Jay Leno” (938,000) and CBS’s “The Late Show with David Letterman” (929,000).

The numbers may reflect ABC’s strength in the 10 p.m. hour on Thursdays. The network won the hour in 18-49s for the first time this week with a strong 2.8 rating for “Scandal,” while NBC had its worst outing of the week in that demo with a 1.1 for “Rock Center with Brian Williams.”

Kimmel also drew his second-best tally ever in total viewers on Thursday, 3.167 million. “JKL,” which previously aired at midnight, has broadcast two of its three most-watched episodes this week, the other coming on Tuesday (3.097 million).

Lead-out “Nightline” also won its slot in total viewers and 18-49s at 12:35 a.m. with 1.95 million total viewers and 751,000 18-49s, its best tallies this week.

NBC’s “Late Night with Jimmy Fallon” averaged 1.47 million total viewers and 572,000 18-49s, and CBS’s “Late Late Show with Craig Ferguson” drew 1.53 million and 510,000.

The two rival talk shows air for a half hour longer than “Nightline.”

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