Starting in January, ABC will push Nightline back an hour, so that Jimmy Kimmel Live can be a direct competitor to the Tonight Show with Jay Leno and The Late Show with David Letterman. This does not make sense. ABC already wins the 11:35pm late night ratings race against Leno and Letterman with Nightline, which averages 3.8 million viewers. However, ABC loses the ratings race a half hour later because Kimmel averages 1.8 million viewers to Leno’s 3.71 million viewers and Letterman’s 3.22 million viewers. Kimmel also receives the fewest number of viewers among the 3 hosts in the coveted 19-49 demographic.

While moving Jimmy Kimmel Live up a half hour may slightly increase its ratings, the show will still lose to Leno and Letterman. Currently, Kimmel’s show benefits from starting 25 minutes into Letterman and Leno. It gives viewers tuning out of Letterman and Leno’s shows after the monologue an opportunity to watch Kimmel from the beginning. ABC’s plans now have Kimmel starting at exactly the same time as Letterman and Leno, which hinders the shows ability to catch viewers changing the channel because few people will start watching a talk show in the middle of an interview.

ABC’s attempt to capitalize on Jimmy Kimmel’s increasing popularity is only going to backfire. Some viewers will switch over to Kimmel when he starts at 11:35pm, but many will stick with their old viewing habit of Leno or Letterman. Nightline will also lose viewers because Jimmy Kimmel live is a weaker lead in than the local news. The network should not be trying to fix something that is not broken. This change is only going to be a lose-lose situation for ABC.