Jimmy Kimmel questions the future of late-night talk shows in the next 10 years

Jimmy Kimmel has been the host of “Jimmy Kimmel Live!” for over two decades, but he’s uncertain about the future of late-night talk shows.

During a recent appearance on the “Politickin’” podcast hosted by Gavin Newsom, Marshawn Lynch, and Doug Hendrickson, Kimmel expressed doubts about the longevity of late-night network TV shows, stating, "I don’t know if there will be any late-night television shows on network TV in 10 years.”

“Maybe there’ll be one but there won’t be a lot of them,” he added. “There’s a lot to watch and now people can watch anything at anytime, they’ve got all these streaming services. It used to be Johnny Carson was the only thing on at 11:30 p.m. and so everybody watched and then David Letterman was on after Johnny so people watched those two shows, but now they’re so many options.”

Kimmel pointed out that the abundance of choices and the availability of late-night segments on streaming platforms like YouTube and social media have reduced the need for viewers to watch the shows live.

“Maybe more significantly, the fact that people are easily able to watch your monologue online the next day, it really cancels out the need to watch it when it’s on the air,” he said. “Once people stop watching it when it’s on the air, networks are going to stop paying for it to be made.”

When Kimmel eventually leaves the air and "Jimmy Kimmel Live!" concludes, he acknowledges that transitioning to a new job or role will be challenging.