• by Wayne Friedman , June 20, 2013

ABC’s “Jimmy Kimmel Live” made some gains in the late-night arena in the most recent reporting week -- partly due to some adjacent NBA Finals programming. But NBC’s “The Tonight Show with Jay Leno” remained on top.

The most recent week beginning June 10 put “Kimmel” in a dead heat with NBC’s “Tonight Show” at Nielsen 0.9 rating/4 share among 18-49 viewers. While “Kimmel” was in repeats during most of the week -- on Monday, Wednesday and Friday, the show also had the benefit of some big NBA prime-time lead-in/lead-out  programming on some of those evenings.

CBS’ “Late Show with David Letterman” was at about half that amount of competing network shows -- a 0.5/2. “Late Show” had a Friday rerun.

ABC says for the week “Jimmy Kimmel Live” was up 28%  among 18-49 viewers -- 1.075 million versus 842,000 the week before.

For the week in total viewers, NBC “Tonight” was actually higher than its seasonal average at 3.8 million viewers; CBS “Late Show” was lower at 2.7 million; ABC’s “Kimmel,” about the same at 2.6 million viewers.

For the season overall, “Kimmel” is in a statistical dead heat with CBS’ “Late Show” at a 0.7 rating/3 share among 18-49 viewers. “Tonight Show” is just a tick ahead at a 0.8/3. Overall, season-to-date total average numbers -- “Tonight,” 3.6 million viewers; “Late Show,” 3.0 million; “Kimmel,” 2.6 million. Kimmel’s move to the 11:35 p.m. time slot in the first of the year.

Other late-night shows' season-to-date numbers: from 12:35 p.m. to 1:05 a.m., ABC’s “Nightline”  is at a 0.4/2 and 1.6 million viewers. Later entertainment shows from 12:35 to 1:35 a.m. place NBC’s “Late Night with Jimmy Fallon” at a 0.6/3 and 1.7 million viewers. CBS’s “Late Late Show with Craig Ferguson” is at a 0.4/2 and 1.5 million viewers .