In the world of late-night television, there is fierce competition among the hosts, even if they all cut the public image of friends. There is no battle that is poignant among the validity of the late-night show hosts as that of Jimmy Kimmel vs Jimmy Fallon.
The battle of the Jimmys has been going on for years, ever since both of them became major figures in the late-night show scene. Outside of the fact they are competitors for the same audience, the fact that they share the same first name has made their rivalry one of the juiciest for observers of the medium.
In this article, we take a look at two major categories, influence and wealth to determine who the superior Jimmy is. Check it out.
Jimmy Kimmel vs Jimmy Fallon: Who is More Influential?
First up in the battle for the superior Jimmy is a look at their influence as late-night show hosts and celebrities. Using their show’s ratings, as well as social media presence, we evaluated who is truly the most influential Jimmy.
Starting with their primary profession as late-night hosts, Jimmy Kimmel hosts Jimmy Kimmel Live! while Jimmy Fallon hosts The Tonight Show Starring Jimmy Fallon, and in their world, you live and die by ratings.
In that regard, Jimmy Kimmel is trailing his namesake, Jimmy Fallon. Jimmy Kimmel, according to Nielsen’s Live+7 ratings, has an average rating of two million viewers, while Fallon edges by an extra 340,000 viewers for a total of 2.34 million viewers.
It is an order that has held true for more than five years, putting Jimmy Fallon ahead in the influence category in the battle of the Jimmys.
The story remains the same on social media. Across Instagram and Twitter, Fallon has combined followership of more than 67 million users, while his counterpart, Kimmel, has combined followership of just a little more than 13 million users, putting Fallon ahead of his peer on the influence meter on social media.
However, while Jimmy Fallon firmly leads in ratings and on social media, according to TIME Magazine’s 2018 100 Most Influential People list, Jimmy Kimmel is the more influential late-night host, being the only one to make the list. Both of them made the list in 2013, but according to TIME, Kimmel appears to be the only one with considerable influence in recent years.
Across three metrics, Jimmy Fallon comes out on top against Jimmy Kimmel – two to one, but does this lead hold up when it comes to their net worth and salary?
Jimmy Kimmel vs Jimmy Fallon: Who Makes More Money?
We have established that when it comes to influence between Jimmy Kimmel vs Jimmy Fallon, the latter is more influential but does this influence translate to more income and net worth? The answer, simply put, is yes.
Although Fallon began his career in late-night hosting later than Kimmel, starting with Last Night with Jimmy Fallon in 2009, he has been able to earn more in salary and through it, accrue more in net worth.
Jimmy Fallon has a net worth of $60 million and earns an annual salary of $16 million for his role as the host of The Tonight Show Starring Jimmy Fallon, which makes him the highest-paid late-night show host. Other sources of income have come through more hosting gigs, as well as a career as an actor, appearing in films like Taxi and Fever Pitch.
Jimmy Kimmel trails behind his namesake with a net worth of $45 million, but quite close in salary at $15 million per year.
Considering both of them essentially have the same careers, the difference in wealth is fascinating and it is down to their careers before they both became late-night show hosts.
While Jimmy Kimmel cemented his place as a celebrity through Jimmy Kimmel Live!, Jimmy Fallon had achieved that through his career as a cast member of Saturday Night Live, between 1998 and 2004. The fame and influence he had through the sketch comedy show were leveraged into his starting salary as a late-night show host at $5 million a year, which was a lot more than Kimmel’s starting salary of $1.75 million per year.
See Also: Beyonce vs Jay Z Net Worth: Who is Richer, How Do They Make Their Money?
In addition to earning big bucks long before his ABC counterpart joined the train, Jimmy Fallon also wins the battle of the Jimmys when it comes to money through other income sources like five published books and two comedy albums.
