Entertainment

I spy Kimmel tops in 5 yrs.

Jimmy Kimmel is on track to become the new top dog in late night, according to one media analyst.

Six weeks after moving to 11:35 p.m., the Brooklyn-born host still trails rivals Jay Leno and David Letterman by about a million viewers each night.

But with a passionate fan base, and several wildly publicized episodes — including last night’s A-list post-Oscar special — the momentum appears to be working in his favor.

“He will certainly be the time period leader in late night in five years,” says Brad Adgate, SVP of Research at Horizon Media.

Adgate believes the audience for “Jimmy Kimmel Live” — which has grown by almost 1 million viewers since the move — will continue to swell as Leno and Letterman move closer to retirement.

“Jay and Dave are not going to do this forever,” he says.

“I think the move [to 11:35] was made strategically to say ‘Five years from now, we are going to have the incumbent in this time period and that is something ABC has never had.’ ”

Kimmel, two decades younger than his competitors, is already closing the gap with the coveted 18-to-49 year-old audience that networks sell to advertisers.

Since his time slot shift on Jan. 8, Kimmel — on average — is less than 70,000 viewers behind Leno in that key demographic, and is already topping Letterman by about 13 percent.

“I think he is doing what he was expected to do at this point,” Adgate says. “He is a solid third.”

“He’ll never be ‘the king‘ of late night. There was only one king. But maybe the prince or the duke.”