Jimmy Fallon, host of The Tonight Show, has renewed his deal with NBCUniversal, extending his tenure through 2028. Fallon began hosting the show in 2014. Before that, he hosted Late Night with Jimmy Fallon and was a cast member on Saturday Night Live. 

“For nearly 30 years, Jimmy Fallon has brought laughter into the homes of millions and charmed audiences from the stages of 30 Rock,” NBCUniversal Media Group chairman Mark Lazarus said. “It’s been a privilege to witness Jimmy at the helm of The Tonight Show and we’re thrilled to see what innovations he and the incredible staff will deliver in the years to come at the network.”

Fallon was on SNL from 1998 to 2004. After performing in a number of films, including Taxi and Fever Pitch, he hosted Late Night with Jimmy Fallon from 2009 to 2013. He took over the Tonight Show host role from Jay Leno in early 2014. 

“For nearly 30 years, I’ve brought laughter into the homes of millions and charmed audiences from the stages of 30 Rock,” said Fallon. “It’s been a privilege to be at the helm of The Tonight Show and I’m thrilled to see what innovations me and the incredible staff will deliver in the years to come at the network. No, I’m not changing my quote. Tell Mark to change his.”

Fallon also hosts musical game show That’s My Jam and appears on game show Password on NBC.  

“Throughout his time at NBC on Saturday Night Live, Late Night and The Tonight Show, Jimmy Fallon has demonstrated his extraordinary talent and been an integral part of our iconic comedy brand,” said Frances Berwick, chairman, NBCUniversal Entertainment. “We couldn’t be more excited to continue our relationship with Jimmy and to see him carrying The Tonight Show torch into the future.”

From Universal Television and Broadway Video, The Tonight Show Starring Jimmy Fallon is executive produced by Lorne Michaels and produced by Chris Miller and Gerard Bradford. Miller is the showrunner.

Late-night programs The Tonight Show Starring Jimmy Fallon (NBC), The Late Show with Stephen Colbert (CBS) and Jimmy Kimmel Live! (ABC) return with original programs Monday, October 2. The shows’ staffs are back to work with the writers’ strike ending. 

Matthew McConaughey is on The Tonight Show October 2. Neil deGrasse Tyson is on The Late Show that night and Arnold Schwarzenegger is a guest on Jimmy Kimmel Live!

The late-night shows paused production when the Writers Guild of America strike began May 2. 

The Tonight Show is executive-produced by Lorne Michaels and produced by Chris Miller and Gerard Bradford. Miller is the showrunner. 

Fallon took over the show in February 2014. Universal Television and Broadway Video produce The Tonight Show.

Stephen Colbert, Tom Purcell and Jon Stewart executive-produce The Late Show. The Late Show, Inc. produces the program. 

Colbert began hosting in September 2015. 

Jimmy Kimmel Live! is produced by Kimmelot in association with ABC Signature. The show launched in 2003. 

The Tonight Show Starring Jimmy Fallon is jumping into the metaverse as part of a deal with sponsor Samsung.

Viewers of Wednesday nights episode of NBCUniversal’s late-night show will be urged to head to Fortnite, where they will be able to play games and visit locations, including the Tonight Show writers’ room and a Samsung store. Gamers can help Jimmy Fallon get to Studio 6B, race up 30 Rockefeller Center or play pong on rooftops along the New York skyline.

Fallon teased the Tonight at the Rock interactive experience last week’s shows. The games launch Tuesday and Wednesday’s Tonight Show features a major integration that explains what viewers can find in the immersive experience, which is enabled by Samsung’s Galaxy products.

Samsung has had several high profile integrations with the Tonight Show including a Five-Boroughs edition of the show, a Tonight Show festival of films shot on Samsung phones and a post-Super Bowl campaign.

“At Samsung, we’re always looking for opportunities to give users one-of-a-kind experiences with their Galaxy devices,” said Janet Lee, senior VP of mobile experience at Samsung Electronics America. “Tonight at the Rock empowers fans with a unique social adventure right in the heart of 30 Rock, all enhanced through in-game Samsung power-ups made possible by the Galaxy ecosystem. We are so excited to offer late night fans the first ever interactive Tonight Show gaming experience, in a way that honors our longstanding creative partnership.”

NBCU has been rolling out new ad formats and executions as it tries to reduce commercial clutter and make its programming more watchable. There are billboards for Samsung and Tonight Show branding inside the Fortnite experience.

“We’ve been collaborating with Samsung on unique, engaging integrations for over the past few years to bring Tonight Show audiences first-of-its-kind experiences they can’t connect with anywhere else,” said Mark Marshall, president, advertising and partnerships, NBCUniversal. “Now, we are transforming with our partners as the industry dives further into tech enabled activations such as metaverse platforms redefining interactive advertising within iconic pieces of IP like NBC’s late night slate.”

As part of the experience, Fallon appears in the game, along with virtual versions of 30 Rock and other New York locations.

“At NBCUniversal, innovation happens at the intersection of creativity and technology. We’re focused on creating unique opportunities for our partners across NBCU's vast portfolio of iconic IP that tap into the latest consumer and cultural trends,” said Sari Feinberg, senior VP, marketing, creative partnerships, advertising & partnerships, NBCUniversal. “For the first-time in NBCU partnership history between The Tonight Show Starring Jimmy Fallon and Samsung, brings an entirely new, interactive gaming experience to fans in the metaverse and at the same time provides a great platform to showcase Samsung in a new creative way.”

The games will be available in Fortnite, which is playable for free across PC, Android devices, Consoles including xBox, PlayStation and Nintendo Switch, and many browser-enabled devices.

The experience was by Momentum, and is not sponsored, endorsed or administered by Epic Games, the creator of Fortnite, NBCU said.

"Partnering with the iconic Tonight Show, the genius of Jimmy Fallon, and the talented NBCUniversal, Epic and Samsung teams to innovate as we have is a dream opportunity," said Jason Alan Snyder, chief technology officer, Momentum Worldwide. "We are proud to continue evolving our metaverse practice with the Tonight Show by pushing the limits of creative storytelling for brands in Fortnite. The individual games are leading-edge technologically and have been designed to unite people worldwide through community building.” ■

NBC has ordered a second season of That’s My Jam. Jimmy Fallon hosts the music and comedy variety game show, inspired by games seen on The Tonight Show, which Fallon hosts. 

Each episode features two teams of two celebrities competing in a series of music, dance and trivia games and raising money for charity. 

Season one guests include Kelly Clarkson, Ariana Grande, John Legend and Blake Shelton, all of The Voice, along with Terry Crews, Chance the Rapper, Taraji P. Henson, Kate Hudson, Bebe Rexha and others.

The series premiered in early January.

That’s My Jam is produced by Universal Television Alternative Studio, in association with Fallon’s production company, Electric Hot Dog. Fallon, Jim Juvonen and Mike Yurchuk serve as executive producers.

Past episodes are on Peacock. ■

Jamie Granet-Bederman has been named showrunner on NBC’s The Tonight Show Starring Jimmy Fallon. Granet-Bederman has been a producer with Fallon since 2009, dating back to Late Night with Jimmy Fallon. 

Gavin Purcell had been showrunner since late 2019, and shifts to focus on his development deal with Universal Television. Jim Bell was named showrunner late in 2018, and left NBC in November 2019. 

Nedaa Sweiss, former head writer of The Tonight Show, was named co-showrunner, said the New York Times, and will leave early in 2021 to develop comedies at other networks. 

CBS’s The Late Show with Stephen Colbert is winning the late-night race, ahead of Jimmy Kimmel Live on ABC and NBC’s The Tonight Show. 

The Tonight Show Starring Jimmy Fallon is executive produced by Lorne Michaels. 

In a matter of weeks, COVID-19 has upended industries across the board, including entertainment and media companies that have had to close down studio productions. Many are now pivoting to social video as a way to connect with audiences and deliver a much-needed escape via entertainment content.

A new report from social video analytics company Tubular Labs shows how audience consumption of entertainment content is changing during the pandemic. It explores how influencers, especially late-night hosts, are leaning into video to keep their fans entertained. But first, some topline insights from the report:

Entertainment Category Reigns Supreme for Social Video

When it comes to social video, the entertainment category is the No. 1 creator genre on YouTube and Facebook for both views and uploads across the last year. Although entertainment influencers upload more videos, media companies make up a slightly larger share of views.

Related: Late Night Shows Are Back with ‘WFH’ Formats

Not only do U.S. creators account for the most views of entertainment content worldwide (132 billion in the last year), U.S. entertainment content attracts a global audience, with 35% of its views coming from outside the U.S.

"Digital video's reach has no boundaries,” said Rob Gabel, CEO at Tubular Labs. “With the world awash in anxiety and people physically separated, right now — more than ever — video entertainment is a catalyst for banding global citizens together and providing much-needed optimism during these unprecedented times."

When it comes to entertainment content types, the TV and movies category makes up the biggest portion of views on YouTube (112 billion in the last year). For videos uploaded between March 12 and April 3 as the coronavirus pandemic spread and many Americans were forced to shelter at home, TV-related content amassed 564 million views, with nearly half (253 million views) coming from late-night talk shows, led by The Late Show with Stephen Colbert and The Tonight Show Starring Jimmy Fallon (A&E and American Idol also rank high).

Late-Night Hosts See Explosion in Views With “Stay-at-Home” Shows

With production studios now closed, late-night TV show hosts are taking to social video to bridge the gap and bring fans new content from their own homes — and it seems to be working. The ‘Home Edition’ of The Tonight Show Starring Jimmy Fallon received a significantly higher V7 views rating (views in the first seven days since a video was published) in the last couple of weeks than the show did over the last year (1.2 million vs. 517K). Jimmy Kimmel’s series of quarantine “minilogue” videos reached higher V7 views than his show throughout the last year (1.1 million vs. 419K). And virtually hosting late-night concerts has been a successful approach, most notably for James Corden of The Late Late Show in recent weeks (962K vs. 599K).

"During this quarantine, celebrities are as human and relatable as ever,” said Gabel. “There’s something fun about seeing your favorite host broadcasting from their personal domain. It makes us feel a kind of solidarity because even celebrities are affected by the quarantine, and they’re still doing whatever they can to bring joy to fans around the world."

How Live Streaming Fits Into the Picture

While indie influencers are used to producing content live and are thus thriving in these times, media companies can tap into this trend too. Entertainment influencers are still getting more of people’s live watch time, but media companies have been catching up in the weeks after the outbreak, with 66% growth.

But there’s also an opportunity for media companies to tap into their rich content repository and repurpose their best performing evergreen content: 66% of the U.S. entertainment content watched from the start of the outbreak is content from 2019 or older.

You can download the full entertainment report from Tubular Labs here. 

Spike has renewed Lip Sync Battle for a second season.

The Viacom-owned cable network will bring the celebrity competition series back for a new round of 20 episodes in 2016. The series, where celebrities lip sync to famous songs, is based on Jimmy Fallon’s Tonight Show skit.

“Lip Sync Battle is a television and viral rock star for Spike,” said Kevin Kay, president of Spike. “We are thrilled to be renewing Lip Sync Battle whose success is a direct result of the brilliance and creativity of our producers, the brave performers, and of course the coolest new duo on television, LL Cool J and Chrissy Teigen.”

Read more at Broadcastingcable.com.

CNBC has signed comedian and Tonight Show host Jay Leno to host a primetime, car-themed series for the network.

The series, tentatively titled Jay Leno’s Garage, is based on Leno’s web series and will feature the comedian discussing all things automobile, including best investments, valuations and the inner workings of the car collector’s market, said network officials.

The program will premiere in 2015. Leno retired from The Tonight Show this past February after more than 20 years as host.

“Jay will add tremendous star power and exceptional content to CNBC’s primetime at the perfect time,” said CNBC President Mark Hoffman in a statement. “CNBC at night has real momentum and Jay’s personality, tremendous fan base and his passion for the subject will contribute mightily to our burgeoning primetime. We’re really excited Jay will continue his storied career with the NBC family and with us at CNBC.”

Added Leno: “This show will be about anything that rolls, explodes and makes noise. We hope to highlight the passion and the stories behind the men and women who made the automobile the greatest invention of the 20th century.”