Jimmy Kimmel’s ratings surge lasted about as long as his suspension.
The ABC late-night host’s show, Jimmy Kimmel Live!, dropped to 1.70 million viewers on Wednesday, October 1 — representing a 74% decrease from the week prior, when he scored a massive 6.48 million viewers for his first show back from suspension.
Those 1.70 million viewers puts Kimmel below his Q2 nightly average of 1.77 million viewers, and a bit above the 1.50 million his show averaged in Q3, between July and September. But comparing to Q3 is not wise, considering Kimmel takes the summer months off from his show.
Here is how Kimmel’s show performed in the week following his return, per Nielsen data:
- Sept. 23: 6.48M viewers
- Sept. 24: 2.43M viewers
- Sept.25: 2.30M viewers
- Sept. 29: 2.85M viewers
- Sept. 30: 2.45M viewers
- Oct. 1: 1.70M viewers
For comparison, Fox News star Greg Gutfeld averaged 2.98 million viewers on Oct. 1 — the same as he averaged in Q3.
If you somehow missed the drama, ABC and Disney suspended Kimmel on Sept. 17 for implying the man who killed Charlie Kirk was a supporter of President Donald Trump — contrary to reports. Here is the comment from his Sept. 15 show that led to his suspension:
The MAGA gang desperately trying to characterize this kid who murdered Charlie Kirk as anything other than one of them, and doing everything they can to score political points from it.
The comment led to swift pushback from Nexstar and Sinclair, which control a large chunk of ABC affiliates, and FCC Chair Brendan Carr on Sept. 17 said he felt Kimmel’s comment warranted a suspension.
Hours later, Kimmel was suspended — leading to some critics saying ABC and Disney caved to Trump’s administration; White House Press Secretary Karoline Leavitt denied that the president put “pressure” on ABC to suspend Kimmel.
Following all of that, ABC announced on Sept. 22 it was lifting Kimmel’s suspension and he returned to his program the following evening.
Kimmel did not apologize for his comments — leading Andrew Kolvet, the executive producer of The Charlie Kirk Show, to rip the host as an “unrepentant liar.”
The post Jimmy Kimmel’s Post-Suspension Ratings Boost Has Evaporated first appeared on Mediaite.
