ABCAfter Jimmy Kimmel Live! made its return to TV last night, the question on everyone’s lips is: how are the ratings looking? The ABC viewership might not be as big as expected, but that’s not to say millions of people didn’t tune in.
The backdrop to Kimmel’s return is the controversy that unfolded last week after his September 15 episode drew criticism from FCC chairman Brendan Carr. Soon enough, ABC affiliate holders Nexstar and Sinclair said they were preemptively pulling the show from the air.
ABC followed suit, sparking a debate about free speech and media censorship. Netizens urged for a Disney (ABC’s parent company) boycott, while more than 400 celebrities wrote an open letter in support of Kimmel and the first amendment.
After a week of negotiations, Jimmy Kimmel Live! returned to the airwaves on Tuesday (September 23). Given these events have been dominating the headlines, there’s curiosity not only to see what Kimmel had to say, but also the impact this would have on the ratings.
How many people watched Jimmy Kimmel Live! last night?
While we’re yet to get the official figures from Nielsen, the online viewership has been huge. At the time of writing, Jimmy Kimmel’s 28-minute monologue has been viewed more than 9.3 million times on YouTube after just 10 hours.
Given the average Kimmel clip gets 240,000 views, according to CNN, that’s a huge jump. One of the contributing factors to this spike may also be the reason its linear figures might not look as big as you’d expect.
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You see, Jimmy Kimmel Live! returned to ABC and is available for streaming on Hulu, but the 70 ABC affiliate stations owned by Sinclair and Nexstar did not air the show and are maintaining their ban.
That means last night’s episode didn’t broadcast in a whopping 20% of US households, something Kimmel addressed (before bringing Robert De Niro on for a skit).
Since the main part of the episode, Kimmel’s monologue, was uploaded so quickly, millions of viewers are instead watching it this way. As said by one, “Thank you for posting this so soon, for those of us in ‘blackout’ markets.”
“Watching from New Orleans! They didn’t air the show here. Myself and many others called the station and filed formal complaints,” wrote another. A third added, “Seattle-lite here and it sucks that they won’t show you up here but thanks to YouTube will continue to watch here. Glad to have you back!”
Another reason is due to the events hitting international news, sparking interest from viewers outside the US. “I am from Cameroon and I feel so happy having you back on the show,” said one. “Jimmy, you are a legend and your impact is beyond America.”
ABCA second said, “I’m from Nicaragua, and the situation here with free speech is something very, very, very bad. You are right now in a country of freedoms. Don’t lose your freedoms.”
In short, the ratings on linear TV and streaming no doubt spiked last night (CNN’s analysis also revealed that searches for ‘what time is Jimmy Kimmel?’ were up 10,000%), but they might not be as significant as the viewership online.
One of the reasons that was given for getting Kimmel off the air was due to his ratings, with president Donald Trump saying he was “fired because of bad ratings more than anyone else.”
Jimmy Kimmel Live! is one of many late night chat shows that has been hit amid the streaming boom, with his ratings dropping from an average of 2.4 million viewers per episode in 2015 to 1.77 million in the second quarter of 2025.
But if anything, this episode shows why “bad ratings” don’t tell the whole story. Even if the overnight numbers land below past highs, the scale of online engagement proves Kimmel still commands a massive audience – just one that increasingly chooses to watch in different ways.
You can also read about if Who Wants to Be a Millionaire? has been canceled by ABC and if Disney is losing money over the controversy.