Jimmy Kimmel’s comeback becomes most-watched regular episode by raking in 6.3 million viewers
After nearly a weeklong suspension, Jimmy Kimmel returned to late-night TV with an emotional episode of Jimmy Kimmel Live!, which pulled in 6.3 million viewers. It emerged as its most-watched regularly scheduled episode ever.
Jimmy Kimmel’s return draws massive audience
The Jimmy Kimmel Live! host returned to his late-night desk with an emotional episode on Tuesday night. ABC had pulled the host off the air indefinitely in the wake of criticism over his comments about the killing of conservative activist Charlie Kirk earlier this month. On Monday, ABC announced the return of Jimmy Kimmel Live!.
The viewership numbers are from traditional television, and are more than three times the show’s typical TV viewership, even though the show was blacked out in many markets of the US.
In the key advertiser-friendly demographic of viewers ages 18 to 49, the show scored its highest regularly scheduled episode in over 10 years,” ABC said on Wednesday, reports Variety.
On YouTube, Kimmel has gained more than a million views per hour. If one combines ABC, YouTube and social media platforms, Kimmel’s monologue about free speech in America has reached tens of millions of people.
The Tuesday’s broadcast also marked a 343% increase from the previous season’s average of 1.4 million viewers, according to the preliminary data from Nielsen.
The series has only seen a larger audience than that twice in its history – during special Sunday episodes that aired directly after the 2006 Super Bowl and the 2014 Oscars.
Meanwhile, because Nexstar and Sinclair have continued to blackout Jimmy Kimmel Live on their stations after Disney lifted the show’s suspension, it did not air in 23% of US households.
Among adults aged 18-49,Jimmy Kimmel Live hit a 0.87 rating, marking a 568% increase from the previous season’s average rating of 0.13. It also highlighted the best demo rating for a regularly scheduled episode since 2015.
A massive outrage occurred after Kimmel’s remarks over the murder of Charlie Kirk, the conservative influencer who was shot and killed during a college event in Utah.
“We hit some new lows over the weekend with the MAGA gang desperately trying to characterise this kid who murdered Charlie Kirk as anything other than one of them and doing everything they can to score political points from it,” said Kimmel which prompted an outage.
Jimmy Kimmel gets emotional on return
On Tuesday, Kimmel returned to host the shot, and broke down into tears while delivering his monologue.
Kimmel said, “I don’t think there’s anything funny about it. I posted a message on Instagram on the day he was killed, sending love to his family and asking for compassion. I meant it and I still do.”
He went on to clarify that he was not trying to imply that Kirk’s shooter, Tyler Robinson, had ties with MAGA, the supporters of US President Donald Trump. “It was obviously a deeply disturbed individual. That was really the opposite of the point I was trying to make. But I understand that to some, it felt either ill-timed or unclear.” The host said he understood why some people were upset at him, but stopped short of issuing an outright apology.
