File photograph: “Jimmy Kimmel Stay!”
Randy Holmes | Disney Common Leisure Content material | Getty Pictures
“Jimmy Kimmel Stay!” returned to air Tuesday night time, producing 6.26 million whole viewers regardless of important preemptions throughout 23% of U.S. TV households, based on information from Nielsen shared by Disney.
This viewership is exponentially greater than common. Through the 2024-2025 season, a interval that ran from September to Could, Kimmel’s common viewership was 1.42 million.
The pretaped present, which airs on the Disney-owned ABC, marked the primary time host Jimmy Kimmel publicly addressed his suspension from late night time following feedback he made throughout a earlier present’s monologue that criticized members of President Donald Trump’s MAGA motion for his or her response to conservative activist Charlie Kirk’s killing.
“It was by no means my intention to make mild of the homicide of a younger man,” he stated Tuesday night time. “I do not assume there’s something humorous about it.”
Along with linear rankings, Kimmel’s monologue, which clocked in at over 28 minutes, garnered greater than 26 million views throughout YouTube and social platforms, Disney reported Wednesday. The corporate additionally touted that Tuesday’s present earned its highest ranking amongst adults aged 18 to 49 years in additional than a decade.
“[Trump] tried his greatest to cancel me. As an alternative, he compelled tens of millions of individuals to look at the present,” Kimmel joked Tuesday throughout his monologue. “Backfired bigly.”
Native station house owners Nexstar Media Group and Sinclair each stated they might preempt the present’s return on Tuesday, which means many markets throughout the nation weren’t capable of watch this system by native channels. Collectively, the 2 firms personal roughly 70 ABC affiliate stations. Based on Disney and Nielsen that preemption impacted rather less than one-fourth of the nation.
Nextstar and Sinclair stated they might preempt the present final week following feedback from from Federal Communications Fee Chair Brendan Carr that steered ABC and its affiliate stations may very well be prone to shedding broadcast licenses over the feedback.
On Wednesday, Nexstar stated it was “persevering with to guage” the standing of “Jimmy Kimmel Stay!” and was “engaged in productive discussions” with Disney executives.
A Sinclair consultant on Wednesday referred CNBC to its assertion on Monday, which stated the corporate’s stations can be preempting the present and that “discussions with ABC are ongoing as we consider the present’s potential return.”

