Jimmy Kimmel’s return to late night brought out an impressive audience, with Tuesday’s edition of “Jimmy Kimmel Live!” scoring 6.26 million total viewers on broadcast when it came to live plus same day measurement, according to Nielsen. This data does not include the episode’s streaming viewership.
Additionally, the episode earned a 0.87 rating in the coveted 18-49 audience demo, the highest demo share a regularly scheduled episode of “Jimmy Kimmel Live!” has earned in over 10 years.
This notable viewership came even though the series wasn’t shown in 23% of U.S. TV households. Following ABC’s announcement it would be putting Kimmel back on the air, Sinclair and Nexstar, which own 39 and 20 ABC affiliate stations, respectively, said they would continue to preempt the late night show.
The episode, which saw Kimmel return to ABC after his suspension last week kept the late night show off the air for six days, also saw over 26 million views across social media. On YouTube alone, views for Kimmel’s return are past 15 million, as of this story’s writing.
The massive viewership for Tuesday’s show isn’t surprising given the anticipation surrounding how Kimmel would address his suspension, which was instated following his comments about the murderer of conservative activist Charlie Kirk, which Disney later called “ill-timed and thus insensitive.”
Kimmel even made light of the anticipation surrounding his return during Tuesday’s cold open, which portrayed the host and Guillermo Rodriguez agreeing they should probably change out of their costumes — a bear and a banana, respectively — after learning that his return was being called “the most anticipated monologue in late night.”
In his monologue, Kimmel said he understood why his remarks felt “ill-timed or unclear,” saying while holding back tears, “It was never my intention to make light of the murder of a young man. I don’t think there’s anything funny about it … nor was it my intention to blame any specific group for the actions of what was obviously a deeply disturbed individual.”
At the same time, the late night host addressed the importance of freedom of speech and in the media, saying, “this show is not important. What is important is that we get to live in a country that allows us to have a show like this.” “I’ve had the opportunity to meet and spend time with comedians and talk show hosts from countries like Russia, countries in the Middle East who tell me they would get thrown in prison for making fun of those in power. And worse than being thrown in prison. They know how lucky we are here,” he continued. “Our freedom to speak is what they admire most about this country.”
