Well, that was fast.
Just three days after Democrats and the media made a huge deal about Jimmy Kimmel’s big comeback, his ratings have utterly evaporated. Since the beginning of this week when he returned to the air, his ratings have dropped by 70 percent.
It looks like his much-hyped return was little more than hype. A sugar-high lasts longer than this.
OutKick reports:
What To Make Of Sinclair’s ‘Jimmy Kimmel Live!’ Decision Amid The Show’s 70% Ratings Drop
Jimmy Kimmel won — for now.
ABC reinstated the late-night host early this week after a brief suspension, and Sinclair agreed to stop preempting “Jimmy Kimmel Live!” on its ABC affiliates effective immediately. Nexstar, which continues to block the show on its 32 affiliates, is likely to follow.
Station owners like Sinclair and Nexstar never had much long-term leverage. ABC could eventually cancel and replace its affiliates ahead of the 2027 Super Bowl, which would significantly damage Sinclair and Nexstar’s annual revenue…
Still, Kimmel’s long-term future with ABC remains a question. For those wondering if Kimmel could retain his newfound momentum, his ratings on Wednesday suggest no.
While Wednesday’s average of 2.4 million is well ahead of Kimmel’s norm (1.7 million), it marked a near 70% drop from Tuesday’s record 6.3 million.
Late-night ratings on Wednesday:
– Gutfeld! (Fox News): 3,233,000
– Jimmy Kimmel Live! (ABC): 2,414,000
– The Late Show with Stephen Colbert (CBS): 1,988,000
– The Tonight Show Starring Jimmy Fallon (NBC): 1,244,000Now you see why CNN media analyst Brian Stelter, who so badly wants Kimmel to notice him, is touting Kimmel’s YouTube numbers this morning, not his television audience.
Bobby Burack, the writer of the OutKick piece, tweeted this:
Jimmy Kimmel lost 70% of its viewers from Tuesday to Wednesday.
From 6.4 million to 2.4 million. I expect Kimmel to be back below 2 million by Monday.
— Bobby Burack (@burackbobby_) September 26, 2025
Greg Gutfeld is already kicking all of their butts in ratings again. People only tuned in to see if Kimmel would apologize, which he didn’t. He can now go back to being irrelevant again.