On Sept. 17, ABC shocked the world when it announced its decision to pull Jimmy Kimmel Live from its lineup indefinitely. The move was made by Disney heads to “tamp down controversy after FCC Chairman Brendan Carr called Kimmel’s comments about Charlie Kirk’s killer ‘some of the sickest conduct possible’,” per Deadline.
In the immediate wake of the decision to pull Jimmy Kimmel Live, President Donald Trump has spoken out openly, supporting the move and alleging that it’s the result of Kimmel’s poor ratings. Trump himself told reporters Kimmel was “fired because of bad ratings more than anything else.” (Note, Kimmel has not been fired as of press time.)
This has led to a wave of interest in the truth about Kimmel’s ratings, and the truth is complicated.
Unlike with scripted primetime shows and streaming originals, the late-night ratings are not widely reported daily. This makes it difficult to pull data immediately; however, there are reliable sources such as LateNighter, which helps circulate the ratings for various late-night shows with quarterly and monthly updates.
In its review of the second quarter numbers, Jimmy Kimmel Live averaged 1.7 million total viewers, making it the second most-watched show in its 11:35 pm time slot and the third-most-watched late-night program behind Gutfeld and The Late Show with Stephen Colbert. Of these two shows, Gutfeld reaps the benefit of airing 95 minutes earlier than The Late Show, Jimmy Kimmel Live, and The Tonight Show, with a 10 p.m. release time putting it in the primetime block rather than in the official late-night block of programs airing after 11 p.m. nightly.
Quarter over quarter, Jimmy Kimmel Live was down just 3% from the first quarter of the year. This slight dip comes as the show aired fewer original episodes during the second quarter of the year, meaning that its small ratings decline aligned with the show airing fewer new episodes.
In the coveted 18-49 demographic, Jimmy Kimmel Live was actually No. 1 in its time slot among the 18–49 demographic, rising 24% quarter over quarter. The only show that reached a larger audience in the demographic was Gutfeld, which again reaps the benefit of airing in primetime and was actually down 22% quarter over quarter.
While the narrative being pushed is that Jimmy Kimmel Live was pulled due to low ratings, that’s simply not the case. The show’s ratings have not taken a drastic hit, but rather continue to be a reflection of the way audiences consume media.
Linear ratings across the board are down as more viewers are watching shows online. This is true for Jimmy Kimmel Live where its clips are routinely viewed by millions of viewers across YouTube, Instagram, and TikTok. In fact, Jimmy Kimmel Live has one of the biggest YouTube subscriber counts in late-night with 20.7 million subscribers.
The numbers don’t tell the story of a host losing his audience — they tell the story of a shifting industry. And the reality is, his ratings had nothing to do with ABC's decision to pull the show.