On Wednesday, September 24, 2025, "Jimmy Kimmel Live!" averaged 2.41 million viewers, a strong performance compared to its 2025 season average of 1.7 million but a sharp 61.7% drop from Tuesday’s record-breaking 6.26 million, driven by the show’s highly publicized return after a suspension.
The Tuesday episode, fueled by national attention over Kimmel’s controversial comments about the assassination of Charlie Kirk, marked one of the show’s highest viewership nights in its 22-year history.
However, Wednesday’s decline reflects the typical fade of event-driven audiences, though the numbers remained elevated due to ongoing media buzz and social media traction.
📺Late-Night Ratings for Wednesday, September 24, 2025
Here’s how "Jimmy Kimmel Live!" stacked up against competitors in linear TV viewership (live + same-day Nielsen data):
- Gutfeld! (Fox News): 3.23 million viewers
- Jimmy Kimmel Live! (ABC): 2.41 million viewers
- The Late Show with Stephen Colbert (CBS): 1.99 million viewers
- The Tonight Show Starring Jimmy Fallon (NBC): 1.24 million viewers
Kimmel’s 2.41 million viewers placed it second among late-night shows, trailing Fox News’ "Gutfeld!" by 33.7% but outperforming CBS’s "The Late Show" by 21.3% and NBC’s "The Tonight Show" by 94.1%. Notably, "Gutfeld!" continued its dominance in the late-night landscape, capitalizing on its appeal to conservative audiences and averaging 3.2 million viewers for the year, a 107% lead over Kimmel’s 2025 average of 1.6 million. In the advertiser-coveted 25-54 demographic,
"Gutfeld!" drew 381,000 viewers compared to Kimmel’s 261,000 (a 46% gap), while in the 18-49 demo, "Gutfeld!" led with 248,000 to Kimmel’s 177,000.
Digital Performance as a Lifeline: The significant drop from Tuesday to Wednesday prompted media analysts like CNN’s Brian Stelter to shift focus to Kimmel’s digital reach. On Thursday, Stelter highlighted the show’s YouTube performance, noting that Wednesday’s monologue garnered over 5 million views within 24 hours, ranking among Kimmel’s most-watched clips of 2025. This pivot underscores the growing importance of streaming and social media for late-night shows as linear TV audiences dwindle.
Industry observers predict that "Jimmy Kimmel Live!" will likely fall below 2 million viewers by the following week, reverting closer to its 2025 average of 1.7 million. This would place the show well below its historical means (e.g., 2.4 million in 2015) and exacerbate financial concerns for ABC, a Disney-owned network.
Kimmel’s reported annual salary of $17 million, combined with the costs of a large production staff and filming in high-cost Los Angeles, suggests the show is operating at a loss. For context, CBS’s "The Late Show with Stephen Colbert," which averages 1.99 million viewers (30% more than Kimmel’s season average), reportedly loses $40 million annually due to similar high production costs and declining ad revenue in the late-night space.
However, with Kimmel’s contract reportedly expiring in 2026, ABC’s financial calculus may not support a renewal.