Jimmy Kimmel Suffers Massive Crash In Viewership A Week After Ratings Boom

Famous comedian Jimmy Kimmel‘s recent ratings surge appears to have been short-lived, according to reports.

The late-night host’s show had experienced a massive surge upon returning from a brief suspension over his controversial remarks about Charlie Kirk’s murder and MAGA.

However, that gain has reportedly nosedived by a sizable percentage, leaving the future of Jimmy Kimmel’s show on shaky ground.

Just a week after enjoying a major post-suspension boost, Jimmy Kimmel’s show, “Jimmy Kimmel Live!” has suffered a dramatic 71% drop in viewership.

On September 23, the late-night host returned to the air and was watched by approximately 6.5 million viewers, the highest the show had ever recorded in its history.

However, according to a report, that number plummeted to just 1.9 million by October, seemingly ending any hopes Kimmel had that his triumphant return would positively impact his ratings in the long run.

Even worse, the coveted 25–54 demographic saw an even steeper decline, dropping to just 265,000 viewers from the 1.7 million recorded on Kimmel’s first night back.

With this ratings nightmare, industry insiders have begun questioning whether Disney and other broadcasters will continue to back Kimmel following the efforts they made to facilitate his return.

For now, it remains unclear what led to the massive decline, despite the show still being broadcast across all the previous ABC affiliates that carried it before Kimmel’s suspension.

Still, it is possible that the initial spike in ratings came mainly from curious viewers eager to see Kimmel’s return, rather than his usual fan base. The show had averaged around 1.6 million viewers throughout 2025 before the suspension.

Kimmel and his team may now be strategizing ways to win back those lost viewers, but whatever plans they have in motion appear to be kept tightly under wraps for the time being.

Amid the steep decline in ratings, “Jimmy Kimmel Live!” also finds itself being outperformed by conservative rival Greg Gutfeld’s “Gutfeld!”

While Kimmel managed just 1.9 million viewers on October 2, Gutfeld pulled in an impressive 2.8 million.

Gutfeld also topped in the coveted 25–54 demographic, drawing 370,000 viewers compared to Kimmel’s 265,000.

Kimmel’s brief suspension came after he made controversial remarks about the murder of right-wing influencer Charlie Kirk.

At the time, he claimed that Kirk’s accused killer, Tyler Robinson, was part of the “MAGA gang” and that they were using the incident to score political points.

The statement sparked widespread backlash from online users and Kirk’s supporters, who called for Kimmel to be canceled.

When the TV personality was eventually informed by ABC about his suspension, he was reportedly shocked and feared that his show might never return.

“I thought, that’s it. It’s over. It is over. I’m never coming back on the air. That’s really what I thought,” Kimmel revealed during a recent sitdown with fellow late-night show host Stephen Colbert, per Fox News.

“And I walked out to my office, and I called in some of the executive producers. There are about nine people in there, and I said, ‘They’re pulling this off the air.’ My wife said I was white, I was whiter than Jim Gaffigan when I came out of there,” he further recalled.

With Kimmel’s return, those fears seem to have long since dissipated, and the late-night host appears to be back to his old self.

No further proof was needed than the fact that he wasted no time skewering President Donald Trump while reacting to a recently released YouGov poll that suggested he was more popular than the billionaire mogul.

“According to a new poll from YouGov — which is a serious polling site … or they were before this — I am more popular than the president of the United States,” he said during a part of his October 6 episode, per People Magazine.

Kimmel continued, “Considering the fact that I’m not a convicted felon friend of Jeffrey Epstein and I’ve never paid off a porn star or sent a team of masked goons into a park to pull an old lady away from her grandchildren, I feel like my rating should be higher, maybe?”

He added, “At this point, finding a toenail in your salad has a seven-point lead over Donald Trump.”