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Jimmy Kimmel has reached the top of the late-night ratings after one of the most turbulent years of his career. Jimmy Kimmel Live! finished the 2025-2026 season averaging 2 million total viewers, its largest overall audience in eight years, and then opened the new 2026-2027 season as the No. 1 broadcast late-night show with 2.29 million viewers during premiere week. The turnaround follows a year that included a suspension, political controversy and a dramatic ratings surge when Kimmel returned to the air.
Kimmel Finished the Season With a Major Ratings Milestone
ABC said Jimmy Kimmel Live! averaged 2 million total viewers during the 2025-2026 season, making it the show’s most-watched season since 2017-2018. The program also averaged a 0.18 rating among adults ages 18 to 49, placing it No. 1 across late night in that key advertising demographic. The result marked the show’s strongest performance among adults 18 to 49 in four years.
The New Season Started Even Stronger
Kimmel carried that momentum directly into the 2026-2027 season. For the week of September 21, Jimmy Kimmel Live! averaged 2.29 million viewers and a 0.21 rating among adults 18 to 49, putting it first across broadcast late night in both measurements. NBC’s The Tonight Show Starring Jimmy Fallon averaged about 1.3 million viewers during the same premiere week.
The Show Was Coming Off a Wild Year
The ratings turnaround comes after an unusually turbulent period for Kimmel and the show. In September 2025, ABC and Disney temporarily suspended Jimmy Kimmel Live! following backlash over comments Kimmel made concerning the killing of conservative activist Charlie Kirk and the political reaction to it. The suspension lasted six days before the network announced that the show would return.
His Return Drew an Extraordinary Audience
When Kimmel returned to the air in September 2025, the show attracted an unusually large audience. Nielsen figures reported by Disney showed approximately 6.2 million viewers for the return episode, nearly four times the show’s typical audience at the time, even though the program was not carried by ABC affiliates owned by Nexstar and Sinclair in markets representing about 23% of U.S. households. The episode also drew substantial attention online, helping turn the suspension itself into a major television event.
The Ratings Surge Did Not Happen All at Once
The initial post-suspension spike eventually settled, but the show continued to demonstrate strong performance as the following seasons developed. In September 2026, Kimmel’s return from his summer break produced 2.171 million viewers for the week of September 6, up 59% from the previous week’s repeat-heavy schedule, while the following week climbed again to 2.581 million viewers. Those figures put Jimmy Kimmel Live! comfortably ahead of its 11:35 p.m. competitors during both weeks.
Stephen Colbert’s Exit Changed the Late-Night Race
Kimmel’s rise also comes as the late-night television landscape has changed significantly. The Late Show with Stephen Colbert ended its run in May 2026 after CBS announced the program would be canceled, removing a major competitor from the traditional 11:35 p.m. network lineup. Colbert’s departure helped reshape the ratings race just as Kimmel was entering his strongest recent period.
Kimmel Also Leads Among Younger Adults
Total viewers are only one measure of success for late-night television, because advertisers place particular value on adults ages 18 to 49. Kimmel averaged a 0.18 rating in that demographic for the 2025-2026 season and a 0.21 rating during the first week of the new season, keeping him at the top of the broadcast late-night field. The show has also ranked No. 1 among adults 18 to 49 during premiere week for five consecutive years, according to ABC.
The Bigger Challenge Is Late Night’s Shrinking Audience
Kimmel’s success does not mean traditional late-night television has returned to its former size. Disney content chief Dana Walden recently noted that Kimmel’s ratings are rising relative to a smaller broadcast late-night audience, while millions more viewers consume clips and segments online and on demand. That changing viewing behavior makes strong television ratings valuable but also creates a difficult business environment for expensive nightly talk shows.
Kimmel Has Turned a Turbulent Period Into Momentum
A year that could have weakened Jimmy Kimmel Live! instead ended with the program holding the strongest ratings position it has had in years. The show finished the 2025-2026 season with its largest overall audience in eight years and immediately claimed the top spot again when the 2026-2027 season began. Whether that momentum lasts will depend on how well Kimmel and ABC can maintain viewers in a late-night market that continues to shrink and shift toward streaming and on-demand viewing.