Jimmy Kimmel's Monologue Breaks Post-Suspension Ratings Record?

Liputan6.com, Jakarta The return episode of "Jimmy Kimmel Live!" on Tuesday, September 23, 2025, achieved a record-breaking viewership.

After a brief suspension, Jimmy Kimmel's highly anticipated monologue captivated millions of viewers.

The 6.26 million viewers marked the show's highest-ever viewership in its regular 11:35 p.m. time slot, making it the most-watched episode of a regular schedule in history.

It also marked the show's largest audience in over a decade, specifically since March 12, 2015.

The blockade by affiliates Nexstar and Sinclair did not prevent "Jimmy Kimmel Live!" from breaking ratings records and becoming a hot topic across multiple platforms.

During his remarks on Tuesday evening, Kimmel stated, "Look, I never imagined I would be in a situation like this. I barely paid attention in school. One thing I did learn from Lenny Bruce and George Carlin and Howard Stern, is that a government threat to silence a comedian the President doesn't like is anti-American."

"So I'm glad we have some solidarity on that from the Right and Left and from those in the middle - like Joe Rogan. Maybe the silver lining from this is we found one thing we can agree on ... Let's stop letting these politicians tell us what they want and tell them what we want."

Jimmy Kimmel’s show had 6.3M viewers last night.Most-watched regular episode ever, despite not being shown in some major U.S. cities. pic.twitter.com/kQDHAPjFEX

— DiscussingFilm (@DiscussingFilm) September 24, 2025

Jimmy Kimmel's monologue addressing his suspension and the current political drama was a major draw.

The segment garnered more than 26 million views on YouTube and other social media platforms by Wednesday afternoon.

Within an hour, the monologue reached one million views on YouTube, then jumped to 10 million overnight, and surpassed 15 million by Wednesday afternoon.

This rating of 6.26 million viewers far exceeds the average viewership of other late-night shows.

For comparison, in the second quarter of 2025, "The Late Show with Stephen Colbert" led with an average of approximately 2.42 million viewers, followed by "Jimmy Kimmel Live!" with 1.77 million, and "The Tonight Show Starring Jimmy Fallon" with 1.19 million.

In fact, just two episodes of "Jimmy Kimmel Live!" Other episodes that have had higher ratings in the live-plus-same-day measurement include the special episode after the 2014 Oscars and the episode after Super Bowl XL in 2006.

The impact of Jimmy Kimmel's monologues is not only felt on television, but also in the social media platform.

A clip of the monologue, which has been widely received, was uploaded to the show's official YouTube account.

As of this writing, the video has been viewed 19 million times.

While many clips from Kimmel's show have been viewed millions of times, Tuesday night's monologue is poised to set a new record for opening monologue videos.

Among adults aged 18-49, the show scored a 0.87 rating.

This is also the highest rating in that demographic since 2015, indicating that Jimmy Kimmel has successfully captured the attention of a young audience segment that is highly sought after by advertisers.

Kimmel returned to the airwaves one week after his previous episode, in which he made comments regarding the alleged murder of conservative activist Charlie Kirk.

The comments sparked public pressure from the FCC chairman on the network and its affiliates, and resulted in an "indefinite" suspension by ABC.

In his return monologue, Jimmy Kimmel clarified his comments about Kirk's murder.

He stated that he never meant to mock the murder of a young man and did not intend to blame any group for the actions of any individual.

Kimmel's suspension and swift reinstatement placed him at the center of a political firestorm over freedom of expression, media independence, and pressure from the administration.