By Bobby Burack
Copyright outkick
“Jimmy Kimmel Live” averaged 6.3 million viewers on Tuesday, Kimmel’s first episode back from his short-lived suspension. The episode more than tripled his 2025 average of 1.7 million viewers. As expected, the suspension and surrounding drama boosted interest in Kimmel’s late-night program. The return even has friendly media allies like Brian Stelter declaring Kimmel more powerful than ever. “Kimmel is more powerful than ever because he’s been explicitly approved and backed up by ABC,” Stelter told Dan Le Batard on Wednesday. If the interest sticks, maybe so. But we’re not sure that it will. Attention spans have never been shorter than they are in 2025, and momentum is usually fleeting. For context: Kimmel’s Tuesday opening monologue has over 20 million views on YouTube, while his Wednesday monologue sits at about 4.7 million—well above his average but far below the day prior. Television ratings for his second night back haven’t been released, but we’d expect similar results: higher than his average, yet well beneath Tuesday’s 6.3 million. We won’t know whether Kimmel’s claim to martyrdom truly worked for a few weeks. The best indicator may be where his ratings stand by next month. Truthfully, we’d be surprised if the show averaged more than 2 million viewers by late October. That’s why Stelter’s declaration that Kimmel is “more powerful than ever” feels premature. Late-night television has become increasingly expensive to produce with minimal returns. According to reports, CBS is losing around $40 million a year on Stephen Colbert’s show, the highest-rated late-night program on broadcast. Moreover, ABC didn’t bring Kimmel back out of loyalty to him. The network most likely reinstated him to prove it wasn’t bowing to the Trump administration, as critics in the legacy media and Hollywood elite suggested. But Kimmel’s contract runs only through 2026. As time passes, ABC and parent company Disney will feel less pressure to keep him on air. If his ratings slide back to previous levels, it would make little financial sense to extend his run. That’s not cancel culture. That’s business. Networks have no obligation to keep airing shows that lose money. Ultimately, we agree Jimmy Kimmel is more relevant now than at any point in the past decade. But let’s check back in a month to see if that holds true. Because the reality is, it usually takes a suspension or cancellation to get people talking about Colbert or Kimmel. Otherwise, they’re an afterthought.
