Even with 66 ABC affiliates blocking the broadcast, the return of Jimmy Kimmel Live! on Tuesday night was—as the host suggested during his monologue—a ratings hit. Preliminary Nielsen figures show an audience of 6.26 million, which would be the show's largest in its 22 years for a regular episode. That's more than three times the program's average viewership for the second quarter of the year, before the host took his summer break, per the Hollywood Reporter, though 23% of US homes with televisions didn't get the feed.
The companies behind the blacked-out affiliates had said they wouldn't carry the program in light of Jimmy Kimmel's monologue after the killing of political commentator Charlie Kirk. Nexstar said Wednesday that it's still thinking about the matter, per CNBC, and that "the show will be preempted while we do so." It said talks with ABC have been productive. Sinclair repeated that it remains in discussions with the network. The return episode was a hit by other measures, as well.
Kimmel's monologue received more than 26 million views across YouTube and social platforms, said ABC's owner, Disney. That doesn't count streaming views of the full program. And Jimmy Kimmel Live! posted its highest rating among adults ages 18 to 49 in more than a decade, per CNBC. Kimmel forecast the bump when mentioning President Trump's opposition to the show. The president "tried his best to cancel me," Kimmel said. "Instead, he forced millions of people to watch the show. Backfired bigly."
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