‘Jimmy Kimmel Live!’ ratings surge after wild year and Trump feud

TV STREAMINGJimmy Kimmel Live!Add Topic’Jimmy Kimmel Live!’ ratings surge after wild year and Trump feud Kelly LawlerUSA TODAYSept. 29, 2026, 2:55 p.m. ETHear this storyLate night comedian and host Jimmy Kimmel is constantly be saying and doing things that make national headlines, from feuding with President Donald Trump, getting temporarily suspended from the airwaves and asking New York City Mayor Zohran Mamdani to send cheeky text messages. And the world is definitely watching.

ABC announced Sept. 29 that the 2025-2026 season of “Jimmy Kimmel Live!” was its most watched in eight years (since 2017-2018). And for the newly started 2026-2027 season, “Kimmel” is in the top spot.

From 2025-2026, “Kimmel” averaged two million total viewers each week and nabbed 2.29 million viewers its first week of the fall TV season, giving it the No. 1 spot across all of late night in his 11:35pm ET/PT time slot. ABC’s release also noted that last season of “Kimmel” scored No. 1 among viewers 18-49, the key adult demographic sought after by advertisers.

“In the final week of the 2025-2026 season … ‘Jimmy Kimmel Live’ ranked No. 1 in both total viewers (2.34 million) and Adults 18-49,” the release said.

The “Kimmel” numbers mark his clear ascendancy to the top of the late night ratings chart after the former leader, “The Late Show with Stephen Colbert,” bowed in May. In 2026, the former CBS show was averaging 2.96 million viewers per episode (including delayed viewing), leading the pack of network TV late-night shows.

The major ratings are likely in part to Kimmel’s much-publicized controversies, cultural firestorms and commentaries in the past year. Kimmel was temporarily suspended in September 2025 after the network and parent company Disney chose to “indefinitely” preempt the late-night comedy show following comments Kimmel made about the killing of conservative activist Charlie Kirk. Those comments angered many on the right and drew threats from Federal Communications Commission Chairman Brendan Carr, ultimately launching a weeklong media controversy and frenzy over free speech and President Donald Trump’s administration.

His first show back after the suspension drew 6.26 million viewers, “the show’s highest regularly scheduled episode in over 10 years − since 3/12/15,” per a news release at the time.

The Kirk incident was not the only big moment for Kimmel during this period. Kimmel has continued to draw ire from Trump and members of his administration, with feuds piling on top of each other.

In a segment on his show that aired on April 23 of this year, Kimmel delivered an alternative White House Correspondents’ Dinner monologue in anticipation of the actual event, which did not have a comedian as the headliner. During his monologue, Kimmel quipped, “Mrs. Trump, you have a glow like an expectant widow.” Trump later called for his firing after there was a shooting at the actual White House Correspondents’ Dinner on April 25.

The tensions continued in June when Trump said he had “taken out” Stephen Colbert and suggested other late-night hosts could be next⁠. Kimmel responded by mocking the president during his monologue.

Kimmel also made news earlier in September after ABC declined to air his interview with James Talarico, the Democrat running for a senate seat in Texas. The comedian alleged that the FCC, under Trump, has “threatened our show” based on “guest bookings, it would seem, they don’t like.” The Talarico interview, he said, would not air on TV so local ABC affiliates would not have to deal with the FCC’s “nonsense.”The “Kimmel” YouTube channel eventually published the interview in full, which has since garnered 13 million views.

Kimmel and ABC signed a contract extension for his talk show, a source with knowledge of the situation confirmed to USA TODAY in December 2025. “Jimmy Kimmel Live!” will stay on the network through at least May 2027.

Contributing: Edward Segarra, Sameen Chaudhry, Brendan Morrow, Anthony Robledo, USA TODAY