Jimmy Kimmel Live Posts Record 2.4 Million Viewers for Midterm Telecast

By Elena Vasquez

"Jimmy Kimmel Live" drew 2.4 million viewers for its Tuesday midterm-election episode, according to Nielsen — the largest midterm telecast audience in the show's history.

The figure marks a 53% jump from the show's most recent midterm episode on Nov. 8, 2022, which reached 1.6 million viewers. In other words, Kimmel added roughly 800,000 viewers over the two-year cycle.

What do the ratings numbers show?

Among adults aged 18-49, the election episode scored a 0.32 rating. That is a 68% increase from the 0.19 rating of the 2022 midterm telecast.

Excluding episodes that benefited from NFL, NBA and NHL lead-ins, the 0.32 is the highest rating the show has posted in more than a year. The last time it reached that level was Sept. 23, 2025 — the episode on which Kimmel returned to the air after his controversial suspension over comments he made about the assassination of Charlie Kirk.

The takeaway: the midterm broadcast delivered both the show's biggest election-night crowd ever and its strongest young-adult rating in over a year.

How does the full week look?

The election night was not an isolated spike. For the week, "Jimmy Kimmel Live" averaged 2.5 million viewers and a 0.23 rating among adults 18-49, placing it No. 1 in both metrics against its late-night competitors.

The show has now held the top spot for all seven weeks of the broadcast season so far — an unbroken run since the season began.

The takeaway in plain numbers: one full week at No. 1 in both total viewers and the 18-49 demo.

Is the season trending upward?

The season average to date stands at 2.5 million viewers, up 16% from the 2.1 million average at the same point last season. That gain of roughly 400,000 viewers per episode marks the fifth consecutive season in which the show has posted year-over-year growth by Week 7 of the broadcast calendar.

Season 25 is currently on track to become Kimmel's most-watched season in 12 years, since 2014-2015.

If the current pace holds through the rest of the broadcast year, Kimmel would close his 25th season with the show's best numbers in more than a decade.