As the 2026-2027 TV season got under way last week, “Jimmy Kimmel Live” won the broadcast network premiere week in late night, both in total viewers and adults 18-49. For the week of Sept. 21, “JKL” averaged 2.29 million viewers and a 0.21 rating in adults 18-49.
That’s based on live+same day big data plus panel ratings. “Jimmy Kimmel Live” beat NBC’s “The Tonight Show Starring Jimmy Fallon” (1.3 million) and CBS’ “Comics Unleashed” (704,000 for the first half hour, 521,000 for the second half hour) during the 11:35 p.m. hour.
The premiere week guests for “Jimmy Kimmel Live” included Woody Harrelson (“Brothers”), Sam Richardson (“Matchbox The Movie”) and musical guest Greta Van Fleet on Monday; Jamie Foxx (“Jamie Foxx: Take Care of Yourself”) and Ke Huy Quan (“Never Say Die”) on Tuesday; Brandi Carlile (“Returning To Myself (Sad Gay Version)”) and John Wilson (“The History of Concrete”) on Wednesday; and Ben Affleck (“Animals”) and Mo Amer (“Mo Amer One Night Only at Radio City”) on Thursday. Also, Sara Niemietz sat in with The Cletones during the week.
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The reps the second year in a row that “Jimmy Kimmel Live” opened the season as the No. 1 late-night show in total viewers and adults 18-49 during premiere week; it’s also now been the No. 1 show in late night during premiere week with the 18-49 demo for the fifth consecutive year.
Premiere week was down a smidge from the previous week of Sept. 14, which repped the final week of the 2025-2026 TV season (although that was just a three-night week). With guests including Stephen Colbert, “JKL” was No. 1 with total viewers (2.34 million) and adults 18-49 (0.22 rating).
Meanwhile, with the full 2025-2026 TV season now over, “Jimmy Kimmel Live” averaged 2 million total viewers for the full season. That made it “JKL’s” most-watched season in eight years (since 2017-2018).
And in adults 18-49, “Jimmy Kimmel Live” averaged a 0.18 rating for the season, making it No. 1 across late night. That was the show’s best performance in the demo in four years (since 2021-2022).
The “Jimmy Kimmel Live” momentum comes as the show kicked off a week of episodes from Brooklyn on Monday. Guests this week include Pete Davidson (“The Pete Davidson Show,” “How To Rob A Bank”), New York City Mayor Zohran Mamdani and musical guest TV on the Radio on Monday. That’s followed by Howard Stern (“The Howard Stern Show”), Amy Schumer and musical guest Tom Morello on Tuesday; Billy Crystal (“860”), Mahershala Ali (“Your Mother Your Mother Your Mother”) and musical guest De La Soul on Wednesday; John Oliver and Seth Meyers, and Robby Hoffman (“Robby Hoffman: Wake Up”) on Thursday; and Paul McCartney (“The Boys of Dungeon Lane”), Sen. Bernie Sanders and musical guest Goose on Friday.
