Nosedive! Jimmy Kimmel's Ratings Plunge to the Bottom of the Ocean After Return From Suspension
(redstate.com)
Embarrassing!
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It's a low bar.
Johnny Carson averaged probably 3 times that for the entire run of his show. And yes, I get it-more competition for viewership these days.
But a closer comparison? Jay Leno averaged double the 2.7 million- 5-6 million-for a full decade. Letterman averaged between 3 and 6 for most of his run.
Jimmy Fallon is currently at about 1.1 nightly. That's about where Kimmel will end up.
Carson did around 5 million a night, sometimes as high as 10 depending on the guest. But, keep in mind this is before YouTube when people couldn't watch clips or anything. Also, this is before social media, streaming, 24 hour news, and all those things so it was very much a captive audience.
Back in the 80s, it was VERY normal for shows to hit 20m a night, hell the Cosby's did 25m per episode. Dukes of Hazzard did 20m per episode.
A LOT more people watched TV back then. Now everyone is watching 100 different streaming platforms.