Jimmy Kimmel’s return to late-night was seismic for television, but YouTube is claiming a chunk of the glory.
During a presentation today at MIA Market in Rome, YouTube’s Head of Business Strategy and Operations, EMEA, Luca Forlin, said the linear TV viewing uptick generated by the return of Jimmy Kimmel Live! to ABC was dwarfed by numbers generated on the Google-owned platform.
“It was a huge moment, and he had a huge audience spike, but even that audience spike on linear paled in comparison to what YouTube gained in terms of audience,” he added.
Kimmel returned to the airwaves on Tuesday, September 23 after Disney his ABC show was pulled over comments he made on the killing of right-wing campaigner Charlie Kirk. ABC affiliate Nexstar and Sinclair both boycotted the show, but ultimately returned it to their stations.
The post-suspension show became ABC’s second-most watched episode ever, drawing 6.5 million live+same day viewers. By Deadline’s count today, the YouTube version of the episode, ‘Jimmy Kimmel is back!’ had accrued 22 million viewers in the two weeks since the broadcast, with other related videos adding significant amounts more.
“That multiplier effect – 4x, 5x, 6, 10x – is what we observe day-in, day-out on live streaming and live events,” said Forlin.
For context, Forlin used the Kimmel example to show how television brands can use YouTube to build bigger audiences. He was primarily was in town to appeal to Italian producers and creatives to begin experimenting with YouTube, whether through monetizing their existing content or developing directly for the platform. In a bid to highlight the opportunity, he pointed to top YouTuber MrBeast’s online version of Squid Game.
“Netflix had announced after six months that about 400 million people had viewed the series,” said Forlin. “MrBeast replicated with his own Squid Game, and it took only a few weeks to reach 400 million viewers. That’s the speed and scale that YouTube operates at, and it’s there for you.
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