\n The first new episode of \u201cJimmy Kimmel Live!\u201d since his suspension averaged 6.3 million viewers via traditional television, more than three times the show\u2019s typical TV viewership, even though the show was blacked out in dozens of markets.\n <\/p>\n
\n In the key advertiser-friendly demographic of viewers ages 18 to 49, the show scored its \u201chighest regularly scheduled episode in over 10 years,\u201d ABC said Wednesday afternoon.\n <\/p>\n
\n And on YouTube, Kimmel has been gaining more than a million views per hour. Combining ABC, YouTube and social media platforms, Kimmel\u2019s monologue about free speech<\/a> in America has reached tens of millions of people, and the view counts are still rising.\n <\/p>\n \n The preliminary Nielsen ratings, which will grow later once on-demand viewership is calculated, are all the more notable because the Kimmel telecast was not shown on scores of local ABC-affiliated stations.\n <\/p>\n \n Two major TV station groups, Nexstar and Sinclair, are continuing to preempt the talk show, and those groups have ABC-affiliated stations that reach roughly 23% of American TV households.\n <\/p>\n