Jimmy Kimmel Live! enjoyed a short-lived ratings bonanza after his triumphant post-suspension return to ABC.

Kimmel’s late night show returned to screens on Tuesday with record-breaking ratings, after he was suspended for five days over remarks he made about Charlie Kirk‘s assassination.

As many as 6.5million people tuned to Kimmel on Tuesday, which was a three times the show’s usual audience and the biggest in over a decade.

But by Thursday, Kimmel averaged 2.3million – a shocking 64 percent drop since the show’s return episode, Fox News reported.

Notably, Kimmel lost 73 percent of the viewers in the coveted demographic of adults aged 25-54, getting just 465,000.

Typically, Kimmel gets about 1.8 million viewers each night on television. The numbers released by ABC do not include viewership from streaming services.

While Kimmel returned to TV on Tuesday, it was not until Friday that Nexstar Media Group and Sinclair Broadcast Group brought Jimmy Kimmel’s late-night talk show back to their local TV stations, ending a dayslong TV blackout for dozens of cities across the U.S.

Jimmy Kimmel's return to late night following his suspension saw his ratings triple and reach his largest audience in over a decade
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Jimmy Kimmel’s return to late night following his suspension saw his ratings triple and reach his largest audience in over a decade

Monday's episode, which was still preempted in 23 percent of the country over Kimmel's comments on the assassination of Charlie Kirk , drew 6.26 million viewers to ABC
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Monday’s episode, which was still preempted in 23 percent of the country over Kimmel’s comments on the assassination of Charlie Kirk , drew 6.26 million viewers to ABC

Kimmel’s late-night ABC show was yanked off air by Disney after he stated that Kirk’s killer was a Trump supporter. In reality, the assassin was a liberal who seethed with hatred at Kirk over his conservative, Christian ethics, prosecutors allege.

The suspension lasted less than a week, while the affiliate blackout stood for just over a week.

On Tuesday, Kimmel gave a tearful 20-minute monologue in which he claimed he ‘never intended to make light of’ the MAGA icon’s death – and then proceeded to lash out at Donald Trump over censorship.

Kimmel acknowledged his employer of more than 20 years was taking an enormous risk in putting him back on TV.

‘Unfortunately, and I think unjustly, this puts them at risk,’ he said. ‘The president of the United States made it very clear he wants to see me and the hundreds of people who work here fired from their job.

‘Our leader celebrates Americans losing their livelihoods because he can’t take a joke.’

Kimmel broke down when discussing what he said about the assassination of Kirk – but he never once said he was sorry.

Among adults under 50 - late night's most prized demographic - the episode was Kimmel's most-watched since a show from March 2015 that followed ABC's broadcast of the Academy Awards
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Among adults under 50 – late night’s most prized demographic – the episode was Kimmel’s most-watched since a show from March 2015 that followed ABC’s broadcast of the Academy Awards

People walk outside the El Capitan Entertainment Centre where the Jimmy Kimmel Live! show is performed
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People walk outside the El Capitan Entertainment Centre where the Jimmy Kimmel Live! show is performed

‘I have no illusions about changing anyone’s mind, but I do want to make something clear, because it’s important to me as a human and that is, you understand that it was never my intention to make light of the murder of a young man,’ Kimmel said, his voice breaking.

‘I don’t think there’s anything funny about it.’

Kimmel singled out FCC Chairman Brendan Carr, saying his conduct was ‘not legal’ and ‘un-American’ after the chairman threatened to go after late night comics.

He then branded Carr’s threat against Jimmy Fallon and Seth Meyers as not only ‘a direct violation of the first amendment’ but also ‘not a particularly intelligent threat.’