Jimmy Kimmel on Wednesday drew attention to the struggling debut of Donald Trump's new streaming network, "Trump TV: The Essentials Station," which launched this week to remarkably low viewership on YouTube.
Kimmel cited a report from The Daily Beast, stating that the network lost nearly 95% of its audience in its first three days. According to the report, viewership peaked at approximately 8,500 on Monday night but had fallen to fewer than 500 viewers by Wednesday morning.
"So far, it’s going about as well as everything else with Donald Trump’s name on it," Kimmel quipped on his show. He also joked that the only channel doing worse was the Strait of Hormuz.
Trump has a well-documented history of closely monitoring and often exaggerating television ratings, a habit that began during his tenure hosting "The Apprentice" and continued into his presidency. However, Kimmel pointed out that YouTube's real-time viewer counts make such exaggerations difficult.
Kimmel then presented a mock promotional segment featuring parody shows intended to boost Trump TV's viewership. The segment was accompanied by a YouTube video clip from "Jimmy Kimmel Live" that included commentary on Trump's media venture.