Jon Stewart’s ‘Daily Show’ Return Scores 1.85 Million Viewers, Show’s Biggest Audience in 5 Years
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Jon Stewart’s return to “The Daily Show” ushered in record-breaking ratings for Comedy Central.
As the former “Daily Show” host returned to the late night show for the first time in nearly a decade, Monday night’s episode drew 1.85 million total viewers across Comedy Central, CMT, Logo, MTV, MTV2, Paramount Network, Pop and TV Land, as well as its encore airing on Comedy Central, according to Nielsen live-plus-same-day figures.
On Comedy Central alone, the telecast scored 930,000 total viewers, marking the biggest audience “The Daily Show” has seen since 2018.
Stewart’s return also scored a 0.62 rating among adults 25-54 — the highest-rated telecast since 2017 — and secured a share of 4.21 — the biggest share “The Daily Show” has delivered since 2015.
As the beloved host kicked off Indecision 2024 coverage, Monday night’s episode more than doubled viewing figures for Trevor Noah’s last telecast hosting the program on Dec. 9, 2022.
Stewart’s return saw a 110% uptick from the 443,000 total viewers brought in by Noah’s last telecast, and ratings were up 149% compared to the Dec. 9 episode’s 0.25 rating. Monday night’s share was also up 179% among adults 25-54 when compared to the 1.51 share brought in by Noah’s last episode.
Ratings for Monday night’s episode saw an even bigger increase when compared to Noah’s 2022 average, as viewership for the Feb. 12 telecast soared 142% when compared to Noah’s average audience of 385,000 viewers in 2022. Monday’s ratings were up 160% when compared to the average, and the average share was boosted by 234%.
Stewart’s return was also buzzy on social media, as the episode drew 11.1 million views across social platforms, ranking as the No. 1 most social cable program among late night shows, as well as bringing in the most social views for “The Daily Show” since 2021.
After a year of rotating through celebrity hosts as the show searched for its next permanent cost, “The Daily Show” welcomed Stewart back to host on Mondays as a part of its 2024 election cycle coverage, with the correspondent news team holding down the fort during the rest of the week.
Monday’s viewership on Comedy Central alone exceeded the most-watched celebrity hosts, including Al Franken, who averaged 792,000 viewers as he hosted from March 20-23, John Leguizamo, who saw an average of 633,000 total viewers from March 27-30, and Sarah Silverman, whose Feb. 13-16 telecasts averaged 613,000 total viewers.
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