Jon Stewart and most of his late-night counterparts returned to the airwaves last night after a week off. Daily Show viewers were apparently quite eager to hear Stewart’s reaction to the Trump hush money trial guilty verdict, because last night’s episode attracted the show’s largest live-plus-same-day audience in more than two months.
Per Nielsen live-plus-same-day data, the June 3 Daily Show averaged 787,000 total viewers with 147,000 P18-49 viewers at 11 p.m. The 787,000 is +13% from Stewart’s most recent Daily Show episode (May 20, 2024), and represents the program’s largest live-plus-same-day audience since Monday, March 25. The June 3 episode’s 147,000 P18-49 viewer delivery, however, is -3% from its May 20 episode live-plus-same-day delivery.
It’s also worth keeping in mind that last night’s Daily Show will see a significant linear viewership bump once delayed-viewing data arrives in the coming days. After all, the aforementioned May 20 episode saw its total live-plus-same-day audience more than double after live-plus-three-day data arrived (697,000 to 1,457,000 total viewers).
Following his on-air reaction to the Trump trial guilty verdict, Stewart welcomed former Republican Colorado congressman Ken Buck to the program, who discussed his abrupt exit from Congress, and his ideological differences with many in today’s Republican party, including former President Trump.
Daily Show correspondent Ronny Chieng will host the Tuesday, June 4 – Thursday, June 6 episodes at 11 p.m. ET/PT on Comedy Central. This marks Chieng’s second time sitting solo behind the desk this year; he previously took over hosting duties the week of March 4 then co-hosted with fellow correspondent Jordan Klepper beginning April 23.
