Last night’s episode of The Daily Show was Jon Stewart’s eighth as Monday host, but it didn’t fare particularly well from a Nielsen ratings standpoint.
Going up against TBS’ live broadcast of the 2024 NCAA Men’s Basketball Tournament championship game (Purdue vs. UConn) didn’t exactly help matters.
The Daily Show’s April 8, 2024 episode averaged 671,000 total viewers and 127,000 P18-49 viewers at 11 p.m., according to Nielsen live-plus-same-day data. That represents a -3% loss in total viewers and a -23% in P18-49 demo viewers relative to Stewart’s most-recent Monday, 11 p.m. episode (April 1, 2024), previously his lowest-rated since returning to The Daily Show this past February.
The above-mentioned total viewer and P18-49 numbers are far from final, however. Stewart’s Monday, April 1 episode averaged 693,000 total live-plus-same-day linear viewers, and improved to 1,670,000 total linear viewers after Nielsen live-plus-three-day data arrived. That’s more than a +100% bump in total viewers. With many of consistent TDS viewers undoubtedly tuned into the national championship last night, it’s fair to assume the April 8 episode will see similar (if not greater) growth once delayed-viewing data arrives later in the week. Will the April 8 numbers eventually exceed those of the previous Monday Daily Show, or will this remain Stewart’s lowest-rated Monday since making his Daily Show return back in February.
Despite a third consecutive week of viewer erosion, the Jon Stewart-led Daily Show continues to attract a far larger audience than what the program averages on non-Stewart nights. Prior to the writers’ strike in May, rotating guest hosts for The Daily Show averaged 369,000 live-plus-same-day total viewers per show; when The Daily Show resumed in mid-October after writers’ strike concluded, that number fell to roughly 300,000 viewers on average.
CNN chief international anchor Christiane Amanpour was Stewart’s Daily Show guest last night, and the first TV news personality to appear on Stewart’s Daily Show program since his return.
