Comedy Central’s The Daily Show saw an increase in viewers under 50 this past week, driven primarily by Jon Stewart’s live, post-presidential debate episode on Thursday. Michael Kosta delivered week-to-week growth in the demo as well.
According to Nielsen live-plus-same-day data for the week of June 24, 2024, The Daily Show averaged 522,000 total viewers with 121,000 P18-49. Relative to the prior week of first-run episodes (week of June 17), that’s -1% in total viewers, but +9% in P18-49. The Daily Show aired four new episodes this past week (Monday-Thursday), but three the week prior (Monday, Tuesday, and Thursday), preempted on Wednesday, June 19 due to the Juneteenth holiday.
Stewart’s Thursday, June 27 live Daily Show averaged 685,000 total viewers with 174,000 P18-49 at 11 p.m., per Nielsen live-plus-same-day data. That’s -7% in total live-plus-same-day viewers, but +5% in P18-49 viewers from his most recent stint as host (Monday, June 17). Relative to the most recent Thursday Daily Show (co-hosted by Ronny Chieng and Desi Lydic on June 20), Stewart’s June 27 live Daily Show is +67% in total live-plus-same-day viewers and +115% among P18-49.
With Stewart assuming Thursday host duties, Michael Kosta led The Daily Show‘s Monday-Wednesday episodes last week. Kosta’s trio of episodes averaged 467,000 total viewers with 103,000 P18-49 at 11 p.m., per Nielsen live-plus-same-day data. That’s +11% in total viewers, and +21% in P18-49 viewers relative to the most recent trio of non-Stewart-led episodes (Tuesday, June 18-Thursday, June 20, when Ronny Chieng and Desi Lydic were co-hosts).
A good deal of Daily Show viewing is done more than 24 hours after the episode’s initial airing, and the aforementioned averages should grow exponentially once delayed viewing data becomes available.
Prior to the writers’ strike in May 2023, rotating Daily Show guest hosts averaged just 369,000 total live-plus-same-day viewers per show; when The Daily Show resumed in mid-October after writers’ strike concluded, that average fell to roughly 300,000 viewers.
