According to Nielsen live-plus-same-day data for the week of May 6, 2024, Comedy Central’s The Daily Show averaged 481,000 total viewers and 103,000 P18-49. Relative to the most recent week of original episodes (week starting April 22), that’s up +4% in total viewers, and +2% P18-49 viewers. (The Daily Show was dark for the week of April 29.)
Jon Stewart is The Daily Show‘s Monday host, but hosted last week’s Thursday episode instead due to his appearance at the Netflix Is a Joke festival in Los Angeles the weekend before. He remained in L.A. for a couple more days, appearing on John Mulaney’s and Jimmy Kimmel’s respective L.A.-based talk shows last Monday, May 6.
Stewart’s Thursday, May 9 episode, his 11th since returning to the show as weekly host, averaged 459,000 total viewers and 84,000 P18-49 live-plus-same-day viewers at 11 p.m. That’s -33% in total viewers and -47% in P18-49 viewers from his most recent Daily Show episode (Monday, April 22). It’s also +13% in total viewers but -6% in P18-49 viewers from The Daily Show‘s Thursday live-plus-same-day averages in 2024.
The Daily Show contributor Jordan Klepper hosted the program’s Monday, May 6 through Wednesday May 8, 2024 installments. Klepper’s three episodes averaged 488,000 total viewers and 109,000 P18-49 live-plus-same-day viewers. Those numbers represent a +26% improvement in total viewers, and a +38% improvement in P18-49 viewers from the show’s most recent non-Stewart-led episodes (Tuesday, April 23 – Thursday, April 25), when Klepper and Ronny Chieng served as Daily Show co-hosts.
Klepper’s week of May 6 episodes were also up +9% in total viewers and +20% in P18-49 viewers relative to the last time he solo-hosted The Daily Show (Tuesday, March 26-Thursday, March 28, 2024).
Although this Spring has seen a decline in Daily Show ratings following the early excitement surrounding Jon Stewart’s February return, last week’s average of 481,000 total live-plus-same-day viewers per show is still relatively strong. For reference, 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.
