After back-to-back weeks of abnormally large audiences, Comedy Central’s The Daily Show experienced an inevitable Nielsen ratings decline during Week No. 3 of the Jon Stewart Mondays era.
According to Nielsen live-plus-three-day data, Jon Stewart’s Monday, Feb. 26, 2024 episode brought in an average of 1,966,000 total viewers and 365,000 P18-49 viewers. That’s -19% in total viewers and -17% in P18-49 viewers from the Monday, Feb. 19, 2024 Daily Show episode, (2.44 million and 440,000 P18-49, per live-plus-three data).
Looking at the week-to-week trends for the show as a whole, according to Nielsen live-plus-same-day data for the week of Feb. 26 (live-plus three isn’t available through Thursday just yet), The Daily Show averaged 554,000 total viewers and 129,000 P18-49. That’s a -17% decline in total viewers, but only a -1% decline in P18-49 viewers from the week prior.
Michael Kosta hosted last week’s Tuesday through Thursday episodes, and they averaged 431,000 total viewers and 107,000 P18-49 viewers, per Nielsen live-plus-same-day data. That’s an -11% decline in total viewers (486,000) but a +6% improvement in P18-49 viewers from the week prior, which was hosted by Desi Lydic.
For reference, prior to the writers’ strike in May, rotating Daily Show guest hosts averaged 369,000 total viewers per show; when The Daily Show resumed in mid-October after writers’ strike concluded, that average fell to roughly 300,000 viewers on average.
