Jon Stewart‘s return to “The Daily Show” is proving to be a hit with viewers, as evidenced by the surge in viewership during his second week back at the desk. On Monday night, Comedy Central saw a whopping 1.3 million viewers tuning in to catch Stewart’s latest episode, marking the highest viewership for the show on the network since his farewell in 2015.
It’s worth noting that this comparison specifically focuses on viewership on Comedy Central alone. While some episodes post-2015 have surpassed the 1.3 million mark, they often had the advantage of simulcasting on other Paramount-owned networks. However, Monday’s telecast solely aired on Comedy Central, making this achievement particularly significant.
For context, Stewart’s initial return on Feb. 12 garnered a total of 1.9 million viewers across various Paramount-owned networks. However, only 930,000 of those viewers came from Comedy Central. This means that Stewart’s second episode saw a notable 35% improvement in viewership on Comedy Central compared to his debut episode.
Furthermore, the episode also saw a significant increase in ratings among young adults aged 18-34, jumping from a 0.13 to a 0.22, marking a substantial 62% increase in this demographic.
These statistics, sourced from Nielsen’s Live + Same Day data, do not even include streaming numbers, where “The Daily Show” continues to perform strongly.
According to first-party data from Paramount Global, Stewart’s return episode saw total viewership climb from 1.9 million to over 3 million viewers after three days of multiplatform viewing. It’s anticipated that his second episode will experience similar growth in streaming viewership.
Overall, Jon Stewart’s comeback to “The Daily Show” is clearly resonating with audiences, driving up viewership numbers and reigniting interest in the long-running comedy series.