Late-night television host Jon Stewart’s return to The Daily Show on Monday night provided a boost in the show‘s ratings, but not enough to help it surpass most of the competition.
Stewart, whose return to The Daily Show comes following a nine-year departure from the show, saw his show reach 930,000 viewers in the 11 p.m. Eastern timeslot, 320,000 of whom are between the ages of 25-54. Gutfeld!, hosted by Fox News personality Greg Gutfeld, bested The Daily Show in its 10 p.m. Eastern timeslot, getting 2.23 million viewers in total and 328,000 in the 25-54 key age demographic, according to data from Nielson Media Research.
The Daily Show also came behind Fox News’s FOX News @ Night, which aired during the same time frame at 11 p.m. EST. The latter show earned 1.3 million viewers in total, about 33% higher than Stewart’s show.
The ratings did provide some positive news for The Daily Show, however, as the show saw its highest number of viewers in over half a decade.
Other late-night television ratings from Monday evening saw The Late Show with Stephen Colbert getting 2.28 million viewers, slightly ahead of Gutfeld!’s 2.23 million, along with besting Jimmy Kimmel Live!’s 1.48 million viewers and The Tonight Show Starring Jimmy Fallon’s 1.1 million viewers.
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In his return to The Daily Show, Stewart joked about the ages of President Joe Biden and former President Donald Trump, jokingly calling the 2024 presidential election cycle the “indecision 2024 antiques show.” He also acknowledged that both candidates, who many are predicting will be the nominees for their respective parties, face major challenges in winning the election.
When discussing why he returned to host the show, which he will only host once a week on Monday nights, Stewart said he wanted a place to “unload” his thoughts on the election cycle. The weekly host is also serving as an executive producer for the show.
