After years in the shadows, ‘The Daily Show’ just scored its biggest ratings surge in a decade, leaving rivals stunned
“The Daily Show” closed out its third quarter as its highest rated quarter in four years and its best average share in 10 years.
The Comedy Central late night show averaged a 0.45 rating in the 18-49 demo — its highest since the first quarter of 2021 — and a 3.22 share — its highest since the third quarter of 2015, according to Nielsen big data plus panel viewing data for the third quarter of 2025.
In additional to the milestones, “The Daily Show” saw gains in both categories, with its rating soaring 25% from last year’s rating of 0.36, and its share rising 42% from last year’s share of 2.26. Comedy Central did not provide average total viewers for the quarter.
Additionally, “The Daily Show” ranked as the No. 1 cable series in late night on Mondays, when Jon Stewart hosts, both among adults 18-49, as well as in the younger demo among adults 18-34.
In addition to the ratings milestones, “The Daily Show” also scored its best third quarter social performance in franchise history. On social media, “The Daily Show” scored 1.7 billion views — up 26% from a year ago — and 3.2 billion total minutes consumed — up 20% from a year ago.
The quarter marked a turbulent time for late night, with fallout from Stephen Colbert’s cancellation coalescing into Jimmy Kimmel’s suspension from ABC and broadcast partners Nexstar and Sinclair.
“The Daily Show” had a similar milestone for the first quarter of 2025 when it marked its biggest quarterly share in 10 years, which TheWrap revealed exclusively. The show scored a share of 3.94 in the first quarter of 2025, up 13% from a share of 3.48 in the first quarter of 2024, and the best quarterly performance for “The Daily Show” since Stewart’s return in the first quarter of 2024.
Likewise, the share rose 48% to 5.76 in the first quarter of 2025 as compared to the 3.8 share in the fourth quarter of 2024.
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