Best in adults 18-49, demographically since 2017
Comedy Central’s “The Daily Show” started 2026 with its best young adult ratings in more than eight years. According to the network, “The Daily Show” averaged a 0.579 rating among adults 18-49 for the first quarter of 2026, the best mark in the demo since the fourth quarter of 2017 (0.593 rating).
Fueling this demo wave are Monday night episodes of “The Daily Show,” hosted by Jon Stewart, which is currently the No. 1 late-night show for that evening with adults 18 to 49. But the annual growth can also be seen in the Tuesday through Thursday episodes that are presented on a weekly rotation by the news team members of “The Daily Show”, Ronny Chieng, Josh Johnson, Jordan Klepper, Michael Kosta and Desi Lydic.
Linearly, “The Daily Show” is up a whopping 52% among adults 18-49 this quarter compared to 2025 (0.579 vs. 0.381 rating). Stewart’s Monday episodes so far this year have an average rating of 0.709 in 18-49, up 30% from last year’s 0.547 rating. The rest of the news team’s episodes are averaging a 0.521 rating in 18-49 this year, a good 70% more than last year’s 0.306 rating.
And when it comes to quarterly share among adults 18 to 49, the first quarter of 2026 is the show’s best since the third quarter of 2015. The show’s share (3.65) is up 44% from last year (2.53).
Overall, “The Daily Show” averages 1.05 million viewers, an 11% increase over last year’s first quarter (945,000) and the best quarter in two years.
Meanwhile, on the social front, Comedy Central reports that “The Daily Show” is the most-watched cable program so far in 2026. “The Daily Show” boasts its best quarter ever in views (2.5 billion, up 56% from 2025), engagements (144.7 million, up 28%) and total minutes consumed (4.7 billion, up 57%).
The show also says it is the most watched TV entertainment channel on YouTube, with more than 615.5 million views.
The Daily Show airs at 11pm ET on Comedy Central and streams on Paramount+ the following morning. Stewart hosts on Mondays, and this week Chieng hosts the rest of the week. Along with Stewart, Chieng, Johnson, Klepper, Kosta and Lydic and “The Daily Show” correspondents Troy Iwata and Grace Kuhlenschmidt.
This week’s guests include InterAct International co-CEOs Aziz Abu Sarah & Moaz Inon on Monday, “BTS: The Return” filmmaker Bao Nguyen on Tuesday, “The Miniature Wife” star Zoe Lister-Jones on Wednesday, and “Beef” creator/EP/writer/director Lee Sung Jin on Thursday.
(According to Comedy Central, data comes from Nielsen Big Data + Panel for 4Q25 through present, historical panel only; L+3 coverage ratings, national share; competitive position based on P18-49/L+3,000s, 3+ TCs, Latenight Mon/11p-3a. Social-SCR, ListenFirst, Domo.)
