Amid the changing tides of late-night TV, one thing remains constant: Jon Stewart delivers. The Daily Show saw its best ratings in 10 years, and it's all thanks to Stewart's return.
According to Nielsen data, The Daily Show's second quarter of 2025 returned the best quarterly share since 2015's third quarter. The numbers reflect viewers in the 18-49 demo in live-plus-three numbers, a key share of the audience for networks. The last time numbers were this good, Jon Stewart was saying goodbye to The Daily Show for what we believed was the last time.
Now, Stewart has turned Monday nights into must-see TV. The lone night Stewart is behind the desk has become The Daily Show’s biggest winner. Ratings for Mondays are up 43% compared to when he returned in the first quarter of 2024.
That's not to completely dismiss the rotating cast of correspondents that fill in the rest of the week behind Stewart. The combination of Ronny Chieng, Michael Kosta, Jordan Klepper, and Desi Lydic has entertained audiences and brought the kind of sharp satire that raises The Daily Show's profile.
The Daily Show is also hitting with viewers who prefer to consume their content outside of normal cable broadcasts. Paramount+ reports a 21% gain in Daily Show viewership over the past year. Comedy Central also called it the “most viewed late-night talk show across social” with 1.8 billion views during the second quarter. However, The Tonight Show Starring Jimmy Fallon also claims to be late-night's leader when it comes to social. But The Daily Show is getting its numbers without relying on celebrity cameos.
The question now is whether the ratings are enough to secure The Daily Show, and perhaps Stewart, a long-term future. Paramount just announced plans to shutter The Late Show with Stephen Colbert in May for financial reasons. Critics argue it was more about politics after Stephen Colbert criticized Paramount's settlement with Donald Trump. Stewart did the same, so there's a chance he suffers a similar fate.
So far, Stewart hasn't heard anything about the Daily Show's future. “Unfortunately, we haven’t heard anything from them,” Stewart said on the July 17 episode of The Weekly Show podcast. “They haven’t called me and said like, ‘Don’t get too comfortable in that office, Stewart!'”
Paramount said the decision to cancel The Late Show was purely a financial one. If The Daily Show's ratings continue at these levels and pull in social media views, Jon Stewart and company shouldn't worry about their job security.