Comedy Central’s The Daily Show just made some ratings history.
Jon Stewart’s series just became the first late-night talk show since at least a decade ago to rank #1 in the adult demo for a full month average other than The Late Show or The Tonight Show.
Daily Show delivered a 1.0 adult demo rating for the month, compared to its broadcast rivals averaging a 0.9.
Also announced Thursday: for this first time since Leno’s return to late night, Letterman has beaten his NBC rival in all the major talk show measurements. For the week ending Oct. 29 , CBS’ Late Show topped The Tonight Show among viewers, adults 18-49 and adults 25-54.
Late Night Talk Shows – October 2010 (ranked on A18-49 Delivery, most current L+7 data):
1. “The Daily Show with Jon Stewart” – 1.3 million viewers
2. “The Tonight Show with Jay Leno” – 1.2 million viewers
3. “Late Show with David Letterman” – 1.2 million viewers
4. “The Colbert Report” – 900,000 viewers
5. “Late Night with Jimmy Fallon” – 800,000 viewers
6. “The Late Late Show with Craig Ferguson” – 700,000
7. “Jimmy Kimmel Live” – 700,000
8. “Chelsea Lately” – 650,000
9. “Lopez Tonight” – 450,000
NBC counters that Comedy Central didn’t include repeats in their measurement, and if you include encore telecasts plus originals the broadcasters are back on top. Still, this is a nice victory lap for Stewart.
