Comedy Central (DStv channel 122) achieved record ratings for the hotly anticipated TV premiere of The Daily Show with Trevor Noah on the channel (29 September at 21:00 CAT).
The new incarnation of the show, hosted by SA comedian Trevor Noah, scored a rating of 2.6 – the highest rating ever achieved by Comedy Central in SA (the record holder until now was the Comedy Central Roast of Steve Hofmeyr, also hosted by Noah, which scored a 2.0 back in 2012). In addition, #DailyShow and #TrevorDay trended on both the 28 and 29 September at number 1 and 2 in South Africa, beating all conversation about the Rugby World Cup, with over 100K original posts across Social Media.

In the USA, the premiere of the show performed amazingly well, scoring a total of 7.5 million viewers across the simulcast of Viacom Media Networks brands. On Comedy Central, ratings among Adults 18-34 soared by 41 percent, and the show’s median age dropped by six years (46). In addition, the premiere of “The Daily Show with Trevor Noah” was #1 series on Nielsen Social Guide for the day ranked on Unique Audience among all non-sports programming. (Source: Nielsen Social Guide).

The second edition of the show scored even better, showing double-digit gains across the board vs. the premiere night telecast. The second episode, which featured segments on Presidents Barack Obama and Vladimir Putin at the U.N. and the attempts of Hillary Clinton and Ben Carson to pander to the youth vote, increased its audience by +13% in total viewers (1.2 million), and its ratings by +20% with Adults 18-49, +21% with Adults 18-34 and +55% with Men 18-34. Versus the final quarter of “The Daily Show with Jon Stewart,” the September 29 episode of “The Daily Show with Trevor Noah” saw ratings gains of +21% with Adults 18-49, +71% with Adults 18-34, and nearly doubled the Men 18-34 rating (+92%).

On the multiplatform front, Noah’s full-episode premiere (has already been streamed over 750K times and clips from the episode have recorded nearly 4 million views across platforms. Socially, The Daily Show remained the #1 series in Late Fringe on Nielsen Social Guide ranked on Unique Audience among all programming.

The Daily Show with Trevor Noah airs Tuesday to Fridays in Africa on Comedy Central (DS channel 122) at 21.00 CAT.