Huh. This is just . . . odd. From Vulture (New York Magazine, internal links omitted):
Jon Stewart’s Nielsen Ratings Down 15 Percent; Colbert’s Up 11 Percent
Courtesy of Comedy CentralJon Stewart’s ratings have suffered from his long layoff, while Colbert Nation is only getting bigger. We’ve heard that Nielsen ratings for Monday night’s premieres of A Daily Show and The ColberT ReporT reflected our feelings on how well the two hosts responded to the new writerless world. Stewart, who devoted an entire episode to explicating the strike and, seemingly, purging his guilt over appearing without the help of his writers, lost about 10 percent of his total viewers from October averages, from about 1.6 million to about 1.45 million. Meanwhile, Stephen Colbert, who turned in a terrific show, got a ratings boost from his October averages; almost 150,000 more people tuned in to his show than his October averages, an increase of 12 percent.
Sadly, Nielsen does not have the technological capability to measure the number of people who dozed off during Jon Stewart’s show only to be violently awakened by Colbert’s screeching-eagle opening, at which point they fell off their couch in ornithophobic terror.
. . .
I wonder what the ratings will look like for last night . . .
Huh. Well that’s just bizarre. I always watch both shows and have never thought to do otherwise. Can’t have one without the other.
I thought they both did a great job, by the way.
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I do too. I tend to be more of a TCR fan than a TDS fan, but I think both of them did well. They’re just … different shows with different premises and characters.
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Actually, looking at the numbers on Vulture, the odd thing to me is the October 2007 pre-strike numbers. Monday’s ratings were 1.1 TDS/1.0 TCR — that follows the usual pattern when I manage to see ratings for those shows. However in October TDS had a 1.3 while TCR had a 0.9 — does anyone remember what was going on at the time? Any idea why there would have been such a steep drop-off in October?
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I think the fact that Stephen has had a book at the top of bestseller list for the past few months may have something to do with this. He probably gained a lot of new fans from the book.
Instead of the show giving the book The Colbert Bump(TM), the book bumped the show.
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Everyone, do yourselves a favor and don’t read the live-blogging from a few folks over at New York Magazine that’s linked to on this article. You’ll be ticked off and ready to put this publication On Notice.
@Lyle Masaki,
Well, early October was book promos and the like, and mid- to late-October was Stephen’s declaration that he was running for President, and all the satire about running for President that came with it. Personally, those 2 weeks after he declared, I thought, were brilliantly written and performed, and was fantastic to watch.
I’m wondering, though, since the ratings are up from October, if that will give Comedy Central and Viacom less of a reason to strike a deal with the WGA now. This ratings boost, I think, might be bittersweet.
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@ Lyle,
No idea why the numbers looked so weak for
TDSTCR in October; that surprised me a little, too.@ Lisa,
I’m assuming those are the same live-blogging links we posted here yesterday; your warning may come too late for some.
Regarding the stronger Colbert ratings for Monday, keep in mind that these numbers just cover that one night’s show; there may well have been a number of curious, “let’s just see how he does this” watchers then. Remember, the other hosts (Leno, Letterman, et al) also got higher-than-usual ratings when they first returned. Also, from what Jon said on Monday, it sounds like Comedy Central was willing to make a deal with the WGA (they weren’t standing in the way of Hello Doggie Prod. making the deal, anyhow); it sounded to me like it was Viacom that was the roadblock.
I’m not part of a Nielsen household and I don’t TiVo or DVR shows, so all I can do to get my opinions across is blog, call/write sponsors, petition, etc. (all of which I’ve been doing). After that, it’s out of my hands, unless someone is aware of any new initiatives.
Edited to remove my brain fart.
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I wonder if if it had something to do with the college football National Championship game. I’m not sure exactly when it ended but it could have been people tuning into the Report after that was over. I would think they would compete for roughly the same demographic.
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I find it hard to imagine watching one without the other! I guess I just assumed anyone who liked TCR would like TDS aswell, I think TCR was better than TDS (sorry…”ADS”!) on monday night, but TDS was better than TCR last night. Either way I still watch both programs religiously!
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@ Lisa: I agree. You have to wonder what the economic incentive for Viacom is to go back and negociate if ColberT can do the show on his own.
In a sense, it’s actually good for the strike that ADS was watching less than TCtRt. Apprently, Stewart is supporting the writers more by making a crappy show nobody wants to watch, while ColberT just extends his own fame over the back of the writers.
Please note that the writers are NOT getting any money from the shows anymore. When there are retunrs, they do get money. Viacom on the other hand is making more money than during the results.
BTW: I suggest we refer to “TDS” as “ADS”, and to “TCR” as “TCtRt”. “A Daily Show”, and “The ColberT ReporT”.
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I enjoy and TiVo both, but it’s only TCR that I watch(ed) religiously. But, I’ve seen Jon in concert. But, I went to college with Stephen. Does that count?? (And no, I didn’t know him … DAMN!)
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I thought Stewart hit it out of the park last night. Loved the “my brain’s not on strike” and “we have Homer in the White House” lines. ColberT doing Noblet-like crying as he whines about nothing on the teleprompter never gets old. Good stuff.
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Just to clarify, it’s TDS that was way up in October. Colbert was doing his presidential run at the time, but his numbers look normal.
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Very interesting. I’m another one who thinks Stephen’s book might have something to do with this. I think Jon’s numbers will come back up too, once they’re on the air for awhile.
This made me laugh way too much:
“Sadly, Nielsen does not have the technological capability to measure the number of people who dozed off during Jon Stewart’s show only to be violently awakened by Colbert’s screeching-eagle opening, at which point they fell off their couch in ornithophobic terror.”
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@ Lyle,
Arrgh, you’re right, I typed the wrong thing. I had thought both shows were doing well before the strike, so I was surprised that the numbers for TCR didn’t seem to match my expectations.
Stupid fingers, getting ahead of my brain! Editing the old comment …
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@Ms. I,
Yep, those were the ones I was referring to; I will admit, I didn’t get to all the links that were posted the other day, so I think I missed reading that particular article — I always seem to be a day late and a dollar short.
Don’t take it personally, though. We know you post various bits of news for everyone to use to make their own judgments — I didn’t mean to seem overly-critical. My bad.
@ColbertFaninChicago,
Get outta town! I sooo wanted to go see Jon in Atlantic City but the tickets were uuber expensive. Maybe someday…I’d just love to see a Second City show too…
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You have NO idea how much it kills me to know that I went to dorm parties in Stephen’s dorm and yet never met him …
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@ColbertFaninChicago,
OMG! So, so, SOOOO cool (Not that you never met him, but just the fact that you went to college with him.)!!!
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hahahahaha, “ornithophobic terror”
but yeah, bizarre.
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When you go to NU, you go to school with a lot of future stars :-)
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The fact that there’s still a strike on may have something to do with ADS’s reduced ratings.
Some people may not feel comfortable watching the show (…as Jon seemed to be rather uncomfortable -doing- the show on Monday)
I’m wondering about TCtRt’s ratings for Tuesday night.
If the ratings say, in effect, that Colbert/Stewart can each successfully do the work of 14 people, then I’m sure Viacom will let them continue to do it until the boys drop from exhaustion—Viacom/the AMPTP seems rather short-sighted that way.
[...bad analogy warning.. :-P !!]They’d rather kill the goose that lays the golden eggs, rather than making it happy by giving it a bit more food.
Of course, they don’t actually see that they’re killing it….like I said….short-sighted.
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DB, have you ever thought of attending a taping? I think with all of this stellar coverage you have been giving Stephen and the strike they would roll out the red carpet for you (a la winner of the Green Screen Challenge:)
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@gina24:
I wouldn’t go expecting any kind of special treatment. Maybe someday, I’ll save up for a trip. But right now, I need my money to start my MBA this Spring, so that’s my big focus right now. :)
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Yeah, I am more of a TCR fan myself…I knew that Colbert would be doing better because he used to do Improv, unlike John, so Colbert has a little bit of an edge which makes his show not as bad without the writers.
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