Cable King Jon Stewart Beats Out Letterman and Leno

By Jett Wells Posted Nov 4th 2010 04:55PM

Even when you're a comic superstar like Jon Stewart, it takes something monumental for a cable guy to beat out network titans like David Letterman and Jay Leno. Well, people, that time has come. It took an interview with President Barack Obama and 215,000 people rallying in costume, but Stewart's 'The Daily Show' finally edged out Letterman and Leno's ratings by a nose for October, according to The Hollywood Reporter.

Stewart took the crown by averaging 1.3 million viewers versus 1.2 million viewers for Leno and Letterman for the 18-49 demographic. It's the first time a show other than 'The Tonight Show' or 'The Late Show' didn't win the top spot since 2000, although it was a crazy month for Stewart that he couldn't possibly repeat every time. For lack of a better analogy, Stewart's ratings were on steroids, but he will certainly bask in the glory while he has it.

In other news, October was rough for Leno. Yes, Jon Stewart beat him, but so did his arch nemesis Letterman, for the first time since Leno returned to 'The Tonight Show.' The ratings shake-ups also mark a precedent Conan O'Brien hopes to accomplish with his new show 'Conan' on TBS, where he'll be vying for late night bragging rights on cable.

Can Conan and Stewart combined make cable a legitimate late night contender?

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Tags: david letterman, jay leno, jon stewart, ratings

Comments

(12)

Thursday 04 November

By The Dude

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Why would anybody watch any of these shows when something genuinely funny, Adult Swim, is on?

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By Rick

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lol, of course with his rally/sideshow and talking to the President (I mean Dude) of the United States his ratings are going to be high! glad the writer acknowledges that stewart will go back to his smirking goofy-face schtick soon enough and settle back down in the ratings

By milan1010

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its about time..he is clearly the smartest late night hosts outhere..

By mayabelle1107

Yet Bill O'Reilly's REPEAT at 11 pm beats Stewart by almost 1,000,000 viewers. I would think that would make him the cable king. But you keep right on goin' with that agenda. Liebowitz thanks you for the paid for plug.

By Kimball

Itching ears.

By hawk

mayabelle-and McDonalds sells billions of burgers, doesn't make them any better.

Friday 05 November

By kmills1019

Your right Maybelle1107, O'rielly is a bigger joke.

By xf999

Why doesn't anyone ever use his actual, full name?

By greta

Stewart is smart, funny as hell and pulled off a huge rally. I was fortunate to be a part of the rally, and I can tell you: Stewart and Colbert are an awesome 1-2 punch!

By Barb

Bravo....maybe those who stay up later are smarter then those
who go to bed early. I love Steward even if he is a bit silly
at times. He's really very bright.

Sunday 28 November

By B. Griswold

Actually, a question: I have a cable provided DVR which I like a lot. I record at least 80% of what I watch. Do ratings track this? Does anyone know?

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