Jon Stewart is struggling to gain traction on his new talk show, according to a report.
“The Problem with Jon Stewart,” which launched on AppleTV+ in September, appears to be a flop, as it trails far behind its competitors on broadcast and cable TV, according to Bloomberg.
The show’s first episode was seen by just 180,000 US homes in the first week it debuted last fall, measurement firm Samba TV said. That number dropped to 78% to 40,000 by its fifth episode, which aired in early March.
Stewart’s comic rival John Oliver, meanwhile, pulled in viewership of 844,000 US homes for a March episode of his HBO show, “Last Week Tonight with John Oliver,” Samba TV reported.
Stewart declined to comment, but on the air, he has made his thoughts about the numbers clear.
“Thank you for watching but my guess is you didn’t,” he said at the end of the premiere episode of his show. “You’re probably just going to look at aggregated clips of it somewhere, on YouTube, where you pirate ‘Ted Lasso.’ You don’t even know how to get Apple TV, do you?”
Apple hasn’t disclosed any viewership numbers, but the magazine Entertainment Weekly said the show is the No. 1 unscripted series on Apple TV+, citing “sources.”
Bloomberg cited research from Parrot Analytics, which said Stewart’s show is the eighth-most popular show in the US, ahead of programs hosted by Ellen DeGeneres and James Corden and behind shows hosted by the likes of Jimmy Kimmel, Jimmy Fallon, Stephen Colbert and his “Daily Show” replacement, Trevor Noah.
