Talk show host looking for an audience
Streaming services have already proved that they can produce Oscar-winning movies, Emmy-worthy dramatic series and high-profile live sports. But there’s one genre that the new wave of home entertainment platforms have yet to figure out: talk shows.
Witness the current stumbles of Jon Stewart.
His Apple TV+ show, The Problem with Jon Stewart, which debuted in September, has failed to gain traction in its first season and lags far behind its competitors on broadcast and cable TV.
Last fall, about 180,000 U.S. homes saw the show’s first episode within the first seven days, according to the measurement firm Samba TV. By the fifth episode, which aired in early March, about 40,000 U.S. homes tuned in, down 78 per cent from the season première. By comparison, an episode in March of HBO’S Last Week Tonight with John Oliver was seen in 844,000 U.S. homes, Samba TV says.
Stewart declined to comment, though the magazine Entertainment Weekly said the show is the No. 1 unscripted series on Apple TV+, citing sources. To date, Apple hasn’t disclosed any viewership numbers for Stewart’s show, which since its debut has aired on a sporadic schedule. According to Parrot Analytics, Stewart’s program is the eighth most in-demand talk show in the U.S., before programs hosted by Ellen Degeneres and James Corden and behind ones hosted by the likes of Jimmy Kimmel, Jimmy Fallon, Stephen Colbert and Trevor Noah.
“We are thrilled that The Problem with Jon Stewart has resonated with viewers all over the world,” said Molly Thompson, head of unscripted and documentaries at Apple TV+.
“The series has sparked complex conversations about critical issues, and we’re proud to team with Jon for season 2 and beyond.”
Stewart’s predicament is hardly unique. The list of successful, prominent comedians who have hosted short-lived shows on Netflix or Hulu already includes Chelsea Handler, Michelle Wolf, the late Norm Macdonald, Joel Mchale and Sarah Silverman. Years into the streaming revolution, the classic talk show format is still struggling to adapt. One problem is that people often watch streaming shows days or weeks after the programming initially aired, making it difficult for hosts to rely on jokes pegged to current events, long a pillar of traditional late-night programs.
Another challenge is that increasingly streaming services want programming that can appeal to subscribers around the world.
Whereas broadcast TV networks have spent decades building and reinforcing a schedule that reliably steers viewers to their latenight talk shows, streaming services lack anything equivalent.
Stewart fans may have had a particularly hard time settling into a viewership routine. Stewart initially released episodes on Apple every two weeks. Then he took four months off. In March, he returned from hiatus and began releasing episodes once a week. Along the way, Stewart has poked fun at the slow rollout, saying recently that it’s “like I’m an Etsy store of shows, knitting each one myself.”