Ratings: Jim Cramer Appearance Propels 'The Daily Show'

Hyped appearance by CNBC commentator draws year’s second highest ratings

By Alex Weprin -- Broadcasting & Cable, 3/13/2009 7:34:24 PM

A much-hyped interview with CNBC host Jim Cramer gave The Daily Show with Jon Stewart its second most-watched episode of the year Thursday.

The episode drew 2.3 million total viewers, second only to the installment that aired on inauguration day Jan. 20, which drew 2.6 million. (Watch a clip of the appearance here: "Jim Cramer Visits The Daily Show With Jon Stewart")

The interview was the culmination of a series of shows for the week criticizing CNBC, and sometimes Cramer in particular, for its coverage. The Daily Show drew an average of 2.1 million viewers for the four episodes, again placing it second only to inauguration week.

Still unclear is how many viewers watched some or all of the three-part interview online. According to Comedy Central it ran nearly 11 minutes long, forcing the network to make it available in its entirety online, but split into three sections.

The piece that started the feud between CNBC and The Daily Show drew digital ratings records for the network.

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I can't help but imagine the look on the faces of the CNBC and NBC, MSNBC producers and execs faces as they watched that interview. They mustve thought all week, "yea, we'll put Cramer on the Daily Show, it'll shoot our ratings up if we feed into the hype, hey he's just a comedian, how bad could it be?" Stewart STUNNED 'em. None of the NBC networks would utter a single word about it the next day. I doubt they expected to have a comedian thoroughly expose their entire operation at CNBC as a gimmick, a fraudulent tool of business interests that was "disingenuous at best, criminal at worst." A brilliant interview. Cheers.

Steve Bradley Timmons - 3/14/2009 6:58:47 AM EDT

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