The final ‘Daily Show’ garners 185,000 tweets; the GOP debate 1.7 million

His final show competed against the tail end of the first Republican primary debate on Fox News, which racked up 24 million viewers and more tweets. Between 8:50pm on August 6 through midnight Eastern Time on August 6, there was 1.7 million tweets around either the concept of the GOP debate or using the hashtag #GOPDebate, so they were the clear winner according to Amobee Brand Intelligence.

Still Stewart’s final show featured a slew of cameos from past and present correspondents and a video tribute from his biggest foes, including Sen. John McCain and Fox News host Bill O’Reilly. Of the parade of cameos, future ‘Late Show’ host Stephen Colbert generated the most tweets (6,669) because of his candid thank you speech that made Stewart tear up, according to data from Amobee Brand Intelligence. Ratings show 3.5 million people tuned in.

Notably, 1,000 tweets centered around Wyatt Cenac’s surprise appearance. He recently revealed that he left the Daily Show on awkward terms with Stewart, but it appears the guys are all good now.

Even Arby’s CEO Paul Brown, whose chain has an inexplicable history with the show, told him that “it’s like your TV threw up on your face,” thus giving Stewart a salty taste of his own jabs. Searches for and engagement with the brand skyrocketed 638 percent between August 5 through 7, compared to the two days prior thanks to its cheeky television spot.

According to Brandwatch, there were more than 238,000 mentions of the his final show online, with 185,000 tweets using the official hashtag, #JonVoyage. Positive tweets outnumbered negative tweets by 5-1, with the latter from people expressing concern of who their news source will be moving forward.

It’s been a year of change in the late night realm, with Colbert signing off from his Comedy Central show in December and David Letterman retiring in May from his CBS show. In comparison, #JonVoyage trumped #ThanksDave with the latter only garnered 43,000 tweets during his final week of shows.

“Looking at the number comparisons may suggest that Stewart’s departure is a far more popular social media topic, but if you factor in the average viewer of both programs, you’ll see that Stewart’s are stereotypically more social media savvy,” Terry said.