Ratings: Jon Stewart Claims January Late-Night Cable Crown

“The Daily Show” tops “Conan” in cable late-night race; live coverage of the Egyptian uprising brings CNN’s new flagship talk show way down.

Comedy Central has claimed the No. 1 spot in the January cable late-night race, with "The Daily Show With Jon Stewart" beating TBS' "Conan" in total viewers and in key demos.

Meanwhile, among other real news shows, things were down at CNN despite a global news event in Egypt.

Piers Morgan's new CNN talk show fell to only 658,000 viewers for his live show covering the Egyptian uprising Friday. That was way behind MSNBC's Rachel Maddow, who had a viewership of 956,000. And, with an audience that was only 34 percent the size of Sean Hannity's, way way behind Fox News. 

As for "Stewart," the show averaged 1.556 million total viewers through January, compared to 1.123 million for rival Conan O'Brien.

Stewart also beat O'Brien in several key demographic groups: viewers 18-49 (867,000 vs. 811,000) and men 18-34 (335,000 vs. 291,000)

"Conan" still owned the biggest late-night demo of them all, viewers 18-34, averaging 543,000 in January compared to "Stewart's" 499,000.

However, the decisive edge in 18-34 "Conan" enjoyed when it premiered in November seems to be ebbing, with "Stewart" gaining its first weekly victory in the demo last week.

As for "Piers Morgan," the high-profile CNN launch's Friday performance was its second-worst yet, trailing only its Thursday-night numbers for a celebrity interview with the Kardashians.

Comments