‘South Park’ Ratings Surge: Kristi Noem, JD Vance Takedown Episode Earns Most Viewers Since 2018 on Comedy Central

“South Park” is on a roll. The show’s most recent Season 27 episode, “Got a Nut,” averaged 6.2 million global multiplatform viewers in its first three days of release — which was up from the show’s heavily touted season premiere.

The total viewers number is over the three-day period of Aug. 6 to Aug. 8 and includes viewers across Paramount+ and Comedy Central (total global watch time divided by run time). The show is also outperforming in linear, scoring its highest live+3 rating for Comedy Central since 2018 — and according to the cabler, this most recent episode posted the biggest-ever young adult viewership share in “South Park” history.

Season 27, Episode 2 of “South Park” posted a 1.531 rating in adults 18-49 (live+3) — that was up 54% (from 0.996) for the season premiere on July 24. The adults 18-49 share (which means the percentage of people watching TV at that moment) was 15.61, up 70% from the premiere episode (9.20).

In total viewers on Comedy Central, “South Park” averaged 1.56 million in live+3, up 46% from the season premiere’s 1.07 million.

All of that easily made “South Park” the No. 1 telecast on Aug. 6 across all cable; it was also No. 2 in all of TV — bested only by CBS’ “Big Brother.”

The second episode of this so far landmark “South Park” season took on United States Secretary of Homeland Security Kristi Noem (continuously shooting dogs and arresting anyone Latino) as well as a “Fantasy Island” style Mar-a-Lago with Donald Trump as Ricardo Montalbán’s Mr. Roarke and JD Vance as Hervé Villechaize’s Tattoo. ICE utilized a still from that episode’s teaser to promote its website, leading the official “South Park” X account to respond, “Wait, so we ARE relevant? #eatabagofdicks.”

After the episode ran, Noem criticized the show for her depiction as “lazy” and “petty.” Later, “South Park” released a post-credits scene that didn’t make it to air but showed Noem walking into a pet store and opening fire on the puppies inside.

Episode 2’s ratings bump came even though “South Park” took an extra week’s rest between episodes 1 and 2 of the new season; the show will once again take a break on tonight’s episode — instead, to mark “South Park Day,” Comedy Central will repeat the show’s very first episode (which first aired on Aug. 13, 1997), “Cartman Gets an Anal Probe.” A new episode will be back on Aug. 20.