More Young Adults Are Tuning into ‘South Park’ Than Ever Before

For a show that supposedly “hasn’t been relevant in over 20 years,” a whole lot of people seem to be watching the new season of South Park.

While there was no new episode this week — to the frustration of fans who don’t want to pay for Paramount+ for even a single minute longer than they have to — we did learn all about how many people watched the previous episode, “Got a Nut,” the one where Kristi Noem goes on a puppy killing spree and a beloved Nickelodeon character is kidnapped and sex trafficked by Donald Trump’s ICE.  

According to Variety, the episode “averaged 6.2 million global multiplatform viewers in its first three days of release,” which includes viewers “across Paramount+ and Comedy Central.” And tons of people watched the show on traditional TV. The Live+3 rating, which, per Collider “accounts for the number of viewers that tune in for the actual airing of the show plus anyone who watches the episode during the next three days via DVR and on-demand viewing,” was the show’s highest on Comedy Central since 2018. 

Perhaps most interestingly, the episode “posted the biggest-ever young adult viewership share in South Park history.” This is arguably significant for a few reasons. For starters, it’s impressive that the show, which premiered 28 years ago this week, is still appealing to younger fans. And it’s seemingly cultivating even more of them. 

To put things in perspective, South Park is now as old as Scooby-Doo, Where Are You! was when “Cartman Gets An Anal Probe” premiered back in 1997. And Scooby-Doo felt wildly dated and out-of-touch at the time, even when the Mystery Incorporated gang was swapped out with members of Korn.

It’s also notable that this particular episode was seen by more young viewers, considering its satirical targets. As we’ve mentioned before, the episode skewered “master debater” Charlie Kirk, who has previously been dubbed the “youth whisperer of the American right.”

And the show’s depiction of ICE’s racist brutality and slapdash recruiting tactics…

…happened to air on the same day that Noem announced that the U.S. government would be ending the age cap for ICE agents, allowing people as young as 18 to join. Yup, kids who aren’t legally allowed to order a Coors Light at a bar can now throw on a mask and help keep America safe from pediatric cancer patients.

If South Park really is reaching impressionable youths, perhaps Trey Parker and Matt Stone deserve some kind of medal — assuming we ever get another president who will give them one.