diff --git a/tools/perf/ui/progress.c b/tools/perf/ui/progress.c
index ae91c8148edf34234e128336bd1a4cfa72938c42..3e2b5d64c55e43da562f24465ed9a9b2d65732f9 100644
--- a/tools/perf/ui/progress.c
+++ b/tools/perf/ui/progress.c
@@ -34,6 +34,8 @@ void ui_progress__init(struct ui_progress *p, u64 total, const char *title)
 	p->total = total;
 	p->title = title;
 
+	if (ui_progress__ops->init)
+		ui_progress__ops->init(p);
 }
 
 void ui_progress__finish(void)
diff --git a/tools/perf/ui/progress.h b/tools/perf/ui/progress.h
index 717d39d3052b8080ff90af9e6cbb715dbd15f203..e5f434a2070b6b4f23dff3cf8a3085e42dcc5fa2 100644
--- a/tools/perf/ui/progress.h
+++ b/tools/perf/ui/progress.h
@@ -14,6 +14,7 @@ void ui_progress__init(struct ui_progress *p, u64 total, const char *title);
 void ui_progress__update(struct ui_progress *p, u64 adv);
 
 struct ui_progress_ops {
+	void (*init)(struct ui_progress *p);
 	void (*update)(struct ui_progress *p);
 	void (*finish)(void);
 };
diff --git a/tools/perf/ui/tui/progress.c b/tools/perf/ui/tui/progress.c
index c4b99008e2c91d4e2d6fbade5c50ba836c2f3668..f6b8f52aad7ec6eecb3812b53da57e0c00914859 100644
--- a/tools/perf/ui/tui/progress.c
+++ b/tools/perf/ui/tui/progress.c
@@ -5,6 +5,11 @@
 #include "tui.h"
 #include "../browser.h"
 
+static void __tui_progress__init(struct ui_progress *p)
+{
+	p->next = p->step = p->total / (SLtt_Screen_Cols - 2) ?: 1;
+}
+
 static void tui_progress__update(struct ui_progress *p)
 {
 	int bar, y;
@@ -49,8 +54,8 @@ static void tui_progress__finish(void)
 	pthread_mutex_unlock(&ui__lock);
 }
 
-static struct ui_progress_ops tui_progress__ops =
-{
+static struct ui_progress_ops tui_progress__ops = {
+	.init   = __tui_progress__init,
 	.update = tui_progress__update,
 	.finish = tui_progress__finish,
 };