TV Ratings: 'Yellowstone' Truly Epic For Paramount

Kevin Costner's Paramount epic “Yellowstone” reached 12.1 million viewers for the opening night of its fifth season on Sunday, the most popular scripted series episode so far in the new television season, reports AP News citing Nielsen data.

That it was a cable network series — instead of a big broadcaster like CBS, NBC or ABC — makes the achievement that much more impressive.

The total viewership involved a little trickery: the show simultaneously aired on Viacom networks CMT, TV Land and Pop, and there were some same-day reruns. Even with that, there were 9.4 million viewers who saw the premiere episode on Paramount alone.

“Yellowstone” is one of the most appointment viewing-friendly shows on television now, in part because it appeals to an older audience more used to watching TV in a traditional way, said Josef Adalian, West Coast editor of New York magazine's Vulture.com.

“People want to watch it and they want to watch it now,” Adalian said. It also proves the enduring popularity of the Western as a genre and, in some respects, it's surprising there haven't been copycats.

The show is overwhelmingly popular in red states. States with Republican governors — topped by Texas — watch “Yellowstone” three times as much as states with Democratic governors, according to Philo, a live TV streaming service.

While “Yellowstone” is a huge success for Paramount, the company is also making money for a corporate rival. Streaming rights for previous seasons of the series are owned by Comcast's Peacock service, because the Paramount+ streaming outlet did not exist when they were up for grabs.

Among the broadcast networks, NBC had the most viewers in prime time last week, averaging 5 million. Fox had 4.6 million, ABC had 3.9 million, CBS had 3.7 million, Univision had 1.2 million, Ion Television had 950,000 and Telemundo had 750,000.

📺Top 20 Prime-Time Shows for Nov 7-13 (Total Viewers):

1. NFL Football: Dallas at Green Bay, Fox, 18.13 million.

2. NFL Football: L.A. Chargers at San Francisco, NBC, 15.84 million.

3. “NFL Pregame," NBC, 12.37 million.

4. “Yellowstone" (8 p.m.), Paramount, 9.41 million.

5. NFL Football: Baltimore at New Orleans, ESPN, 9.36 million.

6. “Yellowstone” (9:14 p.m.), Paramount, 8.44 million.

7. Election Night Coverage (9 to 10 p.m.), Fox News, 7.81 million.

8. “CMA Awards," ABC, 7.45 million.

9. Election Night Coverage (8 to 9 p.m.), Fox News, 7.27 million.

10. Election Night Coverage (10 to 11 p.m.), Fox News, 7.19 million.

11. “Young Sheldon,” CBS, 7.14 million.

12. “Football Night in America,” NBC, 6.83 million.

13. “60 Minutes,” CBS, 6.77 million.

14. “Ghosts,” CBS, 6.61 million.

15. “The Equalizer,” CBS, 6.45 million.

16. “Chicago Fire,” NBC, 6.14 million.

17. “Chicago Med,” NBC, 5.98 million.

18. “The Voice,” NBC, 5.87 million.

19. “NFL Pregame,” ESPN, 5.53 million.

20. “911,” Fox, 5.09 million.

📺BROADCAST NETWORK TV:

ABC's David Muir, CBS' Norah O'Donnell, NBC's Lester Holt

ABC's “World News Tonight” led the evening news ratings race, averaging 8 million viewers. NBC's “Nightly News” had 6.8 million and the “CBS Evening News” had 5 million.

According to TV Newser citing Nielsen live-plus-same-day data for the week of Nov. 7, World News Tonight averaged 8.46 million total linear viewers, the second-largest audience of any U.S. TV show, excluding sports programming. That figure represents a gain of +8% from the prior week (Oct. 31), and the program’s largest advantage over its competition in nearly nine months.

NBC Nightly News with Lester Holt—the second-ranked evening newscast—averaged 6.83 million total viewers on linear this past week, which is +4% from the prior week, and 1.22 million adults 25-54 on linear, which is +9% from the previous week.

CBS Evening News with Norah O’Donnell averaged 5.025 million total viewers this past week, which is +5% from the previous week, but -3% from the year-ago week. Additionally, Evening News averaged 859,000 adults 25-54 this past week, which is +9% from the previous week but -2% from the year-ago week.

📺LATE NIGHT TV:

Gutfeld! saw its top-rated week since launching last Spring.

Graphic Courtesy of RoadMN

📺CABLE TV

Fox News Channel was the most popular cable network, averaging 3.15 million viewers in prime time. ESPN had 2.19 million, MSNBC had 1.66 million, Paramount had 1.58 million and Hallmark had 1.23 million.

Fox News Channel has now achieved 45 consecutive weeks as the most-watched basic cable network in the 24-hour daypart, and 91 consecutive weeks as the most-watched network on cable news. FNC was also the most-watched basic cable network in primetime this past week.

The three major cable news networks—Fox News, MSNBC and CNN—saw significant week-to-week audience gains driven by live coverage of the 2022 Midterm Elections on Tuesday, Nov. 8.

Graphics Courtesy of RoadMN

In terms of individual programming, TV Newser reports The Five is the most-watched cable news show for the 12th consecutive week. The news talk panel program averaged 4.095 million total viewers during the week of Nov. 7, predictably up from the prior week. Tucker Carlson Tonight is second place in total viewers (3.77 million at 8 p.m.), with Jesse Watters Primetime (3.46 million at 7 p.m.), Hannity (3.33 million at 9 p.m.) and Special Report with Bret Baier (2.96 million viewers at 6 p.m.) round out the top five.

Tucker Carlson Tonight remained No. 1 on cable news among adults 25-54, averaging 591,000 viewers from the measurement at 8 p.m. The Five ranked No. 2 (556,000), followed by Jesse Watters Primetime (514,000), Hannity (509,000), and the 11 p.m. Gutfeld! (499,000).

📺COLLEGE FOOTBALL TV

Household ratings for week eleven were not immediately available. The SEC on CBS topped week eleven of the season with more than eight million viewers tuning in for Alabama-Mississippi.