NEW YORK (AP) 鈥� Kevin Costner's Paramount epic 鈥淵ellowstone鈥� 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, the Nielsen company said.
That it was a cable network series 鈥� instead of a big broadcaster like CBS, N小蓝视频 or A小蓝视频 鈥� 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.
鈥淲e've been able to create a show that didn't start out being popular but did it on its own terms,鈥� Costner said in a .
鈥淵ellowstone鈥� 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.
鈥淧eople want to watch it and they want to watch it now,鈥� 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 鈥� topped by Texas 鈥� watch 鈥淵ellowstone鈥� three times as much as states with Democratic governors, according to Philo, a live TV streaming service.
No scripted series on a broadcast network has reached more than 8 million same-day viewers this season, although audiences usually increase when delayed viewing is taken into account.
For instance, the most popular broadcast scripted show last week, CBS' 鈥淵oung Sheldon,鈥� was seen by 7.14 million people, Nielsen said.
While 鈥淵ellowstone鈥� 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, N小蓝视频 had the most viewers in prime time last week, averaging 5 million. Fox had 4.6 million, A小蓝视频 had 3.9 million, CBS had 3.7 million, Univision had 1.2 million, Ion Television had 950,000 and Telemundo had 750,000.
Fox News Channel was the most popular cable network, averaging 3.15 million viewers in prime time. ESPN had 2.19 million, MSN小蓝视频 had 1.66 million, Paramount had 1.58 million and Hallmark had 1.23 million.
A小蓝视频's 鈥淲orld News Tonight鈥� led the evening news ratings race, averaging 8 million viewers. N小蓝视频's 鈥淣ightly News鈥� had 6.8 million and the 鈥淐BS Evening News鈥� had 5 million.
For the week of Nov. 7-13, the most popular prime-time programs, their networks and viewership:
1. NFL Football: Dallas at Green Bay, Fox, 18.13 million.
2. NFL Football: L.A. Chargers at San Francisco, N小蓝视频, 15.84 million.
3. 鈥淣FL Pregame," N小蓝视频, 12.37 million.
4. 鈥淵ellowstone" (8 p.m.), Paramount, 9.41 million.
5. NFL Football: Baltimore at New Orleans, ESPN, 9.36 million.
6. 鈥淵ellowstone鈥� (9:14 p.m.), Paramount, 8.44 million.
7. Election Night Coverage (9 to 10 p.m.), Fox News, 7.81 million.
8. 鈥淐MA Awards," A小蓝视频, 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. 鈥淵oung Sheldon,鈥� CBS, 7.14 million.
12. 鈥淔ootball Night in America,鈥� N小蓝视频, 6.83 million.
13. 鈥�60 Minutes,鈥� CBS, 6.77 million.
14. 鈥淕hosts,鈥� CBS, 6.61 million.
15. 鈥淭he Equalizer,鈥� CBS, 6.45 million.
16. 鈥淐hicago Fire,鈥� N小蓝视频, 6.14 million.
17. 鈥淐hicago Med,鈥� N小蓝视频, 5.98 million.
18. 鈥淭he Voice,鈥� N小蓝视频, 5.87 million.
19. 鈥淣FL Pregame,鈥� ESPN, 5.53 million.
20. 鈥�911,鈥� Fox, 5.09 million.
David Bauder, The Associated Press
