The fifth season premier of Yellowstone has broken records after racking in nearly 16 million views, according to Deadline. The season premiered Sunday November 13th, collecting nearly 12.1 million views the same day. According to Chris McCarthy, president/ CEO of Showtime/ Paramount Media Networks, these numbers have solidified the show’s “status as the number one show across all of TV.”
“The premiere night was up across all demos, most interestingly with younger viewers up nearly 60%, proving this franchise still has a lot of room to grow,” McCarthy stated via Deadline.
“The show’s massive audience base continues to impress with its latest season premiere becoming the most watched scripted television premiere of 2022,” Ashwin Navin, co-founder and CEO of Samba TV, told The Hollywood Reporter. Chris McCarthy also claims that the success of Sunday’s premier Yellowstone is the most watched scripted TV show in 2022, and the most watched premier since The Walking Dead in 2017. According to Variety, football still rules the primetime slots.
The Neo-Western drama was created by Taylor Sheridan (Wind River) and John Linson (Sons of Anarchy).The Paramount Network drama is centered around the Dutton family: John (Kevin Costner, The Art of Racing in the Rain), Beth (Kelly Reilly, True Detective), Kayce (Luke Grimes, Brothers & Sisters), Monica (Kelsey Asbille, Wind River) and Jamie (Wes Bentley, Interstellar). The show follows the family in their pursuit of protecting the Dutton Family Ranch in Montana from outside forces. Other notable cast members include Cole Hauser (2 Fast 2 Furious) as Rip Wheeler, and Taylor Sheridan (Hell or High Water) as Travis.
The first episode aired in June of 2018 and has steadily been attracting a massive audience since. Outside of the five different seasons, an origin story to Yellowstone under the name of 1923 was announced in May of 2022. The prequel is set to debut on Paramount+ on December 18th of this year. The prequel to Yellowstone, 1883 premiered on December 19th, 2021. Fans can watch Yellowstone on Paramount+ and Peacock.