The Season 4 finale of Paramount Network’s “Yellowstone” drew north of 10 million viewers on Sunday night. That was the most for a cable TV series since the Season 3 premiere of “The Walking Dead” in 2017.
“Yellowstone” was simulcast on CMT. Of those 10.3 million viewers, 9.3 million of them watched it on Paramount Network, according to Nielsen’s live-plus-same-day metric. The same two networks combined for 5.8 million viewers for the Season 3 finale of “Yellowstone.” Paramount Network was also up 13% from the Season 4 premiere (8.1 million); that episode was simulcast on additional ViacomCBS networks including MTV and VH1.
Overall, Season 4 averaged 1.9 million viewers among the adults 18-49 demographic, nearly double from Season 3. Among adults 25-54, “Yellowstone” averaged 1.6 million viewers. It was the top series on cable and broadcast last year in both of those demos.
“Yellowstone,” which stars Kevin Costner, is from creator Taylor Sheridan and has helped to launch two other Sheridan-produced series “Mayor of Kingstown” and the “Yellowstone” prequel, “1883.”
“’Yellowstone’ continues to shatter records with more than 11 million viewers tuning into the season finale, proving we’ve hit a cultural nerve – from the center of the country to each of the coasts – and still have lots of room to grow on linear,” said Chris McCarthy, President and CEO, ViacomCBS Media Networks. “Our strategy to franchise ‘Yellowstone’ into a universe of series to fuel growth for Paramount+ is already exceeding expectations with ‘1883’ and ‘Mayor of Kingstown’ proving to be two of the top titles.”
“It is incredibly rewarding to see the ‘Yellowstone’ audience continue to expand even as we come to the close of our 4th season. This expansion is a true testament to the original voices and universe that Taylor created. Our partners at ViacomCBS and MTV Entertainment Studios have supported Taylor’s universe utilizing linear and Paramount+ to fuel each other and continue to build the viewership,” said David C. Glasser, CEO of 101 Studios.