'Yellowstone' Racks up Absolutely Monster Viewership Numbers

Kevin Costner's Yellowstone has quickly become one of the biggest scripted shows on all of television, and the ratings for Sunday night's double-sized Season 4 premiere show why. The two episodes drew an astonishing 8 million total live viewers, a number almost unheard of in today's fractured television landscape. It was the most-watched cable series telecast in four years.

The Season 4 premiere more than doubled the live audience for the Season 3 premiere last year, reports Deadline. Season 3 started off with 4.2 million viewers. Sunday night's premiere was the most-watched cable series telecast since a 2018 episode of The Walking Dead, according to Nielsen data the Paramount Network released Monday. It even did better than the Game of Thrones Season 4 premiere, which had 6.6 million live viewers.

Even the demographic numbers were surprising. The show drew a 3.26 rating in the 18-49 demographic, up 82% from the Season 3 premiere. It had 2 million viewers in the 18-49 age range, and 2.9 million in the 25-54 demographic. That's the biggest Live+SameDay viewerships in both demographics for a cable show in 2021, Paramount Network said.

Yellowstone was created by Taylor Sheridan and John Linson and stars Costner as John Dutton, the patriarch of the Dutton family, who are often fighting to keep their land. The Season 4 premiere introduced a new villain, Caroline Warner, the new CEO of Market Equities, and played by two-time Oscar-nominee Jackie Weaver. Yellowstone also stars Luke Grimes, Kelly Reilly, Wes Bentley, and Cole Hauser. New episodes air on Paramount Network Sundays at 8 p.m. ET. The first three seasons are available to stream on Peacock.

"Taylor has created a riveting world that our remarkable cast led by Kevin Costner brings to life in a way audiences can't get enough of," Chris McCarthy, the president and CEO of MTV Entertainment Group, said in a statement. "The Yellowstone season four premiere numbers are just another reason why we are thrilled to deepen our relationship with Taylor and capitalize on this tremendous momentum by building out the Yellowstone franchise together."

Paramount and Sheridan have to hope that most of those 8 million viewers also have Paramount+ subscriptions. During the Yellowstone premiere, Paramount Network aired the first trailer for 1883, a prequel series starring Tim McGraw and Faith Hill as John Dutton's ancestors during their travel West. The show will only be available on Paramount+, beginning on Dec. 19. Sheridan also created Mayor of Kingstown, which debuts on Paramount+ on Nov. 14.