Topline
The finale of the Paramount series 1883: A Yellowstone Origin Story broke into the top 10 most-watched cable shows last week, making a rare appearance among cable TV ratings usually dominated by primetime news shows on Fox News and MSNBC—the latest ratings accolade by a show in the Yellowstone universe.
Tim McGraw and Faith Hill attend the world premiere of “1883” at Encore Beach Club at Wynn Las Vegas … [+]
Key Facts
The 90-minute finale of the single-season show starring Faith Hill, Tim McGraw, Sam Elliott and Isabel May was viewed by 2.4 million people Sunday to become the tenth most-watched cable show last week, topping both pre-season football games to air on the NFL Network Sunday afternoon (2.2 million and 2.1 million viewers).
News and opinion shows rounded out the top 10 on cable: The top four most-watched cable shows last week were episodes of The Five on Fox News that ranged between 2.75 and 2.9 million viewers, while the Monday broadcast of The Rachel Maddow Show on MSNBC landed in the fifth spot (2.7 million) and Fox News’ The Five and Jesse Watters Primetime secured the sixth through ninth spots.
The 1883 series still lagged behind the most popular shows on broadcast TV last week: 26 broadcast shows scored more viewers in a lineup topped by Tuesday’s America’s Got Talent on NBC (5.6 million viewers), CBS’ 60 Minutes (4.4 million) and Family Feud on ABC (3.8 million).
The show has built off the success of Yellowstone, a scripted cable series now in its fifth and final season that is no stranger to high viewership: The November premiere of its final season was the top scripted series premiere of 2022 with 12.1 million viewers and the season four premiere was watched by nearly 8.4 million people.
Kevin Costner during the Cannes Lions Festival 2018 on June 21, 2018 in Cannes, France.
Key Background
Yellowstone has been a fan favorite since it first premiered in 2018 to 2.8 million viewers on the Paramount Network, even as many viewers shift from watching scripted shows on traditional TV to streaming services. The Kevin Coster-led neo-Western drama has led to two successful prequel series, and an untitled sequel (possibly starring Matthew McConaughey) has been announced following the series’ end—the second part of the last season will premiere later this year. The first spin-off series, called 1923, stars Helen Mirren and Harrison Ford and has been renewed for a second season. That show also has a history of impressive ratings—7.4 million viewers tuned in to its December premiere. The two-episode premiere of 1883 drew 3.8 million viewers in June.
Tangent
The start of the NFL pre-season is showing early signs of an annual ratings dominance by football. Two preseason games on NFL Network were in the top 20 most-watched cable shows last week: The 49ers v. Raiders game was watched by 2.2 million people and the Chiefs v. Saints matchup drew 2.1 million viewers. NFL Network was the third most-watched cable network of the week with an average of 763,000 viewers in primetime, falling behind Fox News with a 1.7 million average primetime viewership and MSNBC with 1.4 million. The preseason NFL Hall Of Fame game drew 5.9 million viewers on NBC when it aired two weeks ago, making it the most-watched broadcast television show of the week and the most-watched Hall of Fame game in years.
Safety Ji’Ayir Brown, #27 of the San Francisco 49ers, tackles tight end Cole Fotheringham, #85 of … [+]
Surprising Fact
CNN was pushed down in the cable news rankings last week and landed as the fifth most-watched cable show. Fox News, MSNBC, the NFL Network and HGTV, with an average of 754,000 primetime viewers, all ranked ahead of CNN.
Further Reading
NFL Ratings Dominance Starts Early With Biggest Hall Of Fame Game Viewership In 5 Years (Forbes)
Viewers Flocked To MSNBC As News Of Trump Indictment Broke In Primetime (Forbes)
The Women’s World Cup Was TV’s Most-Watched Show Amid Record-Breaking Viewership (Forbes)
MLB Leads TV Ratings With All-Star Game And Home Run Derby—Despite Lowest Viewership In Years (Forbes)
Source: https://www.forbes.com/sites/maryroeloffs/2023/08/16/yellowstone-prequel-1883-finale-outrates-most-other-shows-on-cable-tv-last-week/