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“Yellowstone” Sundays have roped in a hit for CBS. The rerun Paramount Network hit had a total viewership that was only beat by Sunday Night Football, and a rating that was only exceeded by the premiere of Fox’s new adult animated series “Krapopolis.”
In the Taylor Sheridan-created drama’s second week premiering on the network, the back-t0-back airings of “Yellowstone” from 8 p.m. to 10 p.m. stood out as the most-watched programs in their timeslots, with the exception of NBC’s airing of the Pittsburgh Steelers vs. Las Vegas Raiders game, which drew in 19.21 million viewers during its telecast and scored a rating of 5.58 in the key broadcast demographic among adults 18-49, according to Nielsen live-plus-same-day figures.
The rerun of the series premiere on CBS, which ran from 8 p.m. to 9 p.m., brought in a total viewership of 5.01 million viewers and a rating score of 0.40 in the demo. Next came the linear premiere of Season 1 episode 2 from 9 p.m. to 10 p.m., which drew in a slightly smaller crowd than its predecessor with 4.53 million viewers and a 0.37 rating.
During the 8 p.m. hour, “Yellowstone” beat the total viewership of Dan Harmon’s new half hour comedy “Krapopolis,” which averaged 2.86 million viewers during its back-to-back premiere on Fox, ABC’s rerun of “America’s Funniest Home Videos,” which drew in 1.99 million viewers, as well as The CW’s airing of “Chosen,” which brought in a total viewership of 498,000.
The same can be said for the 9 p.m. timeslot, when “Yellowstone” viewership exceeded ABC’s “Step Into… the Movies,” which averaged 1.30 million viewers, Fox’s “The Masked Singer,” which drew in 1.28 million viewers and the CW’s rerun of “The Swarm,” which averaged 229,000 viewers.
While the total viewership for both “Yellowstone” episodes exceeded that of any non-sports programming, the premiere of adult animated show “Krapopolis” blew “Yellowstone” out of the park when it came to ratings, with the first episode scoring a 1.18 rating at 8 p.m. and its second episode garnering a rating of 0.57 during its 8:30 p.m. airing.
“Krapopolis” also benefited from its NFL doubleheader lead-in from the Kansas City Chiefs vs. Chicago Bears game, which drew in 17.26 million viewers and a rating of 4.68.
Following the ratings win for “Krapopolis” in the 8 p.m. hour — which averaged a 0.88 rating between its back-to-back premiere — “Yellowstone” was back on top during the 9 p.m. hour, with its 0.37 rating beating the Fox’s “The Masked Singer,” which drew in a rating of 0.28. The “Yellowstone” rating also exceeded that of ABC’s “Step Into…The Movies,” which averaged a 0.11 rating, as well as The CW’s “The Swarm,” which averaged a rating of 0.03.
Among the CBS Sunday primetime lineup, the 7 p.m. airing of “60 Minutes” scored the highest viewership and rating of the night with a viewership of 7.18 million and a rating of 0.61. The Sunday airing of “Big Brother” at 10 p.m. on CBS scored a higher rating than both “Yellowstone” episodes with a 0.46 rating, while drawing in a lower viewership than the Paramount Network drama with 2.61 million viewers.
While the second week did not garner the 6.83 million viewers or 0.67 rating that the series’ CBS premiere scored last week, airing the Paramount network standout on linear has proven to draw in formidable ratings and viewership for the network. Last week’s telecast of the series premiere was up 141% in total viewers when compared to the drama’s Season 1 premiere on Paramount Network, and viewership for the series on CBS also significantly exceeded internal estimates for the premiere, according to an individual with knowledge.
