Yellowstone Season 5 Premiere Ratings Dominate Previous Years

Yellowstone is back and continues to be a massive hit on the Paramount Network. Sunday night saw the double-episode premiere of Season 5 of Taylor Sheridan’s hit western drama arrive on Paramount Network, along with several other Paramount channels, thanks to a simulcast effort. All in all, the series continued to prove why traditional cable TV is far from dead, posting incredibly impressive ratings and once again topping its previous season.

Across all channels and platforms on Sunday night, the Yellowstone Season 5 premiere was viewed by about 12.1 million people. That’s a pretty massive increase over the Season 4 premiere in late 2021, which was watched on its premiere night by 11.2 million viewers.

Live viewers on the Paramount Network totaled 8.8 million, up 10% from the 8 million who watched live on the channel last year. The premiere was simulcast on CMT, TV Land, and Pop, and the live viewers from all four networks totaled 10.3 million, compared to 9.5 million in 2021. Nearly 2 million viewers watched the encore showing or caught it on-demand.

What continues to make Yellowstone one of the most impressive shows on television is its ability to draw in enormous audiences without any major streaming presence. New episodes aren’t on any streaming service, and won’t be added to one until the full season hits Peacock nearly a year after its premiere.

The series broke records with its fourth season, specifically in the finale episode, and it will aim to continue doing so throughout Season 5. New episodes will air on Sunday nights on the Paramount Network, while spinoffs like 1923 will be released on Paramount+.

Yellowstone is quickly becoming one of the biggest properties in Paramount’s roster, and the company is clearly going all-in on the Taylor Sheridan-created franchise. In addition to the arrival of 1923, there will be a spinoff to the already existing prequel 1883, which will tell the story of Bass Reeves. The long awaited 6666 spinoff is also acting as a prequel of sorts, and it has been moved from Paramount+ to the Paramount Network.

What did you think of Yellowstone‘s Season 5 premiere? Let us know in the comments!