Top 10 TV telecasts of 2021-22 season by average viewers according to Variety:
1) NFL Sunday Night Football (NBC) – 18.1M
2) NFL Thursday Night Football (Fox/NFL Network) – 15.4M
3) Yellowstone (Paramount Network) – 11.3M
4) NFL Monday Night Football (ESPN) – 11.2M
5) NCIS (CBS) – 11.0M
6) FBI (CBS) – 10.4M
7) Chicago Fire (NBC) – 9.9M
8) Blue Bloods (CBS) – 9.8M
9) Equalizer (CBS) – 9.5M
10) 60 Minutes (CBS) – 9.4M
Why this matters: Yellowstone continues to gain steam generating more viewers than NFL Monday Night Football on ESPN.
FYI: ESPN pays $1.9B per year for the right to air Monday Night Football!
Yellowstone average viewership (YoY growth) according to Wikipedia:
1) Season 1 (2018) – 2.2M
2) Season 2 (2019) – 2.4M (↑ 5%)
3) Season 3 (2020) – 3.9M (↑ 66%)
4) Season 4 (2021) – 7.8M (↑ 101%)
FYI: The first Yellowstone spinoff (1883) had the best debut for any new show on cable since 2015!
Worth your time: ‘Yellowstone’ Is the Country’s Biggest TV Sensation. Why Are Critics Shrugging?
Top 10 networks by total viewers in prime-time according to Variety:
1) CBS – 6.2M
2) NBC – 6.0M
3) Fox – 4.5M
4) ABC – 4.2M
5) Fox News – 2.5M
6) ESPN – 2.2M
7) Univision – 1.5M
8) TNT – 1.2M
9) Hallmark – 1.2M
10) MSNBC – 1.2M
Top networks by total minutes viewed according to Nielsen:
1) Netflix – 1.3T
2) CBS – 752.8B
3) NBC – 596.7B
4) ABC – 471.9B
5) Fox – 323.1B
6) Disney+ – 245.4B
7) Prime Video – 173.7B
8) Hulu – 128.1B
9) Apple TV+ – 21.7B
Top programs by share of total minutes viewed according to Vizio:
1) NFL Football – 2.7%
2) College Football – 1.3%
3) Law & Order: SVU – 0.9%
4) NBA Basketball – 0.8%
5) Good Morning America – 0.7%
6) Sportscenter – 0.7%
7) 2020 Tokyo Olympics – 0.7%
8) Today Show – 0.7%
9) Friends – 0.7%
10) Chicago P.D. – 0.6%
More #1: With ‘1883,’ Taylor Sheridan Expands His Western Empire
