Paramount Network’s Yellowstone premiered its fifth season this week, and it garnered massive ratings, better than Yellowstone season 4 and better than HBO’s Game of Thrones spinoff House of the Dragon. Variety reports.
Yellowstone season 5 premiered Sunday on the Paramount Network, CMT, TV Land and Pop; these networks have also done this in previous seasons, notes Variety. On its main platform, the Paramount Network, Yellowstone season 5 drew 8.8 million viewers, up from 8 million for the season 4 premiere. Across all four networks, however, that number jumps to 10.3 million. , which seems to suggest that all of the show’s growth took place on the Paramount Network. Encore broadcasts increased that number to 12.1 million viewers.
Compared to HBO’s House of the Dragon, which airs on HBO and HBO Max, this is especially impressive. HBO’s Game of Thrones spin-off drew 9.99 million viewers on both services when it premiered in August. House of the Dragon episode average closer to 30 million when you factor in users catching up later in the season, reruns on HBO, and the like. There is no data yet on how Yellowstone compares to that number.
Yellowstone tells the story of the Dutton family and their huge Yellowstone Dutton ranch in Montana. In the season 5 premiere, John Dutton (Kevin Costner) is now Governor of Montana, which changes the scales of power within the Dutton family and the ranch.
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