This past weekend saw the end of “Barry” and “Succession,” two of HBO’s most prominent television series of the past few year, while Amazon’s “The Marvelous Mrs. Maisel” took a bow as well.
The focus on premium cable and streaming series in the media and on Twitter can be so intense that, arguably, one could be tempted to overstate their real world popularity. While it may seem like everyone you know spent Sunday riveted by the question of who will succeed Logan Roy, in actuality the entire world doesn’t watch “Succession,” it just might seem that way.
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But you know what the entire world does watch? Football. And “Yellowstone,” it would seem.
The Nielsen ratings are in for the now completed 2022-2023 TV season, which wraps up over Memorial Day weekend. (Any television show released before June 1st is, potentially, eligible for this fall’s Emmy Awards.)
While streaming and cable get most of the press attention, CBS still does great numbers, particularly with an older-skewing demographic. Additionally, CBS’s parent company seemingly has a phenomenon in “Yellowstone,” as the Kevin Costner-starring, Tyler Sheridan-created drama, was the most popular scripted series that aired on television last year, and was the second-most popular program period.
“Yellowstone,” which pulled in 11.5 million viewers, airs on the basic cable outlet the Paramount Network (PARA); episodes then land on Paramount+ and Comcast’s (CCZ) Peacock many months later, as opposed to the streaming model favored by HBO and Showtime where episodes are immediately available for streaming as soon as they air.
As ever, live events, particularly sports, are the biggest draw around, keeping the lights on for all broadcast networks that aren’t CBS. Its no surprise that the biggest television ratings earner was NBC’s NFL Sunday Night Football with 18.1 million viewers in an average week, and the number three spot was “NFL Monday Night Football” on ESPN with 10.1 million viewers on average.
Rounding out the top nine are the seemingly everlasting procedural shows “NCIS” and “Chicago Fire.” In the number six spot is Amazon’s (AMZN) “Thursday Night Football,” which unlike most streaming programs is measured by Nielsen, using the same panel measurement that is used for all national TV ratings; the total 9.4 million viewers also includes local over-the-air stations in the markets of the teams playing.
The Top Nine Shows of 2022-2023
- “NFL Sunday Night Football" (NBC) 18.1 million viewers.
- “Yellowstone” (Paramount Network) 11.5 million viewers.
- “NFL Monday Night Football” (ESPN) 10.1 million viewers.
- “NCIS” (CBS) 9.8 million viewers.
- “FBI” (CBS) 9.5 million viewers.
- “NFL Thursday Night Football” (Amazon) 9.4 million viewers.
- "Young Sheldon” (CBS) 9.28 million viewers.
- “Chicago Fire” (NBC) 9.25 million viewers.
- “Blue Bloods" (CBS) 9.24 million viewers.
