Paramount’s ‘Yellowstone’ Premiere Draws 14.7 Million Viewers

(Bloomberg) -- The season four premiere of “Yellowstone” attracted a total audience of 14.7 million people Sunday night, about 400,000 more than the NFL game that evening, according to a statement Friday from ViacomCBS Inc. 

The Paramount Network series was the number one across broadcast, cable and premium television channels in 2021, the company said. Sunday’s premiere drew 12.7 million total viewers on Paramount and three sister networks, CMT, Pop and TV Land — a 66% viewership increase since Season 3 premiered in June 2020. Encore showings brought the total number higher. It was the most-watched season premiere on cable TV since “The Walking Dead” in 2017. 

Traditional TV has struggled in a recent years to compete with on-demand programming from streaming services like Netflix Inc. “Yellowstone” actually benefited from exposure on Comcast Corp.'s Peacock streaming service, but the show has maintained its momentum on regular TV.

The Emmy-nominated series stars Kevin Costner as the patriarch of a ranching empire in Montana. 

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