The Season 2 premiere of “Ghosts” saw a 50% increase in viewership after seven days of multiplatform viewing, Variety has learned exclusively. The episode brought in an impressive 6.15 million viewers when it first aired, according to Live + Same Day data, and CBS confirmed that delayed viewing via DVR and other platforms brought that number to 9.23 million.
Live + 7 data indicates that the “Ghosts” episode, titled “Spies,” edged out every other network comedy premiere of the season — even “Young Sheldon,” which has topped other comedies for several years now. Predictably, the “Big Bang Theory” spin-off, which also airs on CBS, still had a mighty showing. Its Season 6 premiere started with 6.61 million viewers, initially more than “Ghosts,” which increased to 9.11 million, thus becoming the No. 2 most-viewed comedy accounting for seven days of viewing.
“Ghosts” is also the first comedy to take the No. 1 position with its Season 2 premiere since “The Simpsons” in 1991.
The fact that “Ghosts” slightly outranked “Young Sheldon” after delayed viewing despite coming in second initially suggests that the former’s audience is overall less inclined towards appointment viewing than the latter’s.
Streaming data supports this idea. It’s important to note that the numbers above don’t include views on Paramount+, where CBS streams its shows, because Nielsen doesn’t measure that platform, but CBS confirmed to Variety that the “Ghosts” Season 2 premiere is top episode of comedy on Paramount+ in terms of active subscriber reach and total minutes viewed.
(Excerpt) Read more in: Variety