The “Yellowstone” Season 5 premiere on Sunday night saw substantial gains in viewership over the show’s fourth season premiere last year.
The fifth season opener aired across Paramount Network, CMT, TV Land and Pop, with the same networks having aired the previous premiere as well. On Paramount Network alone, the show drew 8.8 million viewers compared to 8 million viewers for last year’s premiere, or a 10% increase. Across all four networks, it pulled in 10.3 million viewers compared to 9.5 million last year, or an 8% increase.
The Season 5 premiere was also rebroadcast on all four networks twice on Sunday night. When factoring in the encore airings, the total viewership rises to 12.1 million viewers, compared to 11.2 million the year before. It should be noted, however, that the Season 4 premiere was only given encore airings on Paramount Network, not on Pop, CMT, or TV Land.
In the new season of “Yellowstone,” John Dutton (Kevin Costner) has been elected governor of Montana, prompting a whole new wave of power struggles for the Dutton family from both within and without. Along with Costner, the series also stars Luke Grimes, Kelly Reilly, Wes Bentley, Cole Hauser, Kelsey Asbille, Brecken Merrill, Forrie Smith, Denim Richards, Ian Bohen, Finn Little, Ryan Bingham and Gil Birmingham. Mo Brings Plenty, Wendy Moniz, Jen Landon and Kathryn Kelly have been upped to series regulars for Season 5.
(Excerpt) Read more in: Variety