Kevin Costner’s Yellowstone is the most popular show on cable, as its ratings will not stop climbing. That is quite the positive outlook for the sophomore season of the modern-day Western created by Tyler Sheridan. It already proved itself as the cable show to beat in the ratings with its Season 2 premiere numbers. Now, it is besting even those.
The seventh episode of Season 2 marked Yellowstone’s most-watched episode in the series’ history, as announced by Paramount Network. The episode averaged 5.4 million viewers after counting Live + 3 viewing totals. (In other words, delayed viewing incorporating the three days of viewing following the Wednesday telecast.) That viewership puts the Kevin Costner drama at the top of cable in total viewers for 2019 so far. The good news does not stop there, either.
Viewership for Yellowstone’s latest episode also made it the top-rated show on all of television for the night among the much-coveted adults 18-49 demo. Season 2's seventh installment drew a 2.3 rating in that demo and a bigger 3.1 rating in the 25-54 age demo. All told, Yellowstone’s second season is now cable’s most-watched show of the summer, and could end up winning out the entire year.
Yellowstone has been solidly carrying the mantle of its impressive Season 1 premiere ratings. Upon its return from a brief hiatus, Yellowstone dominated cable’s Live+7 ratings gains for the week of July 8, per TV By The Numbers. It garnered the largest delayed-viewing boost in the 18-49 demo, as well as in total viewers. How big of an increase did it get in total viewers? Try 149% on for size.
As an avid viewer myself, I suspect that viewership will only increase as Yellowstone enters the final three episodes of the season. The trailer for those episodes hinted at the Duttons’ war against Season 2 villain Malcolm Beck (Neal McDonough) will only keep heating up. Viewers will undoubtedly want to know how things turn out on that front and more.
The episode (entitled “Resurrection Day”) that gave Yellowstone its largest total viewership to-date was a brutal one. In it, the tension between the Duttons and Malcolm Beck escalated rapidly. The episode concluded with two guys attacking Beth Dutton (Kelly Reilly) and murdering her assistant on Beck's orders, before help could arrive.
Yellowstone’s latest episode left yours truly with four questions that will hopefully be answered/resolved as Season 2 comes to a close. If you are already getting upset about the Western closing up its second season, you can take heart.
Yellowstone has already gotten renewed for Season 3 by Paramount Network, and there is already some intel on it. One current star has gotten promoted to series regular, while additional casting has revealed a key character surviving Season 2. First things first, though, as Season 2 needs to wrap up before any of that can happen.
While there are a lot of television shows that Kevin Costner would be great on, I think Yellowstone is perfect for him. Hopefully, he sticks around for it for many viewership-topping seasons to come!
Tune in to see how the Duttons handle the war to come when new episodes of Yellowstone Season 2 air Wednesdays at 10 p.m. ET on the Paramount Network. The Kevin Costner-led drama is part of summer’s television premieres.
