Nielsen top shows of 2022-2023 include ‘Yellowstone,’ ‘NCIS’
NBC’ s“ NFL Sunday Night Football,” for starters, tops the chart with 18.1 million viewers, while ESPN’ s“ NFL Monday Night Football” comes in third with 10.1 million. Outside of sports showdowns, longtime CBS procedural“ NCIS” came in fourth place with 9.8 million viewers, followed closely by the same network’ s“ FBI” with 9.5 million. CBS also scored with“ Fire Country,” the top...
Looks as if “Yellowstone” is going out on top. The Paramount Network series, which will end after its fifth season, was the most-watched scripted television series of the 2022–2023 season, according to Nielsen data.
“Yellowstone” was No. 2 overall with 11.5 million viewers.
The Nielsen ranking, published by Variety, tracks linear viewers of broadcast and cable series, as well as unscripted fare. As usual, football remains a major draw for TV viewers.
NBC’s “NFL Sunday Night Football,” for starters, tops the chart with 18.1 million viewers, while ESPN’s “NFL Monday Night Football” comes in third with 10.1 million. Amazon’s “NFL Thursday Night Football” comes in sixth with 9.4 million. (Amazon struck a deal with Nielsen to measure streaming viewers of its NFL coverage.)
Outside of sports showdowns, longtime CBS procedural “NCIS” came in fourth place with 9.8 million viewers, followed closely by the same network’s “FBI” with 9.5 million.
CBS also scored with “Fire Country,” the top new drama of the season in total viewers and ratings in the 18-to-49 demographic. In fact, CBS’ numbers are so good that even its canceled drama “East New York” ranked No. 24 in total viewers.
Other winners include broadcast sitcoms. CBS’ “Young Sheldon” (No. 7) and “Ghosts” (No. 10) and ABC’s “The Conners” (No. 49) and “Abbott Elementary” (No. 59) all gained viewers since last season.
HBO, meanwhile, only has one entry in the top 100: the “Game of Thrones” spinoff “House of the Dragon.” But “House of the Dragon” and other hits — including the post-apocalyptic drama “The Last of Us,” which doesn’t make this year’s Nielsen ranking — get big numbers with streaming viewership.
As for “Yellowstone,” the fifth and final season will resume airing in November. The announcement of the Western drama’s end came soon after reports of scheduling drama involving series star Kevin Costner. But Paramount is already developing a sequel series with “Yellowstone” creator Taylor Sheridan.
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