What’s semi-remarkable about the popularity of Taylor Sheridan’s shows is that they thrive despite relatively weak distribution methods. Yellowstone airs on the Paramount Network, a cable channel. With delayed viewing factored in, the Season 5B premiere was the highest-rated episode of the series, reaching 21 million viewers—this despite a year-and-a-half hiatus between half-seasons. That’s massive (granted, it also aired on CBS).
Sheridan’s other series perform well on Paramount+ too, even though it’s only the fifth most popular streaming platform, lagging far behind Netflix and Amazon Prime in subscriber numbers. Tulsa King currently ranks fourth among all streaming originals in Nielsen ratings; the second season premiere of Lioness drew 12.4 million viewers globally; and Sheridan’s latest, Landman, debuted to 5.2 million viewers—the biggest premiere for Paramount+ in two years, since the Yellowstone prequel, 1923. Between Sheridan and Ryan Murphy, they command an obscenely large share of television audiences these days.
Speaking of Nielsen ratings: what people are really watching right now is apparently Lost, which ranks as the second most-streamed show, trailing only The Lincoln Lawyer. (Nielsen ratings are delayed, so this reflects the week of October 27th.) It feels like viewers rediscover Lost every five years. It won’t become the next Suits because, in many ways, Suits was already the next Lost.
And what about movies? Unsurprisingly, Wicked dominated the weekend box office, and strong word-of-mouth might keep it atop the charts through the holidays. It even broke the record for the biggest November Monday ever, earning $16 million, smashing the previous record-holder, Frozen II, which earned $12.7 million. I predict Wicked will end the year as the third biggest movie of 2024, trailing only Deadpool and Inside Out 2.
On streaming, Netflix’s The Merry Gentlemen edged out Hot Frosty this week, with 14.7 million viewers compared to 12.7 million. However, Hot Frosty had a stronger debut, pulling in 16 million viewers during its first week. Clearly, there’s plenty of sexy Christmas cheer this year. For horror fans, don’t miss Ready or Not, the 2019 gem currently ranked as Netflix’s fifth most-watched film.
Still, neither Netflix Christmas movie could top Deadpool & Wolverine, which debuted on Disney+ with 19.7 million views, making it the platform’s most-watched live-action film since February 2023.