Series stars Tim McGraw and Faith Hill
Paramount+ has announced that Sunday’s premiere of the highly anticipated Yellowstone prequel, 1883, — starring Tim McGraw and Faith Hill — broke a new record for the service as its most-watched original series premiere ever, up more than double over the previous record, across the service’s owned and operated platforms, with additional third party reporting still to come. In addition, the MTV Entertainment Studios and 101 Studios-produced series marked the most-social drama series Sunday night across streaming, according to data from Talkwalker Social Content Ratings.
In addition to its record-breaking premiere on Paramount+, the premiere also delivered 4.9 million total viewers during its special event on Paramount Network following Yellowstone, making it the biggest new series premiere on cable since 2015.
The series brought 5.5 million viewers for the premiere and simulcast with 6.4 million across the night including premieres, simulcast and encores.
“The results of 1883’s debut are truly phenomenal,” shares Tanya Giles, Chief Programming Officer, ViacomCBS Streaming. “The day one streaming numbers, coupled with the results of the linear sampling effort and social response from our audience, show the tremendous promise for this series. We look forward to continuing on this epic journey with our subscribers.”
“The success of Taylor Sheridan’s 1883 is another proof point of our unique model to leverage our linear platforms and franchise our biggest hits to supercharge Paramount+,” adds Chris McCarthy, President and CEO ViacomCBS Media Networks. “We went big with 1883 – the Yellowstone prequel – and it delivered big and shattered all records, as both the No. 1 most-watched original series premiere ever on Paramount+ and the biggest new cable premiere since 2015, with nearly five million viewers tuning into Paramount Network Sunday’s airing. Given the tremendous viewership on Paramount Network, I’m confident our strategy of sampling on the Paramount Network will drive awareness and viewers to Paramount+.”
Created by Academy Award Nominee Taylor Sheridan and produced by MTV Entertainment Studios and 101 Studios, 1883 is the highly anticipated prequel to the Emmy nominated series Yellowstone. The original series stars Academy Award nominee Sam Elliott, Grammy Award Winner Tim McGraw, Grammy Award Winner Faith Hill, Academy Award winner Billy Bob Thornton, Isabel May and LaMonica Garrett, Audie Rick, Marc Rissmann, Eric Nelsen and James Landry Hébert.
1883 follows the Dutton family as they embark on a journey west through the Great Plains toward the last bastion of untamed America. It is a stark retelling of Western expansion, and an intense study of one family fleeing poverty to seek a better future in America’s promised land – Montana.
