May 17 – BAZINGA! 8.95 Million Viewers Watched the #1 Show of the Night, Up +28% From Its Season-to-Date Average

Live Streaming Posts Season High

At 8:30pm, the series finale YOUNG SHELDON was the #1 broadcast of the night with 8.95m viewers, up +28% from its STD average. The finale was the series most watched episode in four years (April 30, 2020 season three finale with 10.15m viewers). YOUNG SHELDON premiered on CBS as the #1 new comedy of the 2017-2018 television season and became television’s #1 comedy in 2019-2020 season (after THE BIG BANG THEORY ended) and has held that top spot for 5 consecutive seasons.

CBS was the #1 broadcast network last night with 5.81m viewers and the top four shows of the night. CBS posted its largest non-sports Thursday night in over 4 years (April 30, 2020).

CBS Ratings – Primetime Thursday, 5/16/24 – Live+SD Fast National Data

• CBS had the top four shows last night: YOUNG SHELDON 8:30PM SP, YOUNG SHELDON, SO HELP ME TODD and ELSBETH.

• YOUNG SHELDON (8pm) was #1 in the time period with 8.82m viewers, up +28% from its STD average.

• YOUNG SHELDON series finale (8:30pm) was the #1 show of the night with 8.95m viewers. YOUNG SHELDON’s finale was the series most watched episode in four years (the season three finale on April 30, 2020).

• SO HELP ME TODD series finale (9pm) averaged 4.40m viewers, #1 in the hour.

• ELSBETH (10pm) averaged 4.15m viewers, 1st in the hour and up +3% from last week.

Live streaming posted gains across the board:

• YOUNG SHELDON up +39% from last week and +50% from year ago finale and posted a season high.

• SO HELP ME TODD up +7% from last week and up +7% from the year ago finale and posted a season high.

• ELSBETH was up +55% from the time period last year and up from last week.

(Streaming on Paramount+ and CBS TVE (CBS.com / CBS App) on an AMA basis)

More YOUNG SHELDON Series Highlights:

• YOUNG SHELDON premiered as the #1 new comedy of the 2017-2018 television season and became television’s #1 comedy in the 2019-2020 season after THE BIG BANG THEORY ended. YOUNG SHELDON has held that #1 comedy spot for 5 seasons.

• CBS has had the #1 comedy on television for nearly twenty years starting with EVERYBODY LOVES RAYMOND (2004-2005) through TWO AND A HALF MEN, THE BIG BANG THEORY and YOUNG SHELDON.

• In its final season, YOUNG SHELDON averages nearly 13m viewers with L+35 multiplatform delivery, up +17% from season six. Streaming alone on Paramount+ and CBS TVE is up over +200% YoY.

• Sheldon Cooper’s character has been part of the CBS Thursday 8PM time slot (after THE BIG BANG THEORY aired on Mondays during its first three seasons) since 2010-2011.

• According to Nielsen, across all viewing sources (CBS, cable and streaming), YOUNG SHELDON has accrued 174.307 billion minutes viewed since its debut across 137 episodes (through 5/5/24) – the most for any comedy that debuted in the 2017-18 season or beyond. YOUNG SHELDON outpaced the combined delivery of popular streaming comedies COBRA KAI, TED LASSO, THE MARVELOUS MRS. MAISEL, WEDNESDAY and ONLY MURDERS IN THE BUILDING in this time frame (160.466b minutes combined across 613 episodes).