CBS’ ‘Ghosts’ Season 2 Premiere Hits Top Comedy Episode on Paramount+ (EXCLUSIVE)

Selome Hailu
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The “Ghosts” Season 2 premiere currently ranks as the top episode of a comedy series on Paramount+, in terms of active subscriber reach and total minutes viewed, CBS has confirmed to Variety exclusively.

The Season 2 premiere of “Ghosts” saw a 50% increase in viewership after seven days of delayed (mostly DVR) viewing. The episode brought in an impressive 6.15 million viewers when it first aired Sept. 29, according to Nielsen’s Live + Same Day data, and a week of viewership saw that number for the Season 2 premiere rise to 9.23 million.

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Live + 7 data indicates that the “Ghosts” episode, titled “Spies,” edged out every other network comedy premiere of the season — even “Young Sheldon,” which has topped other comedies for several years now. Predictably, the “Big Bang Theory” spin-off, which also airs on CBS, still had a mighty showing. Its Season 6 premiere started with 6.61 million viewers — initially more than “Ghosts” — which increased to 9.11 million, thus becoming the No. 2 most-viewed comedy accounting for seven days of viewing.

“Ghosts” — which is co-produced by Lionsgate Television, BBC Studios, and CBS Studios — is also the first comedy to take the No. 1 position with its Season 2 premiere since “The Simpsons” in 1991.

The fact that “Ghosts” slightly outranked “Young Sheldon” after delayed viewing despite initially coming in second place suggests that the former’s audience is overall less inclined towards appointment viewing than the latter’s.

Streaming data supports this idea. It’s important to note that the numbers above don’t include views on Paramount+, where CBS streams its shows, because Nielsen doesn’t measure that platform, but as noted, CBS states “Ghosts” Season 2 premiere currently ranks as the top episode of a comedy series on Paramount+.

Like in previous years, CBS comedies are bringing in more viewers than any other network. The next most-viewed comedies after “Ghosts” and “Young Sheldon” are also CBS titles: “The Neighborhood” came in third place with 6.09 million viewers after seven days, followed by “Bob Hearts Abishola” with 5.64 million. The most-viewed comedy premiere from another network was “The Conners” on ABC, which had 5.02 million total viewers according to Live+7 data — 84% fewer than “Ghosts.”

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