Nearly 12 million viewers tuned in to the series finale of The Sopranos, well above of the shows’ season average as the episode benefited greatly from a huge weekly gain.
The series finale averaged a fourth best ever 11.90 million viewers (series high was 13.42 million for the fourth season premiere in 2002). That was an increase of 48% (3.88 million viewers) over the penultimate episode from the week prior (8.02 million).
Among adults 18-49, the series notched an impressive 7.08 million viewers.
Meanwhile, in series premiere news, David Milch’s new series John from Cincinnati managed 3.4 million viewers (1.9 million among adults 18-49), solid numbers if they were to continue on at that pace, but with retention of only 27% among viewers and 29% among adults 18-49, these are very disappointing numbers.
Courtesy MediaWeek’s Marc Berman, here are the compiled average ratings for the shows eight year/six season run:
Season 1 (Jan. 10-April 4, 1999) – Viewers: 3.46M, A18-49: 2.25M
Season 2 (Jan. 16-April 9, 2000) – Viewers: 6.62M, A18-49: 4.39M
Season 3 (March 4-May 20, 2001) – Viewers: 8.87M, A18-49: 6.04M
Season 4 (Sept. 15-Dec. 8, 2002) – Viewers: 10.99M, A18-49: 7.56M
Season 5 (March 7-June 6, 2004) – Viewers: 9.80M, A18-49: 6.63M
Season 6, Part 1 (March 12-June 4, 2006) – Viewers: 8.92M, A18-49: 5.45M
Season 6, Part 2 (April 8-June 10, 2007) – Viewers: 8.23M, A18-49: 4.97M
Sources: Nielsen Media and Mediaweek
