Dutton Ranch just closed in on another major milestone.
The hit Yellowstone spinoff, which sees Kelly Reilly and Cole Hauser reprising their respective roles as Beth Dutton and Rip Wheeler, raised the stakes with its Dutton Ranch season 1 finale. The fan-favorite couple discovers that Carter (Finn Little), the young man they've raised as their own, is abducted. It makes their ongoing fight against Mariano (Raoul Max Trujillo) more personal, setting the stage for the already-renewed season 2.
As revealed by Collider, the Paramount+ spinoff got off to a strong start on Nielsen's Top 10 Streaming Originals chart for the week of June 1 to June 7. The rankings, which arrive on a month-long delay, confirm that Dutton Ranch episode 5 was watched for 840 minutes.
Even more impressively, Dutton Ranch came in second on the streaming originals charts. It was beaten only by the reality TV juggernaut Love Island USA, which was watched for over 1.31 billion minutes and had its biggest premiere week ever. Given that the Nielsen Top 10 operates on a delay, future episodes of the Paramount+ Original may reach the 1 billion minutes milestone in the coming weeks.
The placement of Dutton Ranch and other titles that make Nielsen's streaming ranks is even more impressive, given that the ranking only accounts for viewership in the U.S. and on smart TVs. That means any viewing of Dutton Ranch on a phone or laptop screen, as well as international viewership, is not measured.
In any case, Dutton Ranch season 2 is poised to perform even better. The second installment may well reunite Beth with her brother, Kayce Dutton (played by Luke Grimes), which could give the Paramount+ Original a bigger spotlight. Kayce's spinoff, Marshals, airs on CBS, where it quickly established itself as one of the most-watched dramas on television.
Recent data reveals that Marshals season 1 garnered an average of 26 million viewers per episode, with its ratings rivaling the farewell season of Stranger Things. A crossover with Dutton Ranch could be to the benefit of both spin-offs. But even on its own, Dutton Ranch's performance will be worth watching in the coming weeks. Given the twists to come, there looks to be a solid chance that Beth and Rip will cross that billion-milestone at least once in their debut year of headlining their own Yellowstone show.
It bodes well for the Dutton Ranch cast, which includes Juan Pablo Raba, Jai Courtney, J. R. Villarreal, Marc Menchaca, Natalie Alyn Lind, Ed Harris, and Annette Bening. With a first season that consists of merely nine episodes, they'll likely all have more space to get comfortable with their characters for the foreseeable future.
Dutton Ranch is available to stream on Paramount+.
