South Park’s Streaming Success Is The Show’s Last Hope

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Although South Park is currently the most popular show on Paramount+, its overall TV ratings suggest a potentially troubling future for the series. For comparison, The Simpsons has broadcast over 800 episodes throughout 37 seasons, making it the longest-running scripted prime-time TV show in American history.

For a long time, it seemed like The Simpsons would always air on television. But recently, some episodes have gone directly to Disney+, resulting in shorter seasons on TV. Family Guy has also started releasing special episodes directly on Hulu, with two new specials added each year.

Although South Park has a style all its own, it shares similarities with other popular animated comedies like The Simpsons and Family Guy. Similar to The Simpsons, South Park has been on television for a very long time. And like Family Guy, it’s just as well-known for causing controversy as for being funny.

South Park Season 28’s Ratings Are Shockingly Low

All three shows also share another similarity: they’re now available on streaming services. Like The Simpsons and Family Guy, South Park started streaming on its own website and has moved to Paramount+, where fans can find both current episodes and its occasional full-length movies.

I’ve been following South Park closely, and it’s been interesting to see how they adapted during the pandemic. When regular production had to pause in 2020, they started releasing these really clever specials – almost like mini-movies! They put out two of those in 2021, then thankfully brought back a shorter six-episode season in 2022, adding a couple more specials on top of that. 2023 was busy with a full season and two more specials, and just recently, in 2024, they’ve released another one. It’s amazing how consistently they keep things fresh!

Fans had to wait until late 2025 for new episodes of South Park, but the show’s return proved to be worth the wait. The premiere of season 27 sparked controversy and even drew an angry response from the White House. Not surprisingly, it quickly became the most-watched show online.

Even with its streaming success, recent seasons of South Park – seasons 27 and 28 – actually had surprisingly low traditional TV ratings in 2025. Fewer than 1 million people watched each episode on regular television, which might be surprising to those who follow those numbers.

These numbers are less than half the typical weekly viewership of episodes in The Simpsons’ 37th season, and far below the over 3 million viewers who tune in for the yearly Treehouse of Horror Halloween specials. While season 27’s third episode, “Sickofancy,” reached 0.85 million viewers, the season premiere had nearly half that amount.

South Park Is Paramount+’s Biggest Streaming Success

The first episode of Season 27, titled “Sermon on the Mount,” had only 0.43 million viewers. For most shows, especially after so many seasons, that would be a cause for concern. But South Park does very well on Paramount+, which protects it from needing high traditional TV ratings. It’s currently the most popular show on the streaming service.

While shows like Taylor Sheridan’s Yellowstone and its spin-offs are very popular, South Park is still the most consistently watched series on Paramount+. Though some of Sheridan’s shows occasionally get more viewers in a given week, South Park continues to draw record numbers of viewers with its new episodes, especially since Yellowstone and 1923 have finished airing.

Unlike shows like The Simpsons and Family Guy, which are struggling with lower viewership on traditional TV, South Park seems secure. The show quickly adopted streaming services, and that smart decision is now proving to be very successful.

South Park’s Ratings Disparity Highlights The Show’s Greatest Success

The recent $900 million agreement between the creators of South Park and Paramount demonstrates the show’s success as a streaming hit, something that The Simpsons, Family Guy, and Bob’s Burgers haven’t quite achieved. The South Park season 28 finale was a major streaming event in 2025, rivaling popular shows on platforms like Netflix, Hulu, and HBO Max.

Since 2020, South Park has shifted its focus to releasing longer, special episodes directly to streaming platforms. This move has transformed the show into a major cultural event on Paramount+, making traditional TV ratings almost irrelevant by 2026. It’s become more than just another animated comedy available to stream; it’s something people need to watch to stay current with the cultural conversation.

This puts the show’s creators in a great spot – their funny cartoon is just as important to Paramount+ as everything Taylor Sheridan produces. By ignoring typical TV ratings and focusing on a different path than shows like The Simpsons and Family Guy, South Park moved ahead of traditional television and became the leading comedy cartoon for streaming platforms.

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2026-01-15 02:39