Showtime drama “Homeland” and “The Affair” surged to season-high ratings Sunday as they closed out the year, with the former logging its second largest audience since 2013 and the latter setting a series record with its 22nd episode.
Same-day ratings provide only a quick snapshot of viewing these days, but Nielsen estimates that “Homeland” averaged 2.073 million viewers for its fifth-season finale on Sunday — the third straight week it has achieved a 2015 high. Sunday’s viewership was up about 150,000 from last year’s finale (1.92 million) and just a hair below last season’s same-day high (2.110 million), which was set with the show’s penultimate episode.
The all-time high for “Homeland” remains 2.384 million, set with its third-season finale in December 2013.
On average prior to Sunday’s finale, “Homeland” averaged 1.478 million viewers in Nielsen’s “live plus same-day” estimates and 2.389 million viewers in “live plus-3.” In adults 18-49, an important metric to the advertiser community but not as relevant for Showtime, “Homeland” closed Sunday with a 0.70 rating — up 19% vs. the previous week (0.59) and 13% higher than its 2014 finale (0.62).
Following the “Homeland” finale, “The Affair” closed out its second season with 1.111 million viewers, up 12% from its previous series high set one week earlier (989,000) and 17% above the show’s first-season finale (951,000). On average this season prior to its finale, it averaged 818,000 same-day viewers and 1.351 million in Live+3.
In adults 18-49, the season finale of “The Affair” averaged a series-high 0.34 rating — up 42% week to week (from 0.24) and up 36% from its year ago finale (0.25).
Earlier this month, Showtime renewed “Homeland” and “The Affair” for their sixth and third seasons, respectively. Next up on Sundays for the premium cable network are veteran “Shameless” on Jan. 10, followed by the series premiere of “Billions” on Jan. 17.
