2 Million U.S. Households Were Enthralled by #Scandoval Drama in ‘Vanderpump Rules’ Reunion

#Scandoval was the salacious portmanteau on everyone's lips this Memorial Day Weekend.

In fact, 2.0 million U.S. households have been lured in by Vanderpump Rules’ first-of-three reunion episodes on Bravo and Peacock, amassing series-high viewership scores from the date of its release last Wednesday through the holiday weekend. Samba TV has exclusively shared this viewership data with The Messenger. 

In addition, Samba TV noted that 1.6 million U.S. households watched Vanderpump Rules Season 10 Reunion Part 1 when it aired on May 24 on Bravo and during next-day delayed viewing, the same number of households that watched Season 10, Episode 15 — which was technically the season’s finale episode, though not final episode — the week prior. 514,000 U.S. households watched Part 1 of the reunion episode on May 25, when the supersized, un-censored version landed on Peacock. 

For the uninitiated in Vanderpump Rules lore (or for those who have been living under a rock), #Scandoval refers to the shocking breakup between Vanderpump Rules co-stars Ariana Madix and Tom Sandoval. While the former pair had been together for nine years, the months-long affair between co-stars Sandoval and Rachel Leviss led to said breakup.

The official finale episode of Vanderpump Rules Season 10, Episode 15, which showed intimate flashbacks of the exact moment when Madix found out about the affair, Sandoval and Leviss' self-defense against the allegations, and the rest of the cast's reactions, had hit series-high ratings for Bravo, drawing a combined 4.1 million viewers on Bravo, on-demand, and Peacock within three days of its airdate on May 17. 

Despite an onslaught of #Scandoval media coverage, fans were clearly still eager to hear takeaways about the drama straight from the afflicted stars on-screen, even through Memorial Day Weekend and ahead of Part 2 of the reunion episodes and subsequent grand finale special. 

Scoreboard: Vanderpump Rules Season 10, Episode 16 

"Viewers are not dipping out on their interest in the #Scandoval bombshell that was revealed earlier this spring and has engulfed the latest season of Vanderpump Rules," Karen Biedermann, senior director of measurement science at Samba TV, told The Messenger. "In fact, the explosive season 10 finale and Part 1 of the tell-all reunion both saw viewership of 1.6 million households back to back weeks," she added (and these already impressive numbers only took into consideration Live+Next Day views, not views amassed through Memorial Day Weekend). 

Older millennial households may be helping drive the surge in viewership for Bravo and Peacock, over-indexing the highest margin of any demographic, Biedermann noted. Detroit, New York and Philadelphia were the major U.S. cities with the most Vanderpump Rules fans tuning in for Part 1 of the three-part reunion episode(s). 

Season 10 of Vanderpump Rules still has multiple chances to break its own record-breaking finale viewership — Part 2 of the reunion dropped Wednesday on Bravo, Part 3 next Wednesday, and then a Secrets Revealed grand finale episode (on top of the extended, unrated versions of the episodes airing next-day on Peacock). And given how #Scandoval and its aftermath are still making headlines, it's safe to assume fans will be back to hear from jilted Madix and her ex Sandoval, as well as Leviss, Scheana Shay, Tom Schwartz, James Kennedy, Katie Maloney, Lala Kent and Lisa Vanderpump. 

Scoreboard: The Kardashians Season 3, Episode 1  

Last April, Hulu relayed to Variety that The Kardashians, a more "elevated," docu-drama style of the iconic Keeping up with the Kardashians series that propelled the family to superstardom and enjoyed a 15-year, 20-season run on E!, was its biggest series premiere in U.S. history. 

Unfortunately for TV data nerds everywhere, Disney-owned streamers like Hulu and Disney+ are notoriously stingy with their specific viewing numbers, and thus did not share any concrete data to back up this claim. Nevertheless, Hulu's faith in The Kardashians may serve as some proof of the franchise's enduring popularity — on May 18, the streamer ordered an additional 20 episodes of the show, a week before Season 3's debut. 

Day-of release, The Kardashians Season 3, Episode 1, entitled "Can Everyone Get Their S… Together?," was met with mixed reactions from critics and audiences. While Decider deemed the third installment "anything but disappointing" and Daily Beast lauded Season 3's ability to garner "full-out, gut-busting cackles," 36.1 percent of the season's IMDB reviewers tossed it a one-star score. 

However, Samba TV's proprietary Automatic Content Recognition (ACR) technology from tens of millions of opted-in Smart TVs did manage to scrape some comprehensive viewership insights. Per Samba TV's data shared with The Messenger, 515,000 U.S. households watched The Kardashians Season 3, Episode 1 on Hulu over its first six days (May 25-30). Unlike Vanderpump Rules' Season 10 official finale and subsequent first-of-three reunion session, Gen Z households over-indexed the most out of any age group for Kardashians viewership. Moreover, the premiere episode reached No. 9 in Hulu's Top 10 TV show charts (per streaming analytics site FlixPatrol) on May 25, and remained steady in that rank through the holiday weekend up until May 31, almost a week out from its release. 

Recent Kardashian antics may have not had the same oomph to it as #Scandoval, but the family's brand of drama still has sway in the world of reality TV, especially when it comes to behind-the-scenes looks at Kim Kardashian's turbulent love life and infamous sibling rivalry between Kim and Kourtney Kardashian. 

Vanderpump versus Kardashians: What comes next? 

Though we won't be able to officially crown either the Vanderpump nor Kardashian stars the victors of reality TV in 2023 until Nielsen drops respective, internal streaming stats for Peacock and Hulu in the coming weeks, audiences can determine for themselves which buzzy family is stealing the limelight by keeping a close eye on which bloodline is trending in the weeks ahead. 

On Wednesday, the Vanderpump Rules Season 10 Part 2 reunion episode airs on Bravo, but there's also the Part 3 episode coming on June 7 and a grand finale on June 14th (with extended, unrated versions of each episode airing next-day on Peacock). The Kardashians Season 3's next three episodes drop on Hulu on June 1, 8, and 15.