Young Sheldon is a huge hit on streaming, but is it more popular than its juggernaut predecessor, The Big Bang Theory?
- Young Sheldon defied early doubts, building off The Big Bang Theory to become a massive hit with millions of viewers.
- The Big Bang Theory initially lagged in ratings before soaring, while Young Sheldon started strong but declined.
- Young Sheldon might be more popular with younger audiences, with high streaming numbers on multiple platforms.
Young Sheldon has had an interesting but incredibly successful run. A prequel/spin-off series to The Big Bang Theory‘s most popular character, Sheldon Cooper, seemed like an odd, if not bad, idea when it was first announced. Every hint at Sheldon’s life before meeting the core group of The Big Bang Theory seemed sad, with many jokes being made about how Sheldon felt alone and out of place in his youth. Combined with the series going for a single-camera style as opposed to the multi-camera sitcom setup of the original series, it seemed like this was a cash grab that audiences would reject.
Yet the opposite happened. Young Sheldon built off the momentum of The Big Bang Theory, and in an age when it seemed like broadcast television could not compete with streaming services, it took off to become a massive hit. When the series premiered in September 2017, it became a must-watch television, with Season 1 averaging about 16.30 million viewers. The series is currently airing its seventh and final season and has certainly come a long way. With Big Bang Theory having been off the air for so long and Young Sheldon now being the face of the franchise, many are left wondering if Young Sheldon is the more popular series.
