Last night, A&E aired the latest Duck Dynasty Christmas special and the numbers prove that audiences are tuning in to the Robertson family in huge numbers. The show drew almost 9 million viewers.
Early Nielsen numbers show that the one-hour episode drew 8.9 million viewers, A&E said in a statement. The overall number was 37 percent higher than last year’s special. It drew 4.6 million adults in the 25-54 demographic, up 21 percent over last year, and 4.5 million in the 18-49 demo, up 15 percent.
The show, which centers on the owners of the Robertson family, their Duck Commander business, their outrageous personalities and their beards, has only continued to grow in popularity. Duck Dynasty’s fourth season premiered to 11.8 million viewers in August and, of course, the show will be back for season five next year.
To give a sense of how many people watched Duck Dynasty last night, the show nearly beat everything on network television during the 10 p.m. slot. According to HitFix, CBS’ CSI had just under 10 million viewers, but both NBC’s Kelly Clarkson special and ABC’s Nashville had just over 5 million viewers.
The Robertsons’ Christmas album also charted at No. 5 this week on the Billboard 200 album chart and has peaked at No. 3.
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