'Homeland' Concludes Third Season with Record 2.4M Viewers

Homeland ended its third season on its highest Nielsen note to date.

The 9 p.m. premiere of the Dec. 15 episode averaged 2.4 million, according to Nielsen data, adding another 500,000 watchers during its encore, making it the terrorist series’ highest-rated episode and night ever. The installment, "The Star," surpassed the 11th episode of the second season at 9 p.m. and 2.7 million for the sophomore-season finale.

Homeland, which lost a main character on Sunday night, became the first Showtime series to average more than 7 million viewers across various airings and platforms, an 18% gain from its second campaign and 13% above the final season of Dexter.

Meanwhile, Masters of Sex also reached a Nielsen climax. The season-one finale garnered 1.2 million viewers at 10 p.m. and 1.5 million for the night, according to Nielsen data. Those deliveries marked respective gains of 21% and 8% from its premiere night.

Season to date, Masters of Sex averaged 4.8 million weekly viewers, 13% more than Homeland’s previous first-season record.