Editing South Park (section)

===Ratings===
When ''South Park'' debuted, it was a huge ratings success for Comedy Central and is seen as being largely responsible for the success of the channel, with Herzog crediting it for putting the network "on the map".<ref name="fortune" /><ref name="nytad" /><ref name="bc68">{{harvnb|Johnson-Woods|2007|pp=6–8}}</ref>

The show's first episode, "[[Cartman Gets an Anal Probe]]", earned a [[Nielsen ratings|Nielsen]] rating of 1.3 (980,000 viewers), at the time considered high for a [[Cable television in the United States|cable program]].<ref name="bc68" /> The show instantly generated buzz among television viewers, and mass viewing parties began assembling on college campuses.<ref name="nytimescarter" /><ref name="whois" /><ref name="sfrubin" /> By the time the eighth episode, "[[Starvin' Marvin (South Park)|Starvin' Marvin]]", aired—three months after the show debuted—ratings and viewership had tripled, and ''South Park'' was already the most successful show in Comedy Central's history.<ref name="sfrubin" /> When the tenth episode "[[Damien (South Park)|Damien]]" aired the following February, viewership increased another 33 percent. The episode earned a 6.4 rating, which at the time was over 10 times the average rating earned by a cable show aired in [[prime time]].<ref name="nytimescarter" /><ref name="bc68" /> The ratings peaked with the second episode of [[South Park (season 2)|season two]], "[[Cartman's Mom Is Still a Dirty Slut]]", which aired on April 22, 1998. The episode earned an 8.2 rating (6.2 million viewers) and, at the time, set a record as the highest-rated non-sports show in basic cable history.<ref name="augusta_trash" /><ref name="wilonsky" /><ref name="bc68" /> During the spring of 1998, eight of the ten highest-rated shows on basic cable were ''South Park'' episodes.<ref name="nydailyratings" /> ''South Park's'' second season would average a 5.8 rating (12.5 million viewers) which was a lower rating due to Comedy Central's households being much higher.{{Clarification needed|date=December 2023}}

The success of ''South Park'' prompted more cable companies to carry Comedy Central and led it to its becoming one of the fastest-growing cable channels. The number of households that had Comedy Central jumped from 9.1 million in 1997 to 50 million in June 1998.<ref name="bc68" /> When the show debuted, the most Comedy Central had earned for a 30-second commercial was US$7,500.<ref name="nytimescarter" /> Within a year, advertisers were paying an average of US$40,000 for 30 seconds of advertising time during airings of ''South Park'' in its second season, while some paid as much as US$80,000.<ref name="salon">{{cite news|author=David Horowitz |title=Why Gore would censor "South Park" |work=Salon|date=July 19, 1999 |url=https://www.salon.com/1999/07/19/south_park/ |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/19991008030616/http://www.salon.com/news/col/horo/1999/07/19/south_park/index2.html |url-status=dead |archive-date=October 8, 1999 |access-date=February 21, 2022}}</ref>

By the third season (1999), the series' ratings began to decrease.<ref>
{{cite news|url=https://www.wired.com/1999/04/cartman-goin-south/|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20110629044948/http://www.wired.com/culture/lifestyle/news/1999/04/19339|url-status=dead|archive-date=June 29, 2011|title=Cartman Goin' South?
|date=April 27, 1999|publisher=Wired|access-date=February 21, 2022}}</ref> The third-season premiere episode drew 3.4&nbsp;million viewers, a dramatic drop from the 5.5&nbsp;million of the previous season's premiere.<ref name="bc68" /> Stone and Parker attributed this drop in the show's ratings to the media hype that surrounded the show in the previous year, adding that the third season ratings reflected the show's "true" fan base.<ref name="bc68" /> Regardless the viewership stayed consistent with an average rating being between 3.0 (8 million viewers) to a 5.5 (17.5 million viewers). The show's ratings dropped further in its fourth season (2000), with episodes averaging just above 1.5 million viewers (though the season premiere would get 22.1 million viewers due to the hype caused by the movie). The ratings eventually increased, and seasons five through nine consistently averaged about 3 million viewers per episode.<ref name="bc68"/> Season 8's episode "Goobacks" would have ''South Park''{{'s}} viewership peak at 30 million viewers. Seasons 10 to 12 would average 5 million viewers. Though its viewership is lower than it was at the height of its popularity in its earliest seasons, ''South Park'' remains one of the highest-rated series on Comedy Central.<ref>{{cite web|url=https://press.cc.com/press-release/2011/12/20/122011-2011-ratings-release|title=2011 Ratings Release|publisher=Comedy Central|date=December 20, 2011 |access-date=February 21, 2022 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20130317120041/http://www.comedycentral.com/press/press_releases/2011/122011-2011-ratings-release.jhtml 
|archive-date=March 17, 2013 }}</ref> The [[South Park (season 14)|season 14]] (2010) premiere gained 3.7&nbsp;million viewers, the show's highest-rated season premiere since 1998.<ref>[http://www.popcrunch.com/tiger-woods-scandal-helps-south-park-set-ratings-record/ Tiger Woods Scandal Helps "South Park" Set Ratings Record] {{Webarchive|url=https://web.archive.org/web/20110821154232/http://www.popcrunch.com/tiger-woods-scandal-helps-south-park-set-ratings-record/ |date=August 21, 2011 }} PopCrunch. Retrieved November 21, 2013.</ref> In 2016, a ''[[New York Times]]'' study of the 50 TV shows with the most [[Facebook Like]]s found that "perhaps unsurprisingly, South Park ... is most popular in Colorado".<ref name="katz20161227">{{Cite news |url=https://www.nytimes.com/interactive/2016/12/26/upshot/duck-dynasty-vs-modern-family-television-maps.html |title='Duck Dynasty' vs. 'Modern Family': 50 Maps of the U.S. Cultural Divide |last=Katz |first=Josh |date=December 27, 2016 |newspaper=The New York Times |access-date=February 12, 2017 |archive-date=March 29, 2017 |archive-url=https://archive.today/20170329083111/https://www.nytimes.com/interactive/2016/12/26/upshot/duck-dynasty-vs-modern-family-television-maps.html |url-status=live }}</ref> Subsequent seasons saw substantially lower ratings, with season 25 averaging 0.65&nbsp;million viewers an episode.{{citation needed|date=January 2024}}