'Outlander' premiere takes ratings highland (and men watched too)

Hold onto yer kilts: The Outlander ratings are in.

Starz’s fantasy drama delivered 2.3 million viewers during its premiere weekend. Additionally, the network counts another 1.4 million viewers on various other platforms as part of its extensive free sampling campaign (On Demand, online), making a grand total of 3.7 million views—the biggest multi-platform audience in the network’s history. The series premiere on Saturday night delivered 720,000 viewers. The Scottish-set time-travel drama is based on author Diana Gabaldon’s book saga and has been adapted by showrunner Ronald D. Moore.

A particularly interesting tidbit from the numbers: Outlander viewership was far more gender neutral than you might think for a show based on a romance novel with legions of female fans. The show brought in about 51 percent female viewers and 45 percent male (with the remaining 4 percent unidentified).

Also this weekend, new drama series The Knick scored a very-impressive-for-Cinemax 1.7 million viewers across four airings. (A special telecast on sister network HBO helped too.) The Steven Soderbergh-directed period drama stars Clive Owen as surgeon in 1900 New York City. When you consider how much buzz Outlander had vs. The Knick, these numbers become even more notable.

No need to worry about The Knick‘s renewal odds, either, as the show was already picked up for a second season. Outlander, too, looks very likely to receive an eventual pickup.

Both shows, incidentally, received good reviews from the critics. Here’s EW’s take on both The Knick and Outlander.