Four big questions re: Yellowstone:
1) When will the new season of Yellowstone premiere?
2) How many people have watched each season?
3) What is going on with the cast?
4) What is going on with measurement?
Big question #1: When will the new season of Yellowstone premiere?
Quick answer: You may be surprised that TV’s top scripted show returned to the air on Sunday after a 679-day hiatus. Virtually nobody (in the media) is talking about it.
Big question #2: How many people have watched each season?
Yellowstone average viewership (YoY growth) according to Wikipedia:
1) Season 1 (2018) – 2.2M
2) Season 2 (2019) – 2.4M (↑ 5%)
3) Season 3 (2020) – 3.9M (↑ 66%)
4) Season 4 (2021) – 11.3M (↑ 189%)
5) Season 5A (2022) – 11.6M (↑ 3%)
Keep in mind: The show originally aired only on Paramount network (cable) but now airs on 8 different networks, including CBS (broadcast).
Wow: Yellowstone was the only scripted linear TV show to break 10M viewers during the 2022-23 season. The viewership for Yellowstone is 18% higher than the #2 show NCIS (9.8M).
Top 10 TV telecasts of 2022-23 season by average viewers according to Variety:
1) NFL Sunday Night Football (NBC) – 18.1M
2) Yellowstone (Paramount Network) – 11.6M
3) NFL Monday Night Football (ESPN) – 10.1M
4) NCIS (CBS) – 9.8M
5) FBI (CBS) – 9.5M
6) NFL Thursday Night Football (Amazon) – 9.5M
7) Young Sheldon (CBS) – 9.3M
8) Chicago Fire (NBC) – 9.3M
9) Blue Bloods (CBS) – 9.2M
10) Ghosts (CBS) – 9.1M
Why this matters: Yellowstone generates more viewers than NFL Monday Night Football on ESPN.
FYI: ESPN pays $2.7B annually for the right to air Monday Night Football!
PSA: The Yellowstone spinoff 1923 is amazing.
Big question #3: What is going on with the cast?
Quick answer: All kinds of drama. Kevin Costner (the star) left the show. Taylor Sheridan (the creator) sued Cole Hauser (aka Rip) because the logo for his coffee brand looked similar to the one for Taylor’s. Yes, both appear to have their own competing coffee brands!
Quote from Kevin Costner – The actor who formerly played John Dutton:
“I was disappointed that nobody on their side … ever stepped up to defend what it was I actually did for them. There came a moment where I thought, ‘Wow, when is somebody going to say something about what I have done versus what I haven’t done?’ “
Big question #4: What is going on with measurement?
Quick answer: Paramount dropped Nielsen at the end of September and has gone with Videoamp.
Why this matters: TV’s most popular scripted show is measured by an alternative currency (Videoamp). If Paramount does not lose advertisers, additional networks could make similar moves.
Keep in mind: Ad buyers/sellers don’t use Nielsen because of accuracy. They use it because it is an agreed-upon standard.
Quote from Parker Herren – TV Reporter @ AdAge:
“Whether or not Nielsen and Paramount renew their contract will not impact their dealmaking with Paramount, the buyer said. The first media buyer, however, said they’ve already seen Paramount miss out on investment in the scatter market because clients didn’t want to have to “deal with a second source of guarantee.”
Total viewers for Yellowstone season 5A premiere in 2022:
1) Nielsen – 12.1M
2) Videoamp – 15.9M (+31%)
Wild: Despite not being available on streaming, Yellowstone pulls in huge numbers. If streaming were a major part of the viewership, the discrepancy between Nielsen and Videoamp would have been larger.
Key point: Yellowstone will eventually be available to stream on Peacock (not Paramount+). Last season, it was roughly 5 months after the show aired on linear TV before it was available on Peacock.
