Yellowstone has already enjoyed massive success on the Paramount network and the streaming service Peacock.
But now CBS and its parent company Paramount Global are experiencing a new wave of interest in the Kevin Costner–starring series after CBS began airing reruns of Yellowstone going back to its first season.
According to The Wrap, an astounding 21.6 million people have watched at least one episode of Yellowstone in reruns on the major network.
The publication notes that CBS brought back the series as a stop-gap measure amid the since-ended writers strike and the ongoing actors strike, rather than in an attempt to boost ratings.
Yellowstone’s striking second wave of success comes at a surprising time, after its star Kevin Costner acrimoniously departed the series amid his bitter divorce and was dedicated to preparing his upcoming two-part Western epic film Horizon.
It’s a hit (again)! Yellowstone was viewed by a shocking 22 million viewers when it aired in reruns on CBS the past two months, according to Paramount Global research shared by The Wrap; Kevin Costner and Kelsey Chow pictured on Yellowstone
Bad timing: Yellowstone’s second wave of success comes after its star Kevin Costner acrimoniously departed the show amid his bitter divorce and was dedicated to preparing his upcoming Western epic Horizon; seen in February in Beverly HIlls
The Yellowstone reruns have helped Paramount shore up its property on its flagship CBS, as many viewers previously experienced Yellowstone via a competitor.
In 2020, before the show had proven itself to be a hit, the NBCUniversal streaming service Peacock snapped up the streaming rights for the show, prevent Paramount’s own Paramount+ service — which didn’t exist at the time — from showing the series, though subsequent Yellowstone spinoffs have played on it.
Now new viewers are watching the series and helping to fill Paramount’s coffers with ad spending on CBS.
What is remarkable about the new Yellowstone audience is that a stunning 52 percent of rerun viewers had not watched an episode of the Western series in the past year, meaning that the network helped to draw in new viewers and pull back former viewers.
Paramount Global’s research indicates that 80 percent of all CBS viewers have never watched any Yellowstone at all, so there is an enormous group of viewers who could potentially get hooked on the soapy series.
The research also honed in on viewers of drama series on CBS, and 70 percent of those viewers had never watched Yellowstone either.
Considering that the series fits into the audience-friendly mold of CBS dramas, while also boasting major star power thanks to Costner’s presence, the network may have an easy time getting those existing viewers to tune in to Yellowstone reruns.
The data on Yellowstone’s CBS debut indicates that the first episode of the series made a splash on September 17 when it was watched live by 6.83 million people.
And that number only went up to 7.5 million after other curious viewers tuned in on video on demand (VOD) or watched the show via a saved episode on DVR or viewed it on another platform.
An person acquainted with CBS’ premiere strategy told The Wrap that the network helped the show along by treating it as if a brand-new series was debuting, and it positioned Yellowstone to premiere after an episode of 60 Minutes and an NFL game to maximize the number of people already tuned in.
Take two: Yellowstone originally airs on Paramount Network and streams on NBCUniversal’s Peacock, but now Paramount is attracting new viewers by rerunning the show on CBS
New audience: According to Paramount’s research, 52% of CBS Yellowstone viewers hadn’t seen the show in at least a year, while 80% of all CBS viewers and 70% of CBS drama viewers have never seen it
The rest of the first season averaged an impressive 4.69 million viewers per episode. CBS has been either one or two episodes of the show on Sundays.
The first season reruns wrapped up on October 22, and 4.52 million people tuned in for the finale.
An expert speaking to The Wrap explained that the strong ratings for Yellowstone are related to the niche position of streaming.
Despite media companies’ attempts to push viewers to sign up for streaming services, only a small fraction of total viewers are subscribed to Peacock, and even fewer have watched Yellowstone, either there or on its original Paramount Network home.
By contrast, many more people watch CBS, one of the major broadcast networks, so there is still an enormous pool of people to introduce the show to.
Paramount Global’s research indicates the the CBS reruns have been watched by many more people than ever tuned in to the Paramount Network. Compared to the series premiere on Paramount, CBS scored a 141 percent increase in total viewers when it reran the same episode five years later.
Interestingly, the new broadcast reruns appear to have even helped out NBC’s Peacock service, as viewership on the service has increased 26 percent since CBS started airing reruns, according to Variety.
The massive success of Yellowstone 2.0 has convinced CBS to continue airing the show in reruns, and season two premiered on October 29, just a week after the first season wrapped up.
Expanding its audience: Paramount is using a strategy by which is airs shows from its smaller cable networks and its streamer Paramount+ on CBS, where many more people can see them and potentially choose to sign up for its streaming service to see newer episodes
New customers: Other Yellowstone spinoffs from Paramount+ have also aired to strong ratings on the Paramount Network cable channel, and Paramount+ has seen a surge in signups
According to a CBS insider, Yellowstone isn’t the only series that it has helped to boost the profile of.
The network has also aired episodes of Paramount+ shows, including one of the streamer’s Star Trek shows, Criminal Minds and its critically savaged Frasier revival.
The first two episodes of that latter comedy were reportedly watched by an average of 2.23 million people when they aired on CBS last month.
Inspired by the success of promoting streaming shows on its broadcast network, Paramount Global has also been trying to boost the profile of its streaming shows by replaying them on its Paramount cable network.
The Paramount+ Yellowstone spinoffs 1883 and 1923 have both been rerun on Paramount Network, while other shows from Yellowstone’s creator Taylor Sheridan, the Jeremy Renner–starring The Mayor Of Kingstown and the Sylvester Stallone vehicle Tulsa King, have both played on the cable channel.
In June of this year, Paramount aired the single-season prequel 1883 in its entirety, making it the biggest debut for a scripted series on a cable channel since 2020.
The series, which starred Tim McGraw, his wife Faith Hill and Sam Elliott, was watched by 3.8 million people when it debuted in reruns on Paramount.
Paramount has gone on to play samples of other shows, including George & Tammy, Your Hono and the Nicole Kidman–starring Special Ops: Lioness, on Paramount Network, which has in turn reportedly led to an increase in signups for the Paramount+ streaming service, where they aired in their entirety.
The higher-profile cable airings have apparently helped familiarized viewers with the streaming service and convinced them to lay money down on another subscription.
CBS and Paramount’s second-chance success with Yellowstone indicates that the show still has some blood left in it even after its star Kevin Costner departed under less-than-ideal circumstances.
The actor has turned his sights to another Western property, his two-part epic film Horizon, which he directed, co-wrote and stars in.
Shooting for the movies was reportedly a point of contention when Paramount was trying to get Costner back to film the second half of season five, as he asked for a much lighter shooting schedule — along with more money — so that he could have time to shoot his own film.
Now that he’s seemingly done with Yellowstone for good, it remains to be seen if Yellowstone’s ever-growing fanbase will want another dose of a Costner-led Western in the form of his Horizon films, or if they are solely loyal to Sheridan’s Yellowstone and its spinoffs.
The final episodes of Yellowstone have a date.
The last episodes of the highly-popular CBS series are set to air in November 2024 it was announced by Paramount on Thursday.
Diehard Yellowstone fans did get some good news, however, as Paramount has greenlit two new spinoff series.
One will be named 1944 and the other is a contemporary series which is currently titled 2024.