In the age of streaming, Yellowstone has been a surprise powerhouse for the Paramount Network as the show continues to bring in record ratings season after season. However, despite folks like your mom and dad tuning in every week, there is a satiable hunger for the Kevin Costner western series, which has also seen huge numbers on Peacock where its first three seasons are about to be joined by the recently wrapped Season 4.
Starting March 28, Season 4 of Yellowstone will be available for streaming on Peacock. Not only will this give fans a chance to catch up on the explosive events of the latest season, but new fans can catch up on the rugged adventures at the Dutton ranch. As for why Yellowstone is streaming on Peacock instead of Paramount Plus where showrunner Taylor Sheridan is slowly building a TV empire, well, that all comes down to a licensing deal that parent company ViacomCBS made back when it had no idea that the Montana soap opera would become a smash hit. Needless to say, they’re regretting the decision.
Via Deadline:
“In terms of where to catch it online, we had content licensing deals well before Paramount+ was thought of and our solution to that, our great solution, was to create a broad universe of Yellowstone by bringing 1883, its prequel, exclusively to Paramount+.”
[Chief Programming Officer Tanya] Giles is correct that Paramount+, which launched in March 2021, didn’t exist when that deal was done. However, the company did operate CBS All Access in this time period, and in fact the merger between sister companies Viacom and CBS had just gone through a month before the Yellowstone announcement.
In short, ViacomCBS didn’t think Yellowstone was worth the gamble at the time, but you better believe they’re betting big on the franchise now as Paramount Plus has no less than three spinoffs either already streaming or in the works.
Yellowstone Seasons 4 starts streaming March 28 on Peacock.
(Via Deadline)