With multiple spinoff series planned for both Paramount Network and Paramount+, the Yellowstone universe is expanding. (See 1883 and 1923.) As the franchise grows on multiple fronts, we were tasked with establishing a robust YouTube presence that can be optimized for Yellowstone/spinoff fandom and subscriber growth.
Our strategic recommendation was to launch a dedicated YouTube home for Yellowstone and its spinoff series. Before doing so, Yellowstone content lived on the Paramount Network YouTube channel. At the time of our recommendation, 87% of uploads on that channel were for Yellowstone. Given that insight, we converted the Paramount Network platform channel to Yellowstone. That decision allowed us to build on an established channel with a captive audience of more than 700K subscribers, most of whom over-indexed as being Yellowstone fans. Moreover, it gave us a launching pad for greater opportunities in the future. Following launch in January 2022 (timed to Kevin Costner’s birthday), we began programming the channel with content from Yellowstone and 1883. And in December 2022, we added content from the new spinoff, 1923, to the mix. There’s now a steady rollout of multiple programing types including highlights, digital originals (Behind the Story, Stories from the Bunkhouse), long-form compilations, season recaps, and YouTube shorts being published weekly.
Since the conversion, the channel has reached new heights seeing nearly 5x the engagements compared to season 4. The channel also surpassed 1 million subscribers.
