‘Yellowstone’ Season 4 Premiere Accelerated Philo Live TV Subscriber Signups
Some “Yellowstone” fans were left scrambling to find a way to watch the season four premiere of the show, which aired Sunday. Surprisingly, the series can’t be streamed on Paramount+. Rather, the new season made its debut on Paramount Network, the linear channel.
For viewers who have already cut the cord and switched to streaming, this was not good news. Fortunately, there are many live TV streaming services available, and often, they cost less than a cable TV package. To watch “Yellowstone,” viewers chose between Philo, Hulu Live TV, fuboTV, and others.
After the “Yellowstone” season four premiere, Philo revealed that the show contributed to a spike in subscriptions. November 7, the day of the season premiere, proved to be a successful day for single-day subscriber sign-ups.
However, prior to the “Yellowstone” premiere, Philo had been quiet about user growth since they last reported they hit 800,000 subscribers in Q3 2020. Philo hasn’t revealed its new sign-ups and total subscribers after the “Yellowstone” surge. Currently, Hulu Live TV and YouTube TV are around 4 million subscribers, while Sling TV has over 2.5 million subscribers.
Sunday’s season four premiere of “Yellowstone” was a massive success, breaking series records. The premiere drew 8.12 million viewers, a new live linear high for the show. It also reached an advertiser-friendly 18-49 demographic with a 1.56 rating.
While “Yellowstone” did contribute to a surge in Philo subscriptions, the company disclosed that a couple of other titles, including Tyler Perry’s “Sistas” and “The Oval,” played a role. However, rather than streaming these programs live on Philo, users opted to watch them on-demand or on DVR. To watch the remainder of “Yellowstone” season four live, viewers will have to pay for a Philo subscription at just $25 per month or subscribe to another live TV service. “Yellowstone” could continue to drive Philo subscriptions and help the service catch up with its competition.
Further complicating the process for streaming “Yellowstone,” seasons one through three are available to stream on Peacock, and season four will be added to the platform three months after this season ends. The deal with Peacock came about due to a ViacomCBS licensing agreement prior to the launch of Paramount+. While ViacomCBS did bring in some money in this deal, the streaming service may be missing out on potential revenue from “Yellowstone” as a result.
Yellowstone
Follow the violent world of the Dutton family, who controls the largest contiguous ranch in the United States. Led by their patriarch John Dutton, the family defends their property against constant attack by land developers, an Indian reservation, and America’s first National Park.