Taylor Sheridan to Continue to Be Front and Center Across Paramount Brands, Following Management Shakeups
Paramount+ is having an eventful start to its 2023. The service is preparing to fold in content from the premium cable channel/subscription video service Showtime in the next few months and is also gearing up to host live streams of the UEFA Champion's League knockout stage.
Now, some recently announced changes in Paramount Global’s management structure are highlighting the direction that the company intends to take its streaming segment in moving into the future. It was announced on Monday that the company’s remaining Showtime executives will be merging with the creative team of sister brand MTV Entertainment.
The new leadership team will be responsible for executing the company’s new streaming vision, and the moves point to one thing: the further ascendance of content creator and tireless auteur Taylor Sheridan.
Sheridan has been a content-producing machine for Paramount over the last few years. The “Yellowstone” co-creator also helped to develop its prequel series “1883” and “1923,” as well as “Mayor of Kingstown” and most recently “Tulsa King,” with a number of other shows preparing to debut in 2023 and 2024. Many of these series take place in the same cinematic ecosystem, which many have dubbed the “Sheridan-verse.”
The executive shuffling at the top of Paramount indicates how much further the company is looking to lean into the prolific creator’s vision. MTV Entertainment is the studio responsible for bringing “Yellowstone” to life, and with many MTV executives stepping into expanded roles after merging with the Showtime team, Paramount is showing where its priorities lie.
Paramount Global has made no secret of its intentions to lean further into its franchises. The company has announced that new shows based on its popular library titles “Dexter” and “Billions” are in development, and these series will be a cornerstone of Paramount+ with SHOWTIME (the new name for both the cable and streaming Showtime brand) programming moving forward.
But when discussing programming staples at Paramount+, it’s clear that Sheridan will be king going forward. A report from Samba TV indicates that two series from the Sheridan-verse (“1923” and “Tulsa King”) cracked the list of top 10 streaming premieres of the second half of 2022. The Season 5 premiere of “Yellowstone,” which airs on the linear Paramount Network, was the No. 1 scripted television premiere of 2022, snagging nearly 10 million viewers. Twenty-four percent of users who watched Paramount+ in the second half of 2022 exclusively watched shows created by Sheridan.
Sheridan’s supremacy will continue even if Season 5 is the last for “Yellowstone.” Disputes with lead actor Kevin Costner have reportedly led Sheridan and Paramount executives to discuss ending the show, and creating a new spin-off starring Matthew McConaughey to replace it.
Paramount has denied there’s anything wrong behind-the-scenes at “Yellowstone,” but if the show is ending, having a replacement (especially one that wouldn’t need to stream on Peacock) in development is the smart play. The series consistently over-indexes in markets in the middle of the country, with far more viewers in cities like Cleveland, Denver, and Pittsburgh than in New York and Los Angeles.
There are clearly more changes ahead for Paramount as it prepares to integrate Showtime content to its flagship streamer. It’s clear, however, that the company will be increasingly reliant on the mind of Taylor Sheridan to drive new users to its service and retain the customers that it already has. Considering how popular the Sheridan-verse has become, that’s an excellent move for Paramount.
Paramount Plus
Paramount+ is a subscription video streaming service that includes on-demand access to 40,000+ TV show episodes from BET, CBS, Comedy Central, MTV, Nickelodeon, Nick Jr. and more. The lineup includes “1883,” “Tulsa King,” “Star Trek: Discovery,” Nickelodeon’s “SpongeBob SquarePants,” and “PAW Patrol.” Subscribers can watch the NFL, college football, The Masters, college basketball, UEFA Champions League, UEFA Europa, Serie A, and NWSL. The service also offers the option to watch your live CBS affiliate. The upgraded ad-free package includes premium movies and shows from Showtime.