'Yellowstone' prequel '1883' surged in popularity during its first season, and it bodes well for Paramount+
- "1883" has grown in audience demand over the course of its first season, new data shows.
- It overtook "Yellowstone" in demand in February, but has yet to reach that show's peak demand.
The "Yellowstone" universe is paying off for Paramount+.
"Yellowstone" prequel "1883" surged in audience demand in the US over the course of its first season that aired on Paramount+, according to data from Parrot Analytics. The audience-demand data accounts for engagement with and interest in, or overall popularity, of a series.
"1883" even overtook "Yellowstone" in audience demand on February 12, near the end of its first season. The show's finale debuted on Sunday. The most recent fourth season of "Yellowstone," the biggest TV series on cable, wrapped in January on Paramount Network.
As of February 25, "1883" was still ahead of "Yellowstone" in demand in the US, the former being 24.2 times more in demand than the average series and the latter 19.4 times more in demand.
The graph below illustrates the rise of "1883" in demand since it premiered in December.
"1883" has yet to reach the peak demand of "Yellowstone" during the latter's fourth season, though. "1883" peaked on February 22 at 29.1 times more demand than the average series, while "Yellowstone" peaked at 34.0 on December 6, the day after the sixth episode of the season debuted.
Still, the success of "1883" bodes well for Paramount+, which is taking advantage of "Yellowstone's" popularity despite lacking the streaming rights to the show. NBCUniversal's Peacock secured the exclusive streaming rights to the series in 2020, before Paramount+ launched. Season four will be available on Peacock on March 28.
The shows' creator, Taylor Sheridan, is making more series for Paramount+, including other "Yellowstone" spinoffs like the upcoming "1932." Paramount also recently announced that it ordered more episodes of "1883."
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