In the wake of Taylor Sheridan’s industry-shaking deal moving him from Paramount to NBCUniversal, much has been made of the budgets for the Yellowstone creator’s shows. It’s been reported that Paramount’s leadership, including streaming chief Cindy Holland, began scrutinizing Sheridan’s budgets, and this was a contributing factor to his departure.
Using budget estimates from Luminate Film & TV metadata and average episodic views from Streaming Viewership (M), Luminate investigated the cost per view for Sheridan shows versus other Paramount+ titles. (For this exercise, only Paramount+ exclusives were compared, meaning Sheridan’s Mayor of Kingstown and Lioness, which also air on the Paramount+ With Showtime linear network, were excluded.)
PARAMOUNT+ SERIES COST PER AVERAGE U.S. VIEW
For first 26 weeks of activity
SOURCE: LUMINATE FILM & TV, STREAMING VIEWERSHIP (M); NOTE: PINK INDICATES TAYLOR SHERIDAN SHOWS
Results show the TV creator’s contemporary (i.e., non-period piece) titles as quite efficient. Tulsa King boasts a very low $0.48 per view, making it the most cost-effective Paramount+ exclusive in 2023-2025. Landman is a costly drama, but it’s priced like the megahit it became, with strong enough performance to offset its hefty $15 million-per-episode budgets.
All three Star Trek shows land at the bottom of the list, alongside the pricey and canceled Halo. Like Sheridan, the Star Trek franchise is a major investment for Paramount, but one of its flagship series, Star Trek: Discovery, costs a whopping $6.02 per view.
It’s possible Paramount values the small but dedicated Star Trek audience renewing subscriptions for those titles alone, though there’s still a massive value gap between Star Trek and the “expensive” budgets of Taylor Sheridan.
Budget concerns are still valid for a period show such as Sheridan’s Yellowstone prequel 1923. Despite strong viewership, the $22 million-per-episode price tag translates to a high $1.33 per view.
Perhaps it’s worth that to remind audiences the streaming home of the expanded Yellowstone universe is Paramount+, as the core show lives on Sheridan’s future home, Peacock. New Yellowstone spinoffs are on the way and could benefit from 1923’s costly but strong viewership.
UPCOMING TAYLOR SHERIDAN SCRIPTED SERIES
SOURCE: LUMINATE FILM & TV
Sheridan will still drive many years of value for Paramount+; his TV deal with NBCUniversal doesn’t begin until Jan. 1, 2029. And Holland might feel comfortable leveraging him as she gets her own slate fully rolling, as the old regime’s non-Sheridan titles often struggled. This leaves room for her to improve on cost and engagement.
While the prolific Taylor Sheridan might be irreplaceable, perhaps he can be re-created in the aggregate. That said, it will be difficult to replace the efficiency of his hit shows, but Streaming Viewership (M) and Luminate Film & TV budget data can help streamers identify lower-cost hitmakers.
