Yellowstone Networks in WAR! Kevin Costner’s show is hit by new drama as Peacock runs rival ads while it airs on CBS to persuade fans to switch services

Yellowstone is known for creating a lot of drama with its exciting storylines, but now that drama is expanding to the networks that distribute the show.

The show starring Kevin Costner has become a modest hit in reruns on CBS, which began showing the series to traditional television viewers earlier this month.

But NBCUniversal’s Peacock streaming service has had the streaming rights to the series since the first season, and many viewers saw the show there, years before CBS started airing reruns.

Now Peacock has started airing ads on CBS during its Yellowstone broadcasts to encourage fans to log into the service to watch the show there, where they can also watch the original show, rather than a version that has been adapted to appease television censorship.

According to him, the direct competition for viewers by rival networks is an unusual development Varietyalthough it could still ultimately benefit CBS’ parent company Paramount Global.

The final rerun of Yellowstone reportedly featured two Peacock commercials that aired during the hour-long show.

“Peacock has all the episodes of Yellowstone,” the ad announced in large block letters as a montage of the Western melodrama was shown.

“Stream every season now,” it continued, which seemed to encourage new fans to switch to a service where they could satisfy their curiosity with some binge-watching, rather than waiting for reruns to air week after week.

“This is a declaration of war,” one of the characters says at the end of the clip, ending on a humorous note.

Part of the battle between CBS and Peacock is due to Yellowstone’s complicated distribution history.

The show’s cable home for the first time was on the Paramount Network, a cable channel owned by CBS’s parent company.

Paramount has its own streaming service, Paramount+, which carries many of its original programs.

The show originally debuted to modest ratings and mediocre reviews in 2018, and although the series – created by showrunner, director and writer Taylor Sheridan – did well enough to be renewed for a second season, Paramount opted to sell the streaming rights to Peacock in 2020, instead of saving the show for its own streaming service.

It turned out to be a short-sighted decision, as Yellowstone has only increased in popularity in subsequent seasons, allowing Peacock to siphon off some of Paramount’s potential revenue in the form of new subscribers, although Paramount still benefits from the licensing fees Peacock pays. to stream the series.

Ironically, the broadcast network and parent company Paramount are even making money from the commercial’s licensing fees, even though the Peacock ad is an attempt by the streamer to steal viewers from CBS.

The reruns were also lucrative for CBS. The network might not normally have put them on the air, but with a lack of new shows due to the months-long writers’ strike and ongoing actors’ strike, CBS is trying to keep viewers engaged.

And the viewers certainly agree. According to Variety, last week’s two-hour block of Yellowstone episodes drew 6 million viewers, a solid number for a show that has been around for years.

Years ago, it would have been virtually unheard of for a television network to promote one of its rivals, which would likely have refused to air the commercial.

The publication notes that HBO was banned from airing commercials on many of its broadcast network competitors for years, forcing the company to rely on print ads, and that CBS and NBC even turned down a General Motors ad for Cadillacs because Dennis Franz played the leading role in it.

He played a police officer who issues a ticket to a motorist in the video, but he was also starring in ABC’s NYPD Blue at the time, and CBS and NBC were tired of giving even superficial support to the competing cop drama.

In the mid-2000s, some networks managed to get around the unofficial ban on competitive advertising by bypassing the national networks.

In 2004, CBS purchased advertising time for the series Without A Trace, but only for reruns airing on other networks. It managed to get the ads to air on NBC during the hit series ER, but only by selling the ads to local networks to air during their blocks, rather than in the national ad breaks.

ER and new episodes of Without A Trace aired at the same time, so while CBS was ostensibly pushing reruns on other networks, it may have contributed to some viewers turning off ER and tuning into CBS for Without A Trace.

NBC stopped the ads when they heard about them, but initially didn’t find out because they went through local affiliates.

Interestingly, television networks have become increasingly willing to let competitors buy ad spots in recent years, but streamers largely refuse to let competitors advertise on their services — even though they may buy ad slots from the same competitors they wouldn’t allow on their services . Services.

Netflix, Max (formerly HBO Max) and Disney’s Hulu and Disney+ services refuse to air ads from competing networks, or for shows shown on those networks, executives familiar with their policies told Variety.

Paramount+ is a little more flexible, but they note that it will only accept ads from competitors if they already have some sort of business agreement with Paramount, the source said.

Despite the competition, the many ways to watch Yellowstone could still be a boon for Paramount, as advertising dollars from reruns on CBS will provide a reliable amount of revenue, while the company can still expect high licensing fees from Peacock.