Thanks to ‘1923’ and Taylor Sheridan, Paramount+ Leads Streaming Pack in Q1 | Chart

No “Yellowstone”? For Paramount+, that’s been no problem.

Even without one of Paramount’s best-known TV shows on its namesake streaming service, Paramount+ appeared in Whip Media’s weekly ranker of the top 10 most-streamed TV shows 36 times between January and March, more than any other streaming service during that time.

That stat comes courtesy of Whip Media’s First-Quarter Streaming Recap, which looked at how all the major SVODs performed during the first three months of the year. The analysis uses rankings based on viewership data from TV Time, Whip Media’s TV and movie tracking app with more than 25 million global registered users.

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What’s been working for Paramount+? Anything connected to the “Yellowstone” universe, for starters. While Paramount+ doesn’t carry the mega-popular series led by Kevin Costner — a Paramount predecessor gave streaming rights to NBCUniversal’s Peacock in 2020 — it does have a number of shows from “Yellowstone” creator Taylor Sheridan. And those have been driving big views to the service.

That includes “1923,” the “Yellowstone” prequel series starring Helen Mirren and Harrison Ford, which has been a mainstay of Whip Media’s weekly ranker this year. In the first quarter, “1923” was the most-streamed show in the U.S. on three separate weeks, according to Whip Media’s viewership data, second only to “The Mandalorian” on Disney+, which led Whip Media’s ranker four times.

Sly Stallone’s mob series “Tulsa King,” also created by Sheridan and led by former “Sopranos” writer Terence Winter, helped drive viewers to Paramount+ in January; the same goes for “Mayor of Kingstown” of late, which, you guessed it, is another series Sheridan co-created alongside Hugh Dillon.

Paramount+ has also found success with shows outside the Sheridanverse, too, with “Star Trek: Picard,” and “Wolf Pack” routinely hitting Whip Media’s ranker. Overall, the service’s 36 appearances in the ranker was a 29% increase over the first quarter of 2022.

Disney+ came in second behind Paramount+ with 26 total appearances in the top 10. Outside of “The Mandalorian,” the service owes much of that success to “Star Wars: The Bad Batch,” which was a ranker staple over the last few months.

And it’s worth pointing out Apple TV+ doubled its total appearances in the top 10 from a year ago, going from eight in the first three months of 2022 to 16 between January and March this year, which put it in fourth place among SVODs. Like Paramount+, Apple’s bet on Harrison Ford being a TV draw is paying off in spades, with Ford and Jason Segel’s comedy-drama series “Shrinking” appearing in the top 10 each week since it debuted in late January.

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Netflix hasn’t been forgotten, by the way.

The world’s biggest streaming service made Whip Media’s ranker 23 times during the quarter, helping it claim the bronze medal for TV. And Netflix continued to lap the field when it came to movies in the first three months of the year; Netflix’s 49 appearances in Whip Media’s weekly movie ranker was more than the next two services, HBO Max and Peacock, combined. First quarter standouts for Netflix included Jonah Hill’s ensemble comedy, “You People”; the Reese Witherspoon-Ashton Kutcher rom-com “Your Place or Mine,” which led Whip Media’s ranker two different times; and “We Have a Ghost.”

HBO Max (now known as just Max, as of Wednesday), meanwhile, had 20 appearances in Whip Media’s top 10, earning it second place behind Netflix. “The Menu” also helped HBO Max earn some bragging rights, with the comedy-horror flick coming in as the most-streamed movie three different times in the first quarter, more than any other movie.

Lastly, Peacock closed the quarter strong thanks to “M3GAN” and “Knock at the Cabin,” with both movies topping Whip Media’s ranker in recent weeks. Peacock also benefited from being the home to the first three “John Wick” flicks, as the return of Keanu Reeves in “John Wick: Chapter 4” last month spurred viewers to stream the previous installments.

Sean Burch is a marketing insights analyst at Whip Media, a WrapPRO partner. Click here for more from Whip Media.

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