Yellowstone: the smash-hit TV show that exposes a cultural divide 

Yellowstone, a violent drama about familial legacy and the tides of changes in the mountains of Montana, is the most-watched show on cable in the US, though depending on where you live , you might not know it.Yellowstone, a violent drama about familial legacy and the tides of changes in the mountains of Montana, is the most-watched show on cable in the US, though depending on where you live, you might not know it .Yellowstone, a violent drama about familial legacy and the tides of changes in the mountains of Montana, is the most-watched show on cable in the US, though depending on where you live, you might not know it.Streaming was supposed to be the great equalizer, for either access to content (see: global megahits like Netflix’s Squid Game, the South Korean dystopian drama which reached a whopping 111m household appliances worldwide in late 2021) or its segmentation into competitive platforms warring for their niche and slice of IP. Yellowstone presents a fascinating rebuke to these trends: a word-of-mouth hit in the heartland, for lack of a better term for the loose but distinct geographic segmentation in the US, and a phenomenon of cultural silos among urban-skewing consumers of premium cable and ex-urban (smaller cities surrounded by agricultural land, suburbs, small towns, rural communities) consumers of basic cable. Paramount is building a popular universe around the success of Yellowstone – the prequel 1883, starring the country super couple Tim McGraw and Faith Hill as well as Sam Elliott, scored the biggest debut for a cable show since 2015 in December – and a good portion of the country hasn’t noticed.

It’s difficult not to compare Yellowstone and Succession, both on a superficial level and as an indicator of cultural bubbles. Although tonally opposite – Succession is serrated, cynical and lyrically profane, Yellowstone elegaic, melodramatic and prone to philosophical musings – both depict ultra-wealthy scions scrambling to protect their assets (a media conglomerate akin to Rupert Murdoch’s News Corp; a ranch the size of Rhode Island) from threats outside the family (other companies; property developers and Native American tribes seeking restitution).

Both traffic in arcane business disputes (hostile takeovers and shareholder meetings, land and water use rights). Both patriarchs prefer to travel via helicopter, while the offspring (three sons and one daughter, the hardest of them all) compete for attention and approval. Both have established lush visual motifs to communicate elevated ambitions – for Succession, airy and impersonal luxury suggest the utter soullessness of mega-wealth; for Yellowstone, wide-shots of mountainous country and unsparing depictions of ranch work argue one’s land is the soul worth fighting for.

But for all the cultural fixation, Succession only pulls a fraction of Yellowstone’s audience. The Emmy-winning drama drew its largest audience to date, 1.7 million viewers across all platforms (including HBO Max), for its third season finale in December, largely concentrated in major cities where it has grown as a word-of-mouth hit ( and meme generator) for the online; 73% of its audience for the recent finale were located in so-called A markets such as New York, Los Angeles and Chicago.