In the 21st century, the mainstream entertainment industry has come to be defined by franchise intellectual property. Yet while minds might race toward the latest Star Wars, Marvel or Fast & Furious installment when discussing franchises, the reality is that they come in all shapes and sizes.
When looking at the audience demand breakdown for Paramount+ originals in the US throughout 2022, we see that that the Star Trek franchise — which hasn’t been on the big screen since 2016 — accounts for 32.4% while Yellowstone creator Taylor Sheridan’s growing roster of originals is responsible for 11.5%, according to Parrot Analytics. Star Trek is obviously legacy IP with deep genre roots in science-fiction and a cross generational fandom that dates back to the 1960s. Conversely, the Sheridan-Verse is a crop of Neo-Westerns that only began airing on Paramount+ in 2021 (Peacock licenses the streaming rights to flagship series Yellowstone, which premiered in 2018).
Together, they provide Paramount+ with a valuable long-running brand and newly established IP. They also help to double down on the older male audience driven to Paramount+ by CBS, which is responsible for the greatest share of audience demand on the streamer among Paramount Global’s many content brands.
These series serve as a reminder as to the various ways franchises can be developed and expanded while appealing to a core audience. Paramount+ deserves credit for keeping the Star Trek brand alive and well through creative and inclusive new programming and at a time when new-to-screen blockbuster concepts are struggling to break out at the box office, the small screen has been a kinder home for fresh IP.
It's not just Disney playing in the franchise sandbox!
