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Kevin Costner’s Yellowstone television series brought an estimated 2.1 million visitors to Montana in 2021, and a university study links the show to $730 million in spending. Its season-five premiere showed more than 12 million viewers the scenery of western Montana, and the series was the highest-rated non-sports programme of the 2021-22 season. Researchers at the University of Montana’s Bureau of Business and Economic Research used those records for an April 2022 report. It found that about $72 million of qualifying spending, together with 116 Montana residents employed in production, supported 527 new jobs, $25.3 million in additional personal income and $85.3 million in extra gross receipts. That covered the five months from October 2020 to February 2021, when season four was made. The study also estimated that the higher economic opportunity attracted and kept 3,305 more people in the state.
To judge the overall effect, the researchers built a hypothetical economy in which season four was never filmed and the visitors who said the show motivated their trip never came. Todd O’Hair, president and chief executive of the Montana Chamber of Commerce, told the university that food services, hotels, rental companies and transport firms were all benefiting, as were high-tech businesses and skilled trades such as electricians and carpenters. Costner plays John Dutton, the sixth-generation patriarch of a fictional Montana ranch family, in a Paramount Network drama described as the most popular series on American television. Filming takes place largely in Darby, Hamilton, Missoula and the Bitterroot Valley. The audience stretches well beyond the United States. The report admitted a gap, it left out the advertising value of films that use Montana as a backdrop. To fill it, the bureau teamed up with the university’s Institute for Tourism and Recreation Research. Using the survey firm Qualtrics, they assembled a national panel of people who live outside Montana but had visited within the previous three years. Respondents were asked why, how often and for how long they visited, and how far the show influenced their decision. Comparing it with the real economy measured what the series adds. He described the show as a big driver of tourism, jobs and tax revenue.
