There is a massive amount of product placement for Ram pickup trucks in the Yellowstone TV series. The show stars Kevin Costner and a whole lot of Ram ranch trucks. There are Ford trucks too. In fact, there is a vast array of SUVs, cars, pickups, and ATVs. But one thing is certain. There are so many Ram trucks on the show that when it cuts to the “this episode of Yellowstone is brought to you by Ram Trucks” commercial, you think for a second you’re still watching the show. So what’s up with all the Ram trucks on the Yellowstone TV series?

What is product placement?

According to Wikipedia, product placement is also known as ’embedded marketing’ in the business world. Product placement, like the kind we see on the Yellowstone TV Series, is a marketing technique that uses products or brands as part of the story. When someone in a TV show uses an Apple product, for example, that is embedded marketing.

So, every time we see a Ram pickup truck on Yellowstone, that exemplifies product placement. And there is quite a bit of this type of marketing in the show. From horse trailers to chauffeured vehicles ridden in by high-powered business people, to beat up Ford trucks to heavy-duty Ram ranch trucks––product placement is everywhere in this Paramount TV series.

Every time the show cuts to commercial a Ram Trucks promotional advertisement takes over the screen. Additionally, watchers will see and hear that Yellowstone is brought to us by Ram Trucks. Or, that Ram Trucks is a ‘proud sponsor’ of the show. So obviously there is some sort of marketing relationship between the two.

Which Ram pickup trucks are seen on the ‘Yellowstone’ show?

When you watch Yellowstone, you’ll see Ram pickup trucks predominantly used on the ranch that is owned and operated by the main character John Dutton, played by Kevin Costner. Dutton and his staff are gritty cowboys that function in a romantically portrayed down and dirty manner. That said, it’s pretty obvious why a brand like Ram Trucks would want in on that.

Not only are these real rough and rowdy cowboys, but they need real rough and rowdy trucks, right? But which trucks do we see the most on the Yellowstone TV show? According to Internet Movie Cars Database (IMCDB), John Dutton’s personal truck is a 2013 Ram Heavy Duty 3500 Laramie Crew Cab. We also see ranch trucks such as a 2014 Ram Heavy Duty 2500 and a 2017 Ram Heavy Duty 2500.

In fact, the Ram pickup trucks on the Yellowstone TV series even show a testament to how long-lasting and hardy a Ram ranch truck can be. There is an old beater that is, according to IMCDB, a 1998 Dodge Ram. We also see a 1994 Dodge Ram pickup truck doing some ranch work from time to time.

How much did Ram Trucks pay?

On one Reddit thread, there is a discussion about how voluminous the Ram Truck product placement is on the show. There is even some speculation that all the ‘bad guys’ drive Ford trucks. So how much did Ram Trucks pay for all this pickup product placement?

After perusing the internet for quite some time, a definitive answer to this question couldn’t be found. However, Ram Trucks does have some significant partners posted publicly on their website that align with the themes from Yellowstone. For example, Ram Trucks supports the Mustang Heritage Foundation, the National Cattlemen’s Beef Association, the National FFA Organization, and even sponsors its own Ram Rodeo circuit. Throw Yellowstone in there and you have a curated cowboy cocktail of sponsorships.

Kevin Costner’s salary per episode gives us insight into how much Ram Trucks might pay for its part in the Yellowstone TV series. According to Cinema Blend, Kevin Costner gets paid somewhere around $500,000 per episode for his role as John Dutton. That means about $4.5 – $5 million every season, if you do that math. Ram could be contributing a pretty penny to facilitate big actor salaries like that. But for now, we can only speculate as far as what kind of money Ram Trucks pays for its presence in the popular Paramount series.