Streaming gave a big boost to viewing for several of CBS’ season and series premieres.
That in itself is no surprise — streaming accounts for a sizable amount (sometimes the majority) of any network show’s weekly totals. Still, the viewing totals for the handful of shows CBS touted in a release Tuesday put all of them above 10 million viewers.
The season two premiere of Tracker on Oct. 13 amassed 15.7 million viewers over the course of a week, a 25 percent improvement over its time period premiere last season (not including the post-Super Bowl series opener). Nearly half of that total (47 percent) came after the show’s initial airing: Streaming on Paramount+ and CBS’ digital platforms along with other delayed viewing accounted for more than 7 million viewers, following 8.31 million same-day viewers for its on-air debut, according to Nielsen.
All of CBS’ cross-platform figures in this story are a combination of internal streaming data and on-air viewing tallies from VideoAmp, another measurement firm. CBS is in a contract dispute with Nielsen and is not using the latter’s data for the time being.
First-year drama Matlock, meanwhile, has seen its premiere grow to 15.8 million viewers, albeit over a longer period of time (30 days). Including a pair of on-air repeats, VideoAmp says 22.8 million viewers have watched the Kathy Bates-led show’s opening episode. (CBS has already renewed Matlock for a second season.)
Young Sheldon spinoff Georgie & Mandy’s First Marriage premiered to 6.56 million viewers, per Nielsen, and grew to 10.6 million after a week on all platforms, according to VideoAmp (same-day VideoAmp numbers aren’t available). The seven-day total is up a little from Young Sheldon’s final season premiere in February. Elsbeth (10 million multi-platform viewers) likewise grew by 19 percent over its series debut.
The big streaming growth for the CBS shows is consistent with public data for a handful of other network series so far this season. ABC’s High Potential averaged better than 10 million cross-platform viewers over its first two episodes, and the network’s Doctor Odyssey (7.6 million viewers over three days) also showed big gains. Abbott Elementary (6.19 million viewers over a week) nearly tripled the same-day audience for its season premiere.
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