CBS Spring Premieres Week Scores 32% Ratings Uptick From Fall Season

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Launches for “Tracker,” “Young Sheldon,” “Bob Hearts Abishola,” the “FBI” franchise and more averaged 5.08 million viewers

Bob-Hearts-Abishola-Tracker
CBS

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CBS’ spring premieres posted impressive gains for the network.

As the network debuted 16 of its 19 primetime series — including new Justin Hartley-led series “Tracker” and new seasons of returning shows “Young Sheldon,” “Bob Hearts Abishola” and the “FBI” franchise — CBS averaged 5.08 million viewers during the week of Feb. 12, according to Nielsen and internal data.

Not only did CBS outpace its closest broadcast competitor by 2.4 million viewers during the week, viewership exceeded that of last year’s fall premiere week — which averaged 3.85 million viewers in September 2022 — by 32%.

During the week of Feb. 12, CBS scored the highest viewership among the major broadcast networks every night except for Wednesday and held the most-watched show for six nights of the week. On streaming, viewership for primetime series across Paramount+, CBS.com and the CBS app saw an 83% uptick from last season’s premiere week.

The week kicked off with the series premiere of “Tracker” following the Super Bowl, which grew from its initial live-plus-same-day viewership of 18.4 million to reach nearly 28 million viewers across all platforms within a week of its release.

On Monday, CBS scored the most-watched four shows of the night, with 17% uptick in primetime viewership when compared to last year’s fall premieres. “NCIS” drew in the highest viewership of the night with 7.32 million viewers — and the fourth highest broadcast viewership of the week — marking a 26% uptick from its fall premiere a year ago. “The Neighborhood” ranked as the No. 2 show of the night — up 22% from its fall premiere — while “NCIS Hawai’i” came in third place with a 5% improvement from the fall premiere with “Bob Hearts Abishola” following in fourth place with a 17% uptick from its fall launch.

Next up was Tuesday’s “FBI” premieres, which saw a 9% rise in viewership compared to last year’s fall premieres, with the flagship “FBI” show marking the most-watched show of the night and second most-watched show of the week with 7.70 million viewers. “FBI: International” posted a 10% improvement from last fall, while “FBI: Most Wanted” scored a 2% uptick in viewership.

CBS then launched “The Price Is Right” in primetime on Wednesday to 4.42 million viewers.

Thursday’s premieres posted a 9% increase in viewership from the fall premieres, with “Young Sheldon” marking the week’s most-watched program with 7.99 million viewers. “Ghosts” then scored its biggest audience ever with 7.05 million viewers, while viewership for “So Help Me Todd” was up 2% from its previous series premiere.

On Friday, premieres of “Fire Country,” “Blue Bloods” and “S.W.A.T.” were up 5% from their spring finales, with the shows ranking as the three most-watched shows of the night.

The network wrapped up its premiere week on Sunday with “60 Minutes,” which scored the third highest viewership of the week with 7.44 million viewers, “The Equalizer,” which scored a 3% uptick from its finale last spring and “CSI: Vegas,” which scored its most-watched episode since November 2021.

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