CBS or Netflix? Nielsen Says Both
Tracker and Squid Game were among the season’s biggest shows, according to the ratings service’s latest report.
Photo-Illustration: Vulture; Photo: Colin Bentley/CBS
Every spring for most of this century — including every one of the past 17 years — CBS has been able to put out a press release declaring itself TV’s most-watched broadcast network while also touting its dominance of Nielsen’s list of the most-watched linear TV series for the season. This year, however, CBS’s (well-earned) bragging came with a twist. It declared victory in the linear battle last month, while this week it claimed another win in a newer Nielsen metric: multi-platform ratings. These numbers include viewing that takes place via both traditional TV and streaming within the first five weeks a show (or episode of a show) is available to watch. By that measure, CBS is averaging 9.1 million prime-time viewers each week, well ahead of main rivals NBC (7.2 million), ABC (6.9 million), and Fox (4.3 million).
That’s great news for CBS, but as part of its victory lap this year, the network also included a look at where things stand using season-to-date numbers from Nielsen’s new combined streaming and broadcast-program ratings, which measure average episode viewership of linear network shows right alongside that of streaming originals. And not just with the “minutes viewed” metric it reports in its weekly streaming ratings: This dataset estimates average total viewers. CBS did well here, too, claiming six of the top 20 shows released between September 15, 2024, and March 15 of this year.
Photo: CBS
But the bigger story, to be honest: Netflix did really, really well. Fully half of Nielsen’s multi-platform top 20 for the season thus far stream on Netflix, with Squid Game (27.1 million) and Adolescence (19 million) ranking No. 1 and 2. And while Netflix has long done well with dramas, this season, it finally found massive success with comedy: Three of the streamer’s half-hours — Nobody Wants This, Running Point, and A Man on the Inside — all made the top 20. The trio all outdrew the only two broadcast shows to make the cut, CBS’s Ghosts and Georgie & Mandy’s First Marriage (which tied for No. 18).
While CBS didn’t point this out in its release, sibling Paramount+, which streams the Eye’s shows, also did well, with Taylor Sheridan’s Landman and 1923 claiming spots in the top 20. ABC’s cozy mystery hits High Potential and Will Trent also made the cut, while Amazon’s Reacher was No. 3 overall. MIA from the top 20: anything from NBC, Fox, Peacock, or Max. (Hulu streams ABC shows, so that’s still a win for Disney.) But it’s worth noting the data CBS released cuts off in mid-March, before HBO’s megahit The Last of Us dropped or Peacock brought back Poker Face. That said, these numbers show the challenge for streaming platforms that aren’t Netflix or Prime Video: They need more broad-based hits.
