When industry insiders talk about linear television’s decline, it’s a big picture overview of the terminal trajectory of revenue and viewership. But that sweeping generalization often ignores the fact that there are creative bright spots in broadcast, not to mention that millions of Americans still tune in every week.
In fact, this fall season has already seen notable rebounds across broadcast networks for both tried-and-true procedurals and unscripted series, as well as a couple new hitters. CBS’ premiere week, which ran Oct. 4-10, saw viewership soar 9% over last year, averaging 4.4 million viewers, while Fox’s season-to-date viewership is up 10% from last year.
Their growth stands in contrast to the soul searching Netflix has had to do this week after a big staff reshuffling, with co-CEO Ted Sarandos admitting the company needed “better execution in the U.S.” when it comes to programming. Given its struggles, should the streaming giant take its cues from — gasp — old-school broadcast TV?
After all, linear TV does a few things right. It excels at creating long-running series — the kind that garner huge streaming views on platforms like Netflix — and brings them back in a timely, consistent manner. The networks have proven adept at using IP to expand the universe of its scripted and unscripted franchises, and frequently teams back up with creators who know the audience and their genre like the back of their hand.
The new season offers plenty of lessons. Taylor Sheridan’s “Yellowstone” spinoff “Marshals” launched with an impressive 8.21 million viewers on CBS, but the high-profile show wasn’t alone. Each network paired their scripted slate with unscripted hits, including the continued rise of ABC’s “Dancing With the Stars,” and NBC even leaned on the next iteration of Peacock’s “The Traitors” as one of its anchor series.
Audiences might not care if the fifth season of their favorite procedural is the best in quality, because they didn’t have to wait years for it and know there’ll likely be another season soon enough. By contrast, the long gaps between seasons for some streaming shows turn audiences into harsher critics — if they don’t already lose viewers who lost the plot in the wait.
Also noteworthy, there were a handful of shows that have overcome the dreaded sophomore slump that has plagued many streaming shows. On CBS, “Marshals” saw a 8% rise from its Season 1 average, while on Fox, the Season 2 premiere of “Best Medicine” scored the network’s biggest fall entertainment broadcast in nearly four years.
Even long-running shows saw year-over-year lifts. The Season 6 premiere of ABC’s “Abbott Elementary” scored its largest overall audience in a year and its best performance among the key demo in a year and a half, while all three of NBC’s “One Chicago” season premieres saw increases in the 18-49 demo.
The success of this season’s new launches also exemplify smart uses of IP to virtually guarantee audiences will flock to a new show while also expanding a franchise’s footprint.
Take “The Traitors: New Blood,” which parlayed the success of “The Traitors” on Peacock into a broadcast version with a civilian-only cast that provides a clearer entry point for someone who’s never watched the show but heard of the hype. It stands in contrast to the reality star-filled cast that works well with unscripted TV diehards on Peacock. “New Blood” stands as NBC’s No. 1 show of the 2026-27 season so far in the 18-49 demo, according to multiplatform live-plus-seven-day numbers, with 64% of the audience being new to the franchise.
Or on CBS, “NCIS: New York” paired franchise star LL Cool J with CBS favorite Scott Caan to round out its “NCIS”-filled Tuesday block. The launch scored 5.6 million viewers, rising 53% from the time period premiere last year filled by “NCIS: Origins.”
And even with wholly new shows like “Cupertino” and “Eternally Yours” on CBS or “Line of Fire” on NBC, the creatives behind the new shows have a proven track record of succeeding on linear, and have made enough of a name for themselves that audiences will follow. The streamers do have extensive partnerships with creative forces like Shonda Rhimes, but maybe it’s time to look at less flashy titles, see what’s working and re-hire those creators.
The fall launches bode well for a strong 2026-27 season, especially given that most of broadcast’s most anticipated launches, including the debut of Fox’s “Baywatch” and the return of ABC’s “High Potential” and CBS’ “Matlock,” are still to come in early 2027.
Hispanic audiences show out
Nielsen’s deep dive into Hispanic audiences found yet another way the demographic has driven streaming success across movie debuts, stand-up specials and beyond.
Several top streaming titles overindexed beyond the 19% share of the overall TV population, including “The Rip” and “War Machine,” which opened as the top two most-watched general audience streaming movie of the first half of 2026. “The Rip” opened with a 26% Hispanic audience while “War Machine” debuted with a 28% Hispanic audience.
Elsewhere, Spanish-language originals scored a solid Hispanic audience, including Netflix’s “A Father’s Miracle” with 81% and “Firebreak” at 54%. And audiences showed up for Marcello Hernández’s Netflix comedy special, which saw Hispanic audiences make up 32%-35% of viewers in the first three weeks.
“Lioness” closes out with a bang
The third season of the Zoe Saldaña and Nicole Kidman-led series wrapped up with an average viewership of 8.5 million, rising 62% over Season 2. Viewership grew every week through the season, leading up to the finale, which scored a series high of 9.7 million viewers in its first seven days. The finale ranks as the No. 5 finale performance for Paramunt+ originals.
ICYMI:
- “Below” held onto the top spot in the streamer’s English TV list with 21.2 million views in its second week
- “The Diplomat” Season 4 debuted to 4.8 million views after four days, even with its debut week performance for Season 3
- “60 Minutes” drew 6.06 million viewers last Sunday, down 12% from a year earlier
- Disney’s “Coven Academy” has successfully secured a Gen Alpha following as it scored over 11 million hours viewed in its first week since premiere
