Marshals Premiere Sees Significant Audience Growth in 28 Days, Boosting CBS Midseason Lineup
CBS’s new series, Marshals, has shown remarkable growth since its premiere, nearly tripling its audience over 28 days and solidifying the network’s position as a leader in television broadcasting.
The Marshals premiere, which aired on March 1 and features actor Luke Grimes, has garnered 26.5 million viewers across both broadcast and streaming platforms, according to Nielsen Big Data + Panel metrics. This impressive figure places it among eight CBS series that have attracted more than 10 million viewers at their debut or midseason return.
According to Nielsen data, CBS holds six of the top 20 most-watched series across all broadcast and streaming networks. In fact, Marshals ranks as the second most-watched television show, following Netflix’s Stranger Things.
The series Tracker is also performing well in its third season, drawing 16.4 million viewers during its midseason return. Other popular shows on CBS include CIA, Matlock, Sheriff Country, and Ghosts, all of which are listed among the top 20 series on television. Notably, Survivor 50 and NCIS each attracted more than 10 million viewers during their season premieres this year.
Together, Marshals and CIA have emerged as the two leading new series on broadcast television for this season. Marshals debuted with 9.52 million viewers, making it the highest-rated new series premiere of the 2025-26 broadcast season. This performance marks CBS’s largest scripted premiere without the benefit of a football lead-in since FBI premiered with 10.09 million viewers on September 25, 2018. The series also achieved a strong 99% retention rate from its first half-hour to the second.
Furthermore, Marshals surpassed the Season 5 premiere numbers of Yellowstone on Paramount Network, which secured 8.8 million viewers. Last week, Marshals was the most-watched broadcast series, followed closely by CBS’s Tracker and 60 Minutes.
While it’s premature for CBS to declare an overall victory for the broadcast season, the network is poised to highlight these successes as more viewer data becomes available. Last year, CBS celebrated what it termed an early victory at the close of April 2025, marking its 17th consecutive season as the most-watched broadcast network.
