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When business people talk about the serial decline of television, it is a broad view of the ultimate path of revenue and viewers. But that sweeping generalization often ignores the fact that there are creative bright spots in broadcasting, not to mention that millions of Americans still tune in every week.
In fact, this fall season has already seen notable returns across broadcast networks for both original procedurals and unscripted series, as well as a couple of new hitters. CBS’ prime week, which ran Oct. 4-10, saw a 9% increase over last year, averaging 4.4 million viewers, while Fox’s year-to-date viewership is up 10% from last year.
Their growth contrasts with the soul-searching that Netflix had to do this week after a major reorganization of staff, with co-CEO Ted Sarandos admitting that the company needed “better performance in the US” when it comes to programming. Given its problems, should the streaming giant take its cues from — gasp — old-school broadcast television?
After all, serial television does a few things right. He excels at creating long-running series – the kind that garner massive streaming views on platforms like Netflix – and bringing them back on a timely, regular basis. The networks have been able to use IP to expand the universe of its scripted and unscripted franchises, and teams are often back up with creators who know their audience and genre like the back of their hand.
The new season offers plenty of lessons. Taylor Sheridan’s “Yellowstone” spinoff “Marshals” debuted to an impressive 8.21 million viewers on CBS, but the high-profile show wasn’t alone. Each network supplemented its scripted slate with unscripted hits, including the continued promotion of ABC’s “Dancing With the Stars,” and NBC even continued the next round of Peacock’s “The Traitors” as one of its anchor series.
Audiences may not care if the fifth season of their favorite procedural is the best, since they didn’t have to wait years for it and know there might be another season soon. On the other hand, the long gaps between seasons for some streaming shows are turning viewers into harsher critics—if they haven’t already lost the viewers who lost the plot in the wait.
Also of note, there were a handful of shows that overcame the painful sophomore slump that plagued many streaming shows. On CBS, “Marshals” saw an 8% increase from its Season 1 average, and on Fox, the Season 2 premiere of “Best Medicine” had the network’s biggest fall entertainment broadcast in nearly four years.
Even long-running shows saw year-over-year increases. The season 6 premiere of ABC’s “Abbott Elementary” had its biggest total audience in a year and its best performance among the key demo in a year and a half, while all three of the season premieres of NBC’s “One Chicago” saw increases in the 18-49 demo.
The success of this season’s new releases also shows smart uses of IP to almost guarantee that audiences will flock to a new show while 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 seen the show but heard about the hype. It contrasts with the star-studded 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 live-plus-seven-day multiformat numbers, with 64% of the audience new to the franchise.
Or on CBS, twin franchise star “NCIS: New York” LL Cool J with CBS favorite Scott Caan to round out the “NCIS”-filled Tuesday block. The release received 5.6 million viewers, rising 53% from the premiere of last year’s period filled with “NCIS: Origins”.
And even with completely new shows like “Cupertino” and “Eternally Yours” on CBS or “Line of Fire” on NBC, the creators behind the new shows have a proven track record of serial success, and have made enough of a name for themselves that audiences follow. The streamers have extensive partnerships with creative forces like Shonda Rhimes, but maybe it’s time to look at lesser-known titles, see what’s working and rehire those creators.
The fall launch bodes well for a strong 2026-27 season, especially since most of the highly anticipated launches, including Fox’s “Baywatch” debut and the return of ABC’s “High Potential” and CBS’ “Matlock,” are still due in early 2027.
Hispanic audiences show up
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 major streaming titles crossed a 19% share of the total TV audience, including “The Rip” and “War Machine,” which opened as the top two general audience streaming movies in the first half of 2026.
Elsewhere, Spanish-language originals received strong Hispanic audiences, including Netflix’s “A Father’s Miracle” with 81% and “Firebreak” with 54%. And audiences showed up for Marcello Hernández’s Netflix comedy special, which saw Hispanic audiences make up 32%-35% of viewers in its first three weeks.
“Lion” closes out with a bang
The third season of the series led by Zoe Saldaña and Nicole Kidman ended with an average of 8.5 million viewers, rising 62% over season 2. Viewership grew every week throughout the season, leading to the finale, which received a series high of 9.7 million viewers in its first seven days. The finale runs as the No. 5 final performance for Paramunt+ origins.
ICYMI:
- “Below” held the top spot on the streamer’s English TV list with 21.2 million views in its second week
- Season 4 of “The Diplomat” reached 4.8 million views after four days, even with its first week show for season 3
- “60 Minutes” drew 6.06 million viewers last Sunday, down 12% from a year earlier
- Disney’s “Coven Academy” has been a success with the Gen Alpha following as it has been watched over 11 million hours in the first week since its premiere.
