Now that we’re nearly at the halfway point of the 2025 TV schedule, it means the numbers have been tallied for the most-watched shows from 2024-2025 season, and while the program at the top of the list is no big shock, Justin Hartley’s CBS drama Tracker pulled off a surprising win that only one other TV drama, Yellowstone, has pulled off in recent years.
To be expected, both NFL and NCAA football have a healthy presence in the overall totals, and CBS predictably stomped the competition in terms of programming, boasting 14 of TV’s 20 biggest non-sports audiences, according to TVLine. Let’s take a closer look at how Tracker‘s sophomore season managed to beat the odds and top its already impressive first year out.
Let’s not beat around the bush here: Tracker‘s first season was a huge success for CBS, as viewers turned up in droves to see Justin Hartley’s first big TV role after This Is Us. Season 1’s average viewership of 10.84 million made it the top drama of the 2023-2024 season, though it came in third place behind ABC’s #2 slot-holder Monday Night Football.
But those tides have turned, at least for one year, as Tracker‘s second season averaged a total of 11 million viewers per episode (with Live + 7 delayed-viewing measured). It’s no wonder CBS gave it an early season renewal alongside other shows.
Monday Night Football? It fell to the third spot with 10.3 million viewers on average. Sorry, fellas.
Tracker Is The Only Drama To Top Both NFL And NCIS Besides Yellowstone Since 2017
While it’s already rare for anything to beat either primetime NFL games or NCIS in total viewers, it’s altogether rarer for a drama to do both. Yellowstone did it during the 2022-2023 season, and was the first cable series to pull off that kind of win since The Walking Dead‘s monster run on AMC. But it was back in 2017-2018 that another drama reached the #2 spot: This Is Us, which also starred Justin Hartley. If only he’d have been on Yellowstone at some point, he might be considered TV ratings’ Holy Grail.
By and large, though, NCIS is almost always the go-to top dawg when it comes to scripted dramas. There were times when The Big Bang Theory and even the return of Roseanne pulled in bigger crowds, but McGee & Co. tend to hold the reins for hourlong fare.
For a caveat or two, Monday Night Football was an ESPN exclusive for quite a few years, where it wasn’t as much of a ratings king, and only returned to ABC in a widespread capacity in 2022. Prior to that, CBS’ scored quite a few wins with Thursday Night Football, though its scheduling was also sporadic due to NFL Network.
All things considered, Tracker‘s ratings win makes me even more anxious to see Luke Grimes’ upcoming Yellowstone spinoff hitting CBS’ Fall lineup, so that NCIS‘ biggest dramatic competition in the past decade or so can go head to head. My money is on Taylor Sheridan’s universe, but I won’t be shocked if Hartley comes out on top. We just have to wait the next few months for Season 3 to get here first.
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