When The Rookie airs in its regular timeslot on ABC, about 350,000 to 375,000 people ages 18-49 watch the show on air. That’s in line with most other network dramas this season, but it is not a lot — 10 years ago, a show drawing that level of viewers in a key ad sales demographic probably wouldn’t have lasted more than a month.
The Rookie is in its eighth season, however, and a pretty solid bet to earn a ninth thanks to all the people who watch the show after its initial airing. Among the top 20 network series in Nielsen ratings this season, the Nathan Fillion-led drama draws more of its seven-day audience after its first airing than any other show.
The way streaming has changed how people watch TV is well documented (I’ve done a good bit of the documenting), but particularly among younger viewers, the difference between same-day and later viewing is jarring. On average, the top 20 entertainment shows as of Feb. 8 (i.e., not including sports and news programs) get more than two thirds of their adults 18-49 ratings after their initial airing. Eighteen of the 20 at least double their same-day rating over a week, and 11 of them more than triple.
At the top of the percentage gain list is The Rookie, which goes from a 0.27 rating to a 1.97 — increasing by more than seven times. The great majority of that comes from streaming; after seven days of DVR playback, the show’s 18-49 rating is 0.52. The remaining 1.45 ratings points (equivalent to just under 2 million people) comes via Hulu and Disney+. (The show’s library also gets a ton of viewing, racking up 22.81 billion minutes of watch time in 2025.)
The gains among all viewers aren’t quite as steep, but they’re still large. On average, the top 20 shows get about 44 percent of their total seven-day audiences after the first airing. CBS’ Tracker remains on top as of Feb. 8 with 14.07 million viewers — though if its new lead-in, Marshals, keeps up its premiere performance, Tracker might not retain its crown as the most watched non-sports series. High Potential (12.67 million viewers), Matlock (9.83 million), Will Trent (9.58 million) and The Rookie (9.19 million) round out the top five.
Network viewing has unquestionably declined over the past decade. In the 2015-16 season, Tracker and High Potential would have ranked sixth and 14th among total viewers, and there were 30 shows with better adults 18-49 ratings than High Potential’s 2.36. But streaming has usurped DVR use as a way to watch TV after the fact and is now the path to big audiences for network shows.
The top 20 network series as of Feb. 8 in Nielsen’s seven-day multiplatform ratings are below. Sports and news are excluded.