Tracker Gets Off to a Strong Start: Justin Hartley Series’ Season 2 Premiere Draws 8.3 Million Viewers on CBS
CBS’s Tracker kicked off the 2024-25 season with a bang, building on last season’s success. The season 2 premiere of the Justin Hartley-starring crime drama drew 8.3 million live viewers on Oct. 13 in its new 8 p.m. Sunday slot, according to Nielsen data. It was Tracker’s most-watched episode since its post-Super Bowl debut, propelling the series to the No. 1 spot in entertainment programming this week across both broadcast and cable.
It was also the most-watched season opener of the 2024-25 season to date, surpassing CBS’s new series Matlock (7.7 million), which debuted in the same 8 p.m. Sunday slot after 60 Minutes three weeks ago. Both series compete with NBC’s Sunday Night Football, but Tracker added 13% more viewers than 60 Minutes and also had to contend with the MLB playoffs on Fox.
Excluding episodes that premiered after live sporting events or were pushed back by sports, it was the highest-rated premiere in three years—since NCIS’s season 19 premiere on September 20, 2021, when Mark Harmon began his journey from the series. It was also the most-watched premiere on all of television in nearly two years—since Yellowstone’s season 5 premiere on November 12, 2022.
Thanks to its strong post-Super Bowl start, Tracker became the most-watched entertainment program on broadcast television last season with 11.3 million viewers. While season 2 debuted on CBS, season 1 was also released on Hulu and continues to be available on CBS-owned streaming service Paramount+.
