9.5 Million Viewers for ‘Yellowstone’ CBS Spinoff

“Marshals,” the new “Yellowstone” spinoff series on CBS, had a strong premiere on Sunday night. Per Nielsen, the first episode reached an average of 9.5 million viewers.

That total marks the largest audience for a scripted broadcast series premiere in more than seven years, excluding titles that benefitted from airing directly after NFL games. Previously, that record was held by “FBI,” the first series in what is now a full-fledged franchise executive produced by Dick Wolf including “FBI: Most Wanted,” “FBI: International” and “CIA.” The “FBI” premiere hit 10.1 million viewers on Sept. 25, 2018.

In addition, the “Marshals” premiere was the most-watched new series launch of the 2025-2026 broadcast season and the most-watched show overall during the week of Feb. 23 to March 1. Titled “Piya Wiconi,” the episode achieved 99% half-hour retention, meaning a vast majority of the viewers who watched the first half of the episode stayed tuned for the second half.

Before the “Marshals” premiere at 8 p.m. on Sunday, CBS aired “60 Minutes,” which hit 7.2 million viewers, and afterwards was “Tracker” with 8.3 million viewers followed by “Watson” with 4 million. (“Tracker” and “60 Minutes” were the next-most-watched broadcast programs of the week.) That’s a 171% lead compared to the night’s second-most-watched network, which was ABC with an average of 2.7 million viewers, and up 21% from ABC, NBC and Fox’s combined audiences that night.

“Marshals” is the first broadcast series in the “Yellowstone” franchise, which has previously aired on the Paramount Network and Paramount+. Produced by Paramount TV Studios and 101 Studios, the series sees “Yellowstone” actor Luke Grimes reprise the role of Kayce Dutton “as he joins an elite unit of U.S. Marshals, combining his skills as a cowboy and Navy SEAL to bring range justice to Montana,” per the official logline.