Elsbeth series premiere ratings offer hope for a renewal

When you take a look at purely the linear ratings, things don’t look great for Elsbeth. However, the linear and streaming ratings together look very good. We take a look at the chances of the renewal.

CarterMatt.com shared the linear and streaming ratings for the Elsbeth premiere. CBS has confirmed that more than eight million people watched the episode across the platforms. This is definitely great news for the series.

It’s worth noting that the linear ratings on their own aren’t the strongest, though. The show opened to 4.586 million people and a 0.22 demo rating, according to TV Series Finale. These are the numbers that are more important for the renewal of a show.

Could Elsbeth land an early renewal?

If CBS takes in the streaming numbers as well as the linear ones, it does bode well for the show. It wouldn’t be the first time the network does consider the streaming numbers, as well. We just have to look at how CSI: Vegas didn’t perform too well linearly but pulled up the numbers via streaming.

CBS may want to see how the show performs when it returns rather than offering it an early renewal, though. This show premiered at the end of February and immediately went on a month-long break. It won’t air a new episode until Thursday, April 4.

Something that could help save it is the fact that a couple of CBS shows are ending this year. One of them is SWAT, opening the Friday night slot for a series. Blue Bloods is also ending, but that’s not until the 2024–2025 season.

So far, Tracker and Fire Country have been renewed out of the dramas. It isn’t surprising for either of the two shows, and we would love to see Elsbeth added onto the list.

Elsbeth returns on Thursday, April 4 at 9/8c on CBS.