Tracker: Super Bowl Premiere a Massive Ratings Success for CBS

The new CBS TV series Tracker is a massive ratings success after its premiere following Super Bowl 2024. Tracker’s premiere episode drew in 18.4 million viewers – which is a mighty feat in the era of streaming platforms. 

There is no doubt that Super Bowl LVIII being the most-watched telecast in history (123.4 million viewers) helped give  Tracker a once-in-a-lifetime boost to the ratings heights it reached – even after retaining just 15% of the Super Bowl audience. 

It becomes even more of a flex for CBS when you take into account that the current ratings numbers for Tracker are based solely on the viewership numbers from the CBS TV broadcast – the numbers from Paramount+, Nickelodeon, Univision, CBS Sports and NFL digital properties have yet to be fully tallied. There’s also the fact that Super Bowl LVIII went into overtime (ending at the late hour of 11:15pm ET), meaning that there was inevitably more viewer drop-off than there would have been if the game ended within regulated time. CBS’ other post-Super Bowl shows The Late Show With Stephen Colbert and After Midnight both enjoyed the same kind of ratings boost that Tracker did. Tracker also joins the tradition of CBS using the Super Bowl to launch new shows – Queen Latifah’s The Equalizer premiered after the 2021 Super Bowl to 20.4 million viewers, retaining 22% of the Big Game’s audience. 

What Is Tracker About?

“Tracker stars Justin Hartley as Colter Shaw, a lone-wolf survivalist who roams the country as a reward seeker, using his expert tracking skills to help private citizens and law enforcement solve all manner of mysteries while contending with his own fractured family. The series is based on the bestselling novel The Never Game by Jeffery Deaver.”

Tracker Cast & Crew

Like Amazon’s Reacher, Tracker doesn’t need or have an extensive main cast – due to Colter Shaw’s status as a nomad. Each episode puts him in a new place, but he has a couple of important people in his life that offer support and bring him new cases.

Fiona Rene stars as Reenie, a lawyer who has a past with Colter and is consistently called on when he has run-ins with the law. Bobby, a hacker and tech expert, is played by Eric Graise. Robin Weigert and Abby McEnany play Teddi and Velma, respectively. The duo of animal lovers regularly find jobs for Colter and help him get in touch with the right people to solve a problem.