NCIS ratings were expected to take a dip when the show moved away from its regular time slot on Tuesday nights.
CBS decided that it wanted to have NCIS on Monday nights at 9/8c and have the show serve as a lead-in for NCIS: Hawai’i.
The change caught a lot of NCIS fans off-guard, especially since the show had resided in that 8/7c Tuesday night slot for its first 18 years.
It was also presumed that the NCIS ratings would take a hit when Mark Harmon announced that he was stepping away from the series.
Could the new-look NCIS cast, which was also without Emily Wickersham (Bishop), bring in really good numbers on a new night?
NCIS ratings for Season 19a
So far, the first nine episodes of NCIS Season 19 have aired this fall. In the last episode, one of the characters was even played by a hologram.
Through those first nine episodes, NCIS is averaging 7.663 million live viewers with each new episode. That is down from the 9.478 million live viewers who were tuning in, on average, for Season 18 episodes. And even that was down from the 11.65 million live viewers from Season 17.
Just looking at the people tuning in each Monday night, the numbers are down by quite a bit, but that doesn’t tell the whole story.
Some great news from the NCIS Season 19 ratings
This season, more NCIS fans are watching the episodes after they have already aired. The number has increased by quite a bit, actually, with more than four million NCIS fans watching the season premiere on a DVR in the first seven days after the episode premiered.
Each successive episode has also turned in great numbers when it comes to NCIS fans watching on their DVRs. The amazing numbers show that even though many NCIS fans aren’t used to the Monday night time slot, a lot of them are still willing to watch the episode later in the week.
Putting those numbers in the proper context, it reveals that almost 11 million viewers have watched each Season 19 episode within the first seven days of its debut. And that includes the 12.46 million who watched the Season 19 premiere in that first week of its airing on CBS.
Yes, the NCIS ratings are down when it comes to the live viewers, and the numbers aren’t close to when the series had a high-water mark of over 21 million viewers per episode in Season 10. But many fans are still tuning in.
NCIS Season 20 could be a reality
With more than 11 million viewers watching each new NCIS episode every week (on average, counting live and DVR numbers), it seems highly possible that NCIS Season 20 could be on the horizon. Hopefully, the show turns in some really good numbers during its first few 2022 episodes and that spurs a renewal from CBS.
NCIS airs Mondays at 9/8c on CBS.
All episodes of NCIS are now streaming on Paramount+. Try it FREE!
The link above is an affiliate link. This means that for any qualifying purchase you make, we may earn a small commission, at no additional cost to you.
As far as “live” viewership being down… personally, I haven’t watched live TV in a very long time… instead, I watch shows on iTunes, shortly after they have aired “live”… so I’m not sure I even get counted (though, I, and others who do similar things, *ought* to be counted somehow, I think)
NCIS is on the top of my favorites list… just sayin’…
I love Gary Cole and all the characters in NCIS!
I do not watch NCIS anymore. I watched one show of Hawaii, didn’t care for it. They took away my favorite NCIS: New Orleans. When Mark Harmon decided to retire that should have the end of the show. Lord knows he has been shot, how up and dumped in lake when his boat blew up. Very upset with CBS!