Given the sheer volume of buzz surrounding the second season of The Pitt, one might assume the HBO Max medical procedural would easily rank as the most-streamed season of television in 2026. But that’s not the case.
Newly available data from Luminate Streaming Viewership (M) allows for a fresh look at the streaming landscape, showing that current broadcast network originals possess a strength not widely discussed.
Case in point: The Pitt’s sophomore season was recently eclipsed by CBS’ Marshals, the first broadcast-network expansion of the Yellowstone universe.
As of May 27, the spinoff’s debut season had attained more than 13 billion minutes of U.S. viewership on Paramount+, surpassing the 11.8 billion minutes for The Pitt S2. It should be noted that this is not a case of a broadcast series boasting the advantage of an inflated runtime. Marshals had two fewer episodes to its credit, and the season as a whole runs roughly two and a half hours shorter than The Pitt S2.
However, Marshals is not unique, or even innovative, in attaining surprisingly high streaming viewership for a broadcast series.
Last year, another CBS title, Tracker Season 2, pulled off a remarkable feat by outranking any individual streaming original season for total viewing time in 2025. (The final season of Stranger Things does surpass Tracker when January 2026 viewership is included, to account for the series finale released on Dec. 31.) Tracker’s third season, which returned from hiatus in March, has racked up more than 11 billion minutes streamed so far in 2026, putting it just behind The Pitt S2.
Meanwhile, the latest seasons of ABC’s The Rookie and Will Trent have both managed to surpass viewing time for Netflix’s His & Hers, one of the top streaming original hits of the year so far. The runtime caveat does apply here, as both ABC series had 18 episodes versus His & Hers’ six. But the fact remains that, for all the noise about the death of linear TV, new broadcast series are still generating significant engagement.
This strong viewership reinforces two points recently made in this space. First, the top SVOD hits’ increasing resemblance to familiar TV genres and formats — medical and legal procedurals, soapy romantic dramas — makes sense in light of where consumers are spending their streaming time. If broadcast series are drawing so many viewers on their platforms, why shouldn’t SVODs try to imitate them?
Second, this data underscores a rare advantage held by legacy media companies over their tech-sector competitors: the continued appeal of their linear network originals. Whereas the Netflixes and Amazons of the world are still striving to produce cost-efficient hits, broadcast networks have been doing so for decades, offering their parent companies a viable alternative to costly streaming originals.
This also suggests the competitive opportunity for a combined Paramount-Warner Bros. entity could be even greater than previously imagined. With arguably the two biggest current streaming originals in The Pitt and Landman, plus a robust lineup of broadcast hits from CBS (notably, Survivor is also among the most popular shows after a quarter century on the air), the looming “ParaBros.” will boast a formidable streaming portfolio, even setting aside the studios’ blockbuster IP arsenals.
In other words — and here’s a sentence you probably never thought you’d read in 2026 — broadcast networks may yet play a large role in shaping the future of Hollywood.
For more data on the latest linear and streaming TV hits, check out Luminate SV(M).
