Inside the Ratings: From ‘The Recruit’ to ‘FBI’ Spinoffs, Behind TV’s Surprise Cancellations

Two decades ago, Nielsen overnight ratings were king, providing a comprehensive and succinct look at the biggest moments on TV, which, at the time, only existed on linear networks. Now, with streaming making viewing more fragmented than ever, linear ratings just don’t have the same weight as they used to. Nielsen and Netflix have embraced weekly top 10 streaming charts along with a bi-annual Netflix data dump to give a fuller picture of the streaming landscape, while other streamers mostly keep their numbers to themselves.

Faced with that complicated, choose-your-own-yardstick environment, this weekly column will try to make sense of the dizzying array of viewing metrics and offer context on what can be considered a “ratings win” today.

This week, we dive into the recent cancellation of Alexi Hawley’s “The Recruit,” among others that came as a surprise to many fans. Dissecting the numbers, though — as this column will do each week — provides a clearer explanation for why Netflix ultimately chose to nix it.

“The Recruit” Season 2, which premiered Jan. 30, debuted to 5.9 million views in its first four days on the streamer, ranking as the No. 2 most-watched TV show during the week of Jan. 27, behind the sophomore installment of the streamer’s “The Night Agent,” which scored nearly triple the viewership with 15.2 million views in its second week. 

With both Netflix spy dramas — hailing from Lionsgate Television and Sony Pictures Television, respectively — releasing their second seasons just one week apart, the Noah Centineo-led series was undoubtedly overshadowed by “The Night Agent,” which was renewed for a third season before its Season 2 launch and scored 13.9 million views in its first four days on the platform.

Even as viewership flattened out into February, “The Night Agent” surpassed “The Recruit” each week, with the latter falling off the Netflix top 10 list by the week of Feb. 17 while “The Night Agent” remained on the list until the week of Feb. 24.

Viewership for “The Recruit” Season 2 also saw a significant drop-off from its freshman installment, which debuted as the week’s No. 3 most-watched TV show with 52.3 million hours viewed (before Netflix shifted its measuring approach to total views). While the hours viewed isn’t an apples-to-apples comparison with differing episode count and runtimes (Season 1 kicked off with eight episodes while Season 2 trimmed down to six), Season 2 scored just 31.8 million hours viewed in the same time frame.

Broadcast TV saw some notable cancellations last week as well, with CBS axing “FBI: International” and “FBI: Most Wanted” after previously granting flagship show “FBI” a three-season renewal last year. All three shows are produced by Universal Television, an outside studio that makes renewal negotiations more expensive year-over-year, though elevated viewing numbers for “FBI” might make the series worth keeping around.

In the current broadcast season through Jan. 12, “FBI” has been averaging 10.5 million viewers across CBS and other digital platforms, according to Nielsen live-plus-35-day multiplatform viewing figures, whereas “FBI: Most Wanted” and “FBI: International” have been averaging 8.5 million and 8.4 million viewers, respectively.

Also at CBS, “The Neighborhood” was announced to end with its upcoming eighth season, which will air in the 2025-26 TV season. “The Neighborhood” is averaging 6.4 million multiplatform viewers in its seventh season, according to live-plus-35-day Nielsen figures, while renewed comedies “Georgie & Mandy’s First Marriage” and “Ghosts” have been averaging 12.9 million and 10.9 million viewers, respectively. It might’ve been a natural conclusion for “The Neighborhood,” but Paramount has plotted an expansion of the sitcom’s universe — including a Tracy Morgan-led Paramount+ series and a second potential spinoff series for CBS starring Marcel Spears and Sheaun McKinney.

This week, Prime Video also axed its “Cruel Intentions” reboot starring “The White Lotus” star Sarah Catherine Hook, which notably did not make it into Nielsen’s streaming top 10 list — nor its streaming originals list — in the first two months following its November release. Prime Video has not released any viewing numbers for “Cruel Intentions,” sticking to most media companies’ habit of only sharing viewership data to tout their successes in the streaming era.

(When it comes to viewership transparency, Netflix is leading the way for streamers with its weekly top 10 viewership charts and its biannual data dump.)

What about renewals?

On the flip side, “Running Point” scored a Season 2 renewal last week, despite the Kate Hudson-led comedy debuting as the No. 3 most-watched Netflix series during the week of Feb. 24 with 9.3 million views, ranking behind “Zero Day” and “American Murder: Gabby Petito.” The comedy series, however, jumped to the top of the list during the week of March 3, growing its viewership to 12.2 million views during its second week.

“Running Point” has followed a similar trajectory as Netflix sensation “Nobody Wants This,” which is already underway on production for Season 2, with slightly less viewership. “Nobody Wants This” debuted to 10.3 million views before jumping to 15.9 million views in its second week. Likewise, “A Man on the Inside,” which was also greenlit for a second season, debuted to just 6.9 million views in its first week on the streamer and edged up to 7 million views in its second.

“With Love, Meghan,” on the other hand, was renewed for a second season despite ranking as the No. 10 most-watched show during the week of March 3 with just 2.6 million views between its Tuesday, March 4, release and Sunday, March 9. But scripted series are notably more expensive to produce, so higher expectations for viewership and engagement make sense to ensure a renewal.

Paradise concludes with a bang

After “Paradise” wrapped its first season March 4, the Season 1 finale scored 6.3 million views worldwide in a week of streaming across Hulu and Disney+, according to internal viewing data from Disney. The finale viewership ranks as the biggest audience “Paradise” has seen across its eight-episode first chapter. Disney defines a view as total stream time divided by runtime.

And viewership is only growing for “Paradise,” with the series premiere reaching 17.6 million global views since its Jan. 26 premiere — up 151% from when the streamer first reported viewership.

True crime soars

As always, true crime seemed to enthrall viewers, with “American Murder: Gabby Petito” taking the No. 5 spot on the top 10 list with 4.2 million views in its third week on the list. The docuseries debuted Feb. 17 as the No. 1 show of the week with a whopping 31.3 million views before sliding down to No. 2 during the week of Feb. 24 with 11.3 million views.

The trend also benefited linear TV, with the March 7 “Dateline” interview with Lori Vallow, the leader of a Mormon doomsday cult who was convicted of murdering her children, bringing in 2.69 million total viewers, up slightly from 2.65 million viewers for “20/20.”

Fun fact: “The Pitt”

Shortly after “The Pitt” premiered Jan. 9 on Max, the streamer touted the medical drama debut as one of its most-watched original series premieres ever, saying its audience grew nearly tenfold in its first week, doubling the average growth seen by other Max drama series. A spokesperson for Max told TheWrap this week — following the debut of Episode 10 — that “The Pitt” ranks among the top 3 most watched Max series in platform history, with viewing growing every week since its January premiere.

However, “The Pitt” has yet to show up on Nielsen’s streaming top 10 overall or streaming originals chart, despite the most recent charts for Nielsen reflecting up to the sixth episode. TheWrap has reached out to Max for updated viewing figures.

It’s a wrap on awards season

The Oscars on March 2 capped off film awards season, where most major awards shows continued to inch closer to their pre-pandemic numbers, thanks to livestreams. Get TheWrap’s full breakdown here.

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