CBS takes a pre-upfront victory round

Here comes 72 hours of Ballyhoo and blusterer about the state of the television company. Spoiler Alert: every platform that makes a pre -presentation in New York this week will find the way to pitch itself as number 1 in something.

But the network with the strongest story to tout will not be part of this week’s parade. CBS set out an early announcement of the seasonal schedule of 2025-26 on 6 May. It is the second year in a row that CBS has chosen not to organize an event during the last week, in favor of smaller events in several cities.

CBS leaders George Cheeks and Amy Reisenbach took a hard-fought victory round last week while unveiling the schedule of 2025-26. The couple gave a presentation to media reporters who emphasized the greatest achievement of CBS, was to find new shows that make contact with the established linear audience of the network and also stand out on the endless scroll of streaming platforms, in particular Paramount+.

CBS does not need a big show in Carnegie Hall to explain its programming strategy to advertisers. CBS has eight of the top 10 of the most viewed series of TV and 16 of the top 25, according to the 35-day multiplatform reviews of Nielsen. As Cheeks noted, the scripted slate of CBS has been reinforced in recent years by new additions, which means that they have a good runway. The CBS package for the CBS is this season 2 of “Tracker” (on average 17.5 million viewers in 35-day multiplatform) and the first-year season of “Matlock” (16.1 million). Viewing CBS programs is good for almost half of the total display on Paramount+ every month, said Cheeks. And the end of 2024-25 season marks the 17th consecutive year that CBS has prevailed as the most viewed network of the nation.

CBS has had a good series of launch shows that click in analog and digital: dramas ‘Fire Country’, ‘Tracker’, ‘Matlock’ and ‘Watson’ and comedies ‘George and Mandy’s first marriage’ and ‘Ghosts’. The patented brand of slick procedures of the network with a square jaw heroes-male and female-with a blob of humor has proven to be a good fit to streaming audience. CBS is ready to enjoy a similar traction in the coming season with ‘Marshalls’, the first original Taylor Sheridan drama that lands on CBS. It is “yellowstone” anjacent. (Once the productive producer, Sheridan has another show on his way to CBS this fall with the unwritten music series “The Road”))))

CBS has made shows like “Matlock” work – even in a time of decreasing return for reboots – because Reisenbach and Co. know their audience. Stars such as Kathy Bates, Justin Hartley, Max Thierot and Morris Chestnut front case-of-the-week shows that deliver. Call them zoning procedures.

At their best, these shows are binge -friendly, but episodes are also on their own for a more traditional viewing pattern. ABC develops its brand of procedures with “Will Trent” and “high potential”. NBC has its Dick Wolf -Franchises – the “Chicago” and “Law & Order” universes – but not much different in terms of a brand for his drama programming. Fox has also been in reconstruction mode with his scripted slate. The success of his first -year medical procedural ‘DOC’ starring Molly Parker has undoubtedly influenced his recent deal with Josh Charles to shine in a remake of the British drama ‘Best Medicine’.

The recent achievements of CBS are also commendable to come at a time of reasing unrest for the network and her paramount Paramount Global. Just like Casey Bloys and his HBO and Max team managed to deliver ‘Succession’, ‘The Last of Us’, ‘The White Lotus’ and ‘Hacks’ during the Warnermedia-Discovery Fusion period, Team CBS kept the nose to be drama around Hen and in the middle of Hen and Grindstone.

Cheeks, who is CEO of CBS and Co-CEO of Paramount Global, opened the hour-long presentation with a nod to the elephant of Donald Trump format in the room. CBS is besieged by President Trump and his lawsuit against “60 minutes” and the corresponding complaint research in the FCC process. The legal and regulatory machinations have stopped Paramount’s merger of $ 8 billion with Skydance Media. The stress of the situation was clear.

“This is a disturbing and challenging time for our industry,” said Cheeks in the beginning before he promised that he would only answer CBS programming questions. He praised Reisenbach and the rest of the senior leaders of CBS for resilience in the midst of difficult times.

“These people have done a masterful task to continue playing instead of the noise, while he was a laser aimed at winning the audience in broadcast and in streaming,” he said. Cheeks added with clear pride that viewers of the Primetime series of CBS have risen by 35% this year compared to 2024.

“It comes down to our broadcasting hits immediately becoming streaming hits,” enthusiastic cheeks.

For all discussion about streaming, Reisenbach did not ignore the linear side of the house. Yes, planning is still important. If someone who grew up as a director at CBS, the director who was promoted last year is entertainment president in the building blocks of television.

“We have made a number of highly strategic planning movements that will strengthen the schedule that our 17 seasons have been given to the most viewed network. This is a line-up that is related and will be hurled every night and throughout the week through compatible programming and offer a strong launch platforms for all our new series,” Travel Series told.

CBS indeed has a solid of a basis like today between traditional linear points of sale. Seventeen years and counting at number 1 is an incredible achievement. The pride of the performance of CBS was clearly in the commentary of Cheeks and Reisenbach, as well as the fight.

“This is an unprecedented, challenging time for industry and in particular for our company,” said Cheeks. “What is the most important thing as a leader is how you pop up in a difficult time. My biggest goal is to make the team feel supported and that we acknowledge that we have to concentrate on what we can control, what is a great schedule such as Amy and our team is doing and really locking the arms and saying:” We are his family and we go through here. ” ‘

(Depicted: “Matlock” Stars Lewis, Jason Ritter, Kathy Bates, Skye P. Marshall and David del Rio)