NCIS season 21 episode 3 ratings slide; what happened?

In a lot of ways, it had to be expected that the ratings for NCIS season 21 would fall after the David McCallum tribute. That was one of those rare TV events that could convince people to watch even if they haven’t for a good while.

So how much did the viewership fall for episode 3? Let’s just say that there is both good and bad news to report here.

First and foremost, let’s note that the episode “Lifeline” ended up drawing a 0.4 rating in the 18-49 demographic and also 6.8 million viewers. Note that these are live + same-day numbers, and absolutely will gain more steam once you factor in DVR viewings and streams after the fact. Just consider that something else to be excited about for now!

Still, the series is so far up both in total viewers and in the demo from what we saw in season 20, meaning that there is no cause for concern. The only question is whether or not it will be able to keep up the pace the rest of the way.

Ratings-wise, the one thing that we will say that season 20 has going for it is the rather-simple fact that there aren’t a lot of episodes this time around and by virtue of that, you can easily make the argument that the story feels like a little more of an event than anything that we have had a chance to see the past several years. We do think there will be more of an eagerness to watch live — or, at least as much of an eagerness as there can be in an era where watching network TV is not exactly thought of as a cool or hip thing to do.

Related – Check out the latest NCIS promo, which should help to set the stage further

What do you think about the ratings for NCIS season 21?

Are you hoping for a renewal pretty soon? Be sure to share right now in the attached comments! Once you do just that, remember to keep coming back — there are other updates on the way.

This article was written by Jessica BunBun.