With eyes on the decisions networks will make, we’re looking at the CBS series SWAT. Will CBS cancel or renew SWAT for Season 4?

CBS will need to make decisions about its scripted shows very soon. For some of them, we won’t find out the decisions until May. That’s likely going to be the case for SWAT, which we’re looking at today. Will CBS choose to cancel or renew SWAT for Season 4?

Like with previous posts looking at the future of shows, we’re only looking at the live TV ratings. However, there’s more that goes into the decision on the future of the shows. The ratings are just one of the main considerations, especially for broadcast TV.

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Low live TV ratings

SWAT has been struggling since the start to build on its audience. However, its third season has been the worst so far, and that’s possibly due to the timeslot. The Wednesday night timeslot up against NBC’s Chicago PD is one of the hardest timeslots of the week. We’ve seen multiple show struggle at this time, including SEAL Team last year for a few months, Whiskey Cavalier and now Stumptown on ABC.

SWAT has lost 27% of both its demo and total audience. While this isn’t too bad in terms of loss (a loss is usually expected each season), the positioning of the series overall is concerning. The show sits in 21st place our of 24 shows when considering the demo. It’s in 23rd place when you look at the total audience.

But Evil was renewed

A saving grace for SWAT is that a show with a lower demo and total audience was saved. Evil was renewed for a second season off the back of just a few episodes. This was despite the poor live performance.

CBS doesn’t just consider the live ratings. It will also consider the DVR and streaming ratings. Considering CBS has CBS All Access, this does help to keep some lower-performing shows on the air.

Something else helping the TV crime drama is that CBS Television Studios is one of the production companies and distributors. The network doesn’t have to pay extra out of pocket to make the series and makes a lot of the money back.

The ratings aren’t looking great, but this is a show I’m on the fence about. It may just get another season.

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What do you think about the future of SWAT? Which shows are you worried about being canceled? Share your thoughts in the comments below.

SWAT Season 3 airs Wednesdays at 10/9c on CBS.