Although Syfy was once best known for its campy sci-fi/horror movies and paranormal series, the network has moved into original series on a more regular basis in recent years. Sure, we still get movies like Sharktopus vs. Pteracuda and Sharknado: The 4th Awakens, but we also get series like The Expanse, 12 Monkeys and The Magicians. Speaking of, Season 2 of The Magicians premiered on January 25, and it scored some pretty great numbers for Syfy.
The Season 2 premiere attracted 2.19 million viewers in the valuable 18-49 age demographic, which is nearly twice as many as those who tuned in for the Season 1 debut in December 2015, which only won 1.13 million viewers in the 18-49 demo, according to Deadline. The Magicians is off to a pretty magical start for its second season. After all, many series experience drops from season to season, and there's a chance that The Magicians will be one of the few to actually build its audience as it gets older.
The first episode of Season 2 was a success in another important demographic as well. The number of viewers between the ages of 18 and 34, around 576,000, grew by a whopping 76% from Season 1 to Season 2. The 18-49 and 18-34 numbers for the Season 2 premiere were the highest scored by any Syfy original since 2014.
Social media activity was also much greater for the Season 2 premiere than it was for the Season 1 premiere. The Magicians reportedly inspired approximately 327 million Twitter impressions to start Season 2, up from 148 million Twitter impressions when Season 1 began. The audience was clearly reactive to the action of the first episode of 2017, so Syfy definitely has reason to celebrate The Magicians in Season 2.
Of course, it's far too early to say if The Magicians will remain such a hit in Season 2. Only one episode of the new season has aired so far, and premieres tend to score above-average ratings no matter what the show. The security of the series will likely depend on whether or not it can sustain impressive numbers throughout the rest of its episodes. The Magicians was relatively consistent in both ratings and viewership throughout Season 1; hopefully Season 2 can pull off the same trend in the coming weeks.
You can catch new episodes of The Magicians on Wednesdays at 9 p.m. ET on Syfy. If you haven't checked the series out yet, you're in luck. The entire first season (and all of its F-bombs) are currently available to stream on Netflix, so it wouldn't be too hard to catch up on all the action to this point. Take a look at our midseason TV premiere schedule to see what else you can watch on the small screen in the not-too-distant future.
