NBC got into the spinoff game in a brand new way in February with the premiere of The Blacklist: Redemption. The new show pulled Tom Keen off of The Blacklist to star in the spinoff, and it made its grand primetime debut on February 23. Unfortunately, it didn't do much in the ratings in its very week, and the big question was whether or not the show could recover from its lackluster premiere. Now, the numbers for the second episode are in, and while they're not spectacular, they're encouraging.
The second episode of The Blacklist: Redemption scored a 1.0 in the valuable 18-49 age demographic and attracted 4.7 million viewers in the 10 p.m. ET time slot, according to Live+same day ratings calculations. All things considered, a 1.0 in the 18-49 demo isn't record-breaking, but it does represent a healthy bump from the series premiere ratings, and it was enough to make Blacklist: Redemption the first new drama of midseason 2017 on NBC, ABC, CBS, and FOX to grow from first to second week in overall viewership.
The first episode of The Blacklist: Redemption earned a relatively disappointing 0.8 in the 18-49 demographic, which is not a number that a major network like NBC is looking for in its primetime dramas. The viewership wasn't so abysmal, as 4.2 million folks tuned in. Still, the Blacklist: Redemption team must be feeling a lot better after Episode 2 than they did after Episode 1. The demo grew by 25% and the viewership jumped by 11% from the first week to the second week.
It should also be noted that the 10 p.m. time slot on Thursday nights isn't exactly the most competitive on primetime. The Blacklist: Redemption actually won the time period in every key measure among ABC, CBS, and NBC, and it has the distinction of becoming the first new midseason drama to grow from Week 1 to Week 2 in 18-49 since Empire on Fox way back in January 2015.
The Blacklist: Redemption has another edge as well. Much like its parent series, Blacklist: Redemption experiences significant ratings growth in post-live viewing. The series premiere grew from 0.8 to `1.19 in the 18-49 demographic once Live+3 day ratings could be calculated. The bump represents a rise of more than 50%. The Live+3 numbers also added another 1.9 million viewers to the total numbers, rising from the Live+same 4.3 million to 6.2 million.
We'll have to wait and see if Blacklist: Redemption can continue rising in the ratings in the rest of Season 1. Six episodes are left this season before The Blacklist returns and takes back its time slot. If the new series can at the very least hold steady moving forward, NBC may feel confident enough to give the order for a Season 2.
Tune in to NBC on Thursdays at 10 p.m. ET to catch new episodes of The Blacklist: Redemption, and don't forget to check out our midseason TV premiere schedule to see what else you can watch in the coming weeks.
