The Blacklist is closing in on its 2019 fall finale! If the pictures from it are any indication, fans have a lot to contemplate ahead of the midseason hiatus. Mind-blowing plot points and Red reveals aside, how are The Blacklist’s ratings looking going into the midpoint of Season 7?
When The Blacklist returned for Season 6, the NBC crime drama switched to Friday nights. Ratings got a considerable boost from Red’s brush with execution, and last season’s finale followed suit in performing well. What about Season 7’s ratings performance? Time to dig into something a little easier to decipher than Red’s true identity.
The Blacklist's Season 7 Ratings Are Steady And Solid
The Blacklist has been performing consistently from week to week without any significant dips. It's an impressive accomplishment for a veteran series, if I do say so myself. Now to the hard numbers. Episode 4 managed to draw in a larger live audience than the action-packed Season 7 premiere! Premieres tend to bring in a season’s most massive crowd, which makes The Blacklist’s feat all the more impressive.
For reference, Episode 4, entitled “Kuwait,” centered on Harold Cooper as it revisited the “little secret” between the real Raymond Reddington and Cooper. It was also the episode wherein Cooper decided whether to reveal if Red was an imposter and actually Ilya Koslov. He did not. However, viewers now know Red is not actually Ilya, after all.
The Blacklist Is Winning Its Time Slot Compared To Previous Year
NBC’s 8 p.m. ET time slot on Fridays is also doing much better after The Blacklist took up residence there. The Blacklist led NBC to a 17% increase in total viewers over last season’s time slot average. Blindspot previously held that slot during the 2018/2019 season before a scheduling change saw The Blacklist take it over late in the 2019 midseason.
That occurred during the latter half of the NBC series’ sixth season. Remember, The Blacklist was left off of last year’s fall schedule, only returning during the midseason. Fast forward to fall 2019, and The Blacklist is getting some intense action in the 8 p.m. ET time slot, so I do not expect any scheduling changes in the near future.
DVR And Delayed Viewing Are Huge For The Blacklist
Networks are taking DVR and delayed viewing into account, and when it comes to The Blacklist, the numbers are huge! Take, for instance, the Season 7 premiere, which saw its total viewership nearly double. Initially seen by 4.1 million, delayed viewing has brought it to 8.1 million.
The good news does not end with the total viewers' side of The Blacklist’s ratings performance. The 18-49 key demo almost tripled, going from 0.53 in Live + Same Day numbers to a 1.58 in digital and linear delayed viewing. As for its week-to-week performance, The Blacklist is bringing in a steady crowd that lands between 2.5 to 3 million viewers. Not bad at all!
The Blacklist is heading into its midseason hiatus in good shape! Viewers will undoubtedly be left with even more questions as memory manipulation continues taking center stage leading up to the fall finale. When the series returns in 2020, prepare for Season 7 to dig up a Ressler secret! The Blacklist, how I love thee!
New episodes of The Blacklist will air this winter on Fridays, at 8 p.m. ET on NBC. You can catch up on the successful series’ previous seasons on Netflix, which also has lots of new content joining it in 2020.
