Transplant debuted on NBC this fall to fill the medical drama void in a TV season when the usual biggest hits were nowhere to be seen, and the response to the Canadian import has been positive. Now, it seems that Transplant is an even bigger hit than we thought, as the show is performing particularly well in one key category: delayed ratings.
Episodes of Transplant have generally done well in their initial airings as well as the first few days afterward, but new numbers suggest that the NBC series is crushing more in the longer term than many might have guessed. THR reports that Transplant added more viewers total over seven days than any other scripted show for the week of September 21, and received solid boosts in both ratings and viewership.
New numbers for Transplant in the week of September 21 report that the show received a boost of 0.27 in the 18-49 age demographic for these Live+7 day calculations, for a total of 0.77. The show also received a boost of more than 2 million viewers, making it not only the scripted show that added the most viewers over the week, but trailed only behind the Season 4 premiere of The Masked Singer.
Considering The Masked Singer is a ratings juggernaut even on the nights when it's not returning after hiatus or making history, coming in behind the Fox singing competition show is not bad at all for Transplant!
Interestingly, Transplant was not the only scripted series to receive a solid boost in the Live+7 numbers for the 18-49 demographic during the week. Fox's Filthy Rich, L.A.'s Finest, and FX's two-hour premiere of Fargo all received boosts of more than a million delayed viewers. A big question now is whether or not Transplant can continue to deliver strong Live+7 numbers or if the week of September 21 was an outlier.
Transplant currently averages 3.8 million viewers and a 0.45 rating in Live+Same day calculations, according to TV Series Finale, so boosts of more than 2 million viewers and over 0.25 in the ratings are significant, and some shows do consistently perform better in the long run than in the initial numbers.
To use another scripted NBC series for comparison, Chicago P.D. is consistently the lowest-rated NBC show on Wednesday nights during One Chicago season with the 10 p.m. slot, but can also crush the competition in delayed viewership. Could the same be true of Transplant, with its 10 p.m. slot on Tuesdays?
With the fall TV schedule slowly but surely beginning to fill up, the ratings for a lot of shows could change. Tuesdays on broadcast will soon add The Bachelorette on ABC at 8 p.m. ET, Tell Me a Story Season 2 on The CW at 9 p.m. ET, and then The FBI Declassified on CBS as direct competition to Transplant in the 10 p.m. hour. Fox has just premiered the long-awaited Next as a Tuesday offering, which was originally planned to premiere back in midseason, but Fox's primetime block ends an hour ahead of NBC's.
Basically, the ratings for Transplant will be some to keep an eye on as the fall TV season continues. New episodes air Tuesdays at 10 p.m. ET on NBC. The show has already been renewed for a second season on CTV, so Bash and Co. will return for more following the Season 1 finale. Whether those episodes air on NBC as well as CTV is unknown as this point. For some additional viewing options now and in the coming weeks, check out our fall premiere schedule!
