The Traitors: New Blood opened to underwhelming live ratings on NBC, but a surge in Peacock streaming numbers pushed the premiere into far stronger territory. The new spinoff, which pits non-famous players against each other in the format made popular by the celebrity edition of The Traitors, debuted with two episodes on Sept. 17.
The first episode drew 2.58 million viewers on NBC, while the second slipped to 1.93 million. Repeats the following night, Sept. 18, added another 1.14 million viewers to the first episode and 901,000 to the second, bringing two-night totals to 3.72 million and 2.84 million viewers respectively — an average of 3.28 million across the premiere.
The real growth came from streaming. According to NBCUniversal, once three days of Peacock viewing and other delayed platforms were factored in — including the Sept. 18 repeat airings — each episode topped 6 million viewers. That marks a 61 percent jump for the first episode compared with its original on-air total, while the second episode more than doubled its live number. NBCUniversal said the two episodes posted the largest three-day totals ever recorded on Peacock for an NBC or Bravo series.
The jump makes sense given Peacock's ties to the franchise: the streamer is home to the original celebrity version of The Traitors, one of its most-watched shows. It's not unusual for network series to pick up substantial streaming numbers after their initial broadcast, though rarely at this pace within just a few days.
The Traitors: New Blood is produced by Studio Lambert. Host Alan Cumming serves as an executive producer alongside Mike Cotton, Sam Rees-Jones, Rosie Franks, Jack Burgess, Stephen Lambert, Tim Harcourt and Doran Azouelos.
Photo: Delorean08, CC BY-SA 4.0, https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-sa/4.0, via Wikimedia Commons
