Delayed thanks to real-world tragedy, USA Network’s “Shooter” finally premiered Tuesday night.
From a live+same-day standpoint, it fared slightly better than the debuts of fellow USA Network dramas “Queen Of The South” and “Colony.”
It did, however, benefit from stronger lead-in support.
According to live+same-day data posted by Showbuzz, Tuesday’s “Shooter” drew a 0.50 adults 18-49 rating and 1.44 million total viewers.
The June 23, 2016 premiere of “Queen Of The South” drew a 0.45 rating and 1.39 million total viewers. “Colony” opened with a 0.44 rating and 1.36 million total viewers on January 14, 2016.
Why compare “Shooter” to “Queen Of The South” and “Colony” rather than more recent (and markedly lower-rated) USA launches like “Falling Water” and “Eyewitness”? Like “Shooter,” those two premieres aired out of SmackDown.
Granted, they aired out of fairly routine editions of the WWE program. “Shooter” benefited from airing out of the heavily hyped 900th edition of SmackDown! (now SmackDown! Live), which drew a strong 0.95 adults 18-49 rating and 2.73 million total viewers.
The SmackDown! that preceded “Colony” only drew a 0.70 and 2.33 million. The pre-“Queen” edition of SmackDown! drew a 0.67 and 1.39 million.
The “Colony” premiere also faced an additional bottleneck: its premiere was made widely available online prior to the actual TV broadcast.
