Unsolved | Isabella Vosmikova/USA
The second episode of USA Network’s “Unsolved: The Murdes of Tupac and The Notorious BIG” endured a sharp week-over-week viewership decline.
According to live+same-day data posted by Showbuzz, Tuesday’s “Unsolved” drew a 0.41 adults 18-49 rating and averaged 1.13 million overall viewers.
While the numbers are still solid by modern cable standards, they markedly trail those posted by last week’s series premiere.
That inaugural episode drew a 0.67 adults 18-49 rating and 1.60 million overall viewers.
Reduced lead-in support from WWE SmackDown! Live (0.75, 2.590 million vs. 0.86, 2.69 million) obviously did not help matters, but it wouldn’t completely explain — let alone excuse — the entirety of the “Unsolved” drop.
And while post-premiere drops are quite common (few shows are capable of hooking everyone who sampled the initial episode), declines of this magnitude (39% in the demo, 29% in viewers) are atypical.
As a point of comparison, the second episode of fellow USA Network Series “Shooter” fell by 22% in the demo and 13% in overall viewership. It aired in the same Tuesday at 10PM timeslot.