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There’s been a murder, but this time the victim is streaming ratings.
Peacock’s The Traitors—an Alan Cumming-hosted competition series where reality stars called “faithfuls” try to banish the “traitors” among them before being murdered themselves—was already a hit in Season 1, even winning the Emmy Award for Outstanding Casting for a Reality Program. But in Season 2, the show killed it.
The latest installment of the series, based on the Dutch show De Verraders, has blown away the previous numbers.
The Season 2 debut was up more than 75% from Season 1 when it dropped on Jan. 12. During its first full week of availability on Peacock, Season 2 of The Traitors ranked ninth for overall minutes viewed of an original series. And, thanks to weekly gains, the show has become Peacock’s most-watched unscripted original of all time.
Ahead of the March 7 finale, and as part of ADWEEK’s TCA coverage, we spoke with executive producer Toni Ireland to learn the secrets to Season 2’s success.
Shifting to a weekly schedule
Season 1 of The Traitors went the binge-watching route, dropping all its episodes at once. And though the series was still successful, Season 2’s shift to a weekly format (after dropping three episodes for the premiere) has led to week-over-week viewership gains and the series becoming a regular trending topic on Thursdays when new episodes dropped.
“The network has made a really smart decision with that scheduling. It really helps the show,” Ireland told ADWEEK. “You can fall into a bit of a trap sometimes with the reality shows of putting too many out in a week. You can’t catch up or feel like you’re not watching it with your friends, and with this one it seems to be an appointment to view.”
Ireland noted that audiences for both the U.S. and the U.K. versions of the show, where she’s also an executive producer, appreciate the “drip-fed” nature of the series, and keeping the show appointment viewing may be one of the priorities moving forward.
“We’re happy with a once-a-year format,” Ireland said. “Sometimes you can get spoiled when you get carried away making too much, and I think it’s that lovely thing, like waiting for Christmas to come around.”
