Ransom Canyon season 2 viewership drops 43% in Netflix return
Ransom Canyon opened Season 2 with 4.1 million views, Deadline reported, adding another sharp second-season drop at Netflix.
By Poppy Nakagawa · Culture Writer
3 min read
Ransom Canyon season 2 viewership came in sharply below its first outing, with the Netflix romantic drama drawing 4.1 million views in its first week back, according to Deadline.
The series, led by Minka Kelly and Josh Duhamel, was down 43% from its Season 1 opening week, when Deadline reported it reached 7.2 million views. The drop puts the Texas-set drama in the growing club of Netflix shows that have returned this year with softer second-season debuts.
How did Ransom Canyon season 2 viewership compare with season 1?
Deadline reported that Season 2 opened with 4.1 million views, compared with 7.2 million for Season 1 over the same first-week window. That works out to a 43% decline from the show’s initial launch.
The fall is not the steepest among recent Netflix returnees. Deadline noted that Running Point also posted a 43% slide, while The Four Seasons dropped 63%. Both of those shows have been renewed for third seasons, according to the report.
Other Netflix sophomore runs have seen even sharper first-week declines, Deadline reported. Avatar: The Last Airbender fell 59%, Beef was down nearly 60%, and A Good Girl’s Guide To Murder dropped more than 76%.
What does the drop mean for Ransom Canyon?
Deadline reported that it is still too soon to judge how the Season 2 launch will affect the show’s renewal chances. The drama was described as a bubble show last year before Netflix brought it back for a second season.
That renewal came with changes. Deadline reported that Season 2 had a smaller episode order, with eight episodes instead of Season 1’s 10, along with shifts to the storyline and supporting cast.
A sophomore slump is a drop in audience when a show returns for its second season after a bigger launch. For Netflix, the issue gets extra attention because many of its shows arrive with heavy first-season sampling and then face the test of whether viewers come back.
What has Netflix said about second-season drops?
Netflix co-CEO Ted Sarandos addressed the broader pattern during the company’s earnings call earlier this month, according to Deadline. He pushed back on alarm over second-season declines and said the pattern is common across the TV business.
“We are not seeing any material change in our second season viewing compared to season ones, our second seasons are performing well within our bands of expectation,” Sarandos said, according to Deadline. He added that drop-off from Season 1 to Season 2 is “very common in the industry,” and said Netflix feels it more because its launches start so large.
Sarandos also said Netflix’s overall second-season drop-off has improved from last year, according to Deadline. He cautioned that individual examples can be selected to support different arguments, while saying the company looks across regions and categories when judging performance.
For now, Ransom Canyon is back on Netflix with a smaller opening-week crowd than last season. Whether that audience is enough for another renewal remains unresolved.
This story draws on original reporting from Deadline.