‘The Blacklist’: Before season 2, Netflix acquires series in record deal

Big news for “The Blacklist,” and also big news for everyone over at Netflix: You’re going to be seeing more of Raymond Reddington wherever you watch the streaming service.

As first reported by Deadline, Netflix has purchased the streaming rights for the James Spader – Megan Boone series for a whopping $2 million an episode, which is the most that they have paid to date for an off-network series. (It’s significantly higher than the $1.35 million that was reportedly paid for “The Walking Dead.”)

So when can you expect to start binge-watching the show’s first season? Think along the lines of next weekend, and future seasons will premiere on Netflix not too long after the finale airs. This is a win-win for all parties from our vantage point; not only does this expand the subscriber base of Netflix, but it also helps to further ensure that there are some more viewers tuning in to NBC when the show comes on the air there starting on Monday, September 22. There has already proven to be a pretty nice correlation between Netflix and these viewers getting hooked on a show to the point where they started to watch live. Just look at AMC’s programming.

In some ways, this has replaced standard syndication as the real way to attract new viewers to your show. With that being said, “The Blacklist” will also eventually be syndicated in the familiar way across other broadcast networks and cable a little deeper into the series’ run, provided it makes it far enough.

Do you think that this was a great buy for Netflix, and would you watch “The Blacklist” on the service to catch up? Share in the comments.

Photo: NBC