Instinct enters season 2 down in the ratings; how to turn things around

We have been saying for a good while now that one of the things that was hurting Instinct, and in turn, one of the things that needed to be corrected, was the lack of a proper lead-in. The CBS series hasn’t been getting a whole lot of support this summer or a lot of promotion. This is one of the biggest reasons why its numbers have slid ever since the weekend before Memorial Day, when the network inexplicably aired two episodes back to back.

The good news here is, clearly, that Instinct has been renewed for a second season already. The problem is that unless there is some sort of improvement from where we are right now in the numbers, it’s hard to envision a situation in which there is going to be a season 3.

The ratings for the recent finale over on CBS are not really serving as a great means of support, either. Sunday’s episode ended up generating in total a 0.4 rating in the 18-49 demographic and almost 4.5 million viewers. Given that the series had a solid lead-in courtesy of Big Brother 20 (which led the night with a 1.2 ratings), you cannot say that the lead-in is the only problem. Granted, historically Big Brother has shown to not be a particularly great lead-in just because its viewers are a very specific subset and they aren’t necessarily interested in any other programming that CBS is bringing to the table.

What the network needs to figure out more entering season 2 (head over here to read more as to when the show could premiere) is find the right landing spot and also a way in which to promote it to some of their own core viewers. Instinct doesn’t exactly have the best title in the world, but beyond that, it has all of the makings of a series that could stick around for a while.

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What do you think about the Instinct finale ratings, and what do you think needs to be different entering season 2? Be sure to share right now in the attached comments!

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