The third-season premiere of Killing Eve accomplished something no other cable drama in 2019-20 has been able to do.
The BBC America-AMC thriller returned to strong ratings numbers Sunday, becoming the only veteran cable drama this season to post gains among both adults 18-49 and adults 25-54 compared to its prior season average. The premiere also came close to equaling the series highs for the season two debut.
Sunday's airing drew 1.06 million same-day viewers across AMC (621,000) and BBC America (443,000), down a little from the 1.17 million who watched the season two premiere the night it aired. It delivered 424,000 in the two cable nets' key demographic of adults 25-54 (versus 439,000 a year ago) and 330,000 adults 18-49, up ever so slightly from 327,000 last year.
In all three measures, however, Killing Eve's premiere is ahead of its same-day averages for season two. The episode is 8 percent ahead of last season's average in the 25-54 demo and up 12 percent in adults 18-49 — making it the only cable drama of 2019-20 to score year-to-year gains in the two demographics. The total audience is 4 percent higher than the season two same-day average, giving Eve the best year-to-year bump among returning cable dramas.
Season two grew to 1.8 million viewers per episode with a week of delayed viewing, a 75 percent improvement on the show's initial audience. Should that figure hold, Sunday's episode is likely to end up with about 1.9 million viewers.
Suzanne Heathcote is serving as showrunner for season three of Killing Eve, carrying on the show's tradition of placing a different woman at the helm of each season. Creator Phoebe Waller-Bridge (who remains an executive producer) ran season one, and Emerald Fennell oversaw season two.
BBC America has already renewed the show for a fourth run.
