On January 25, TNT’s dystopian thriller Snowpiercer, based on both the 2013 film directed by Bong Joon-ho as well as the 1982 French graphic novels Le Transperceneige, returned for its second season. But even before the premiere, it was renewed for a third season, signalling that TNT and WarnerMedia are confident in its longevity and audience appeal. 

Below, we dive into viewership and advertising insights for the series, using data from iSpot.tv, the always-on TV ad measurement and attribution company, as well as Inscape, VIZIO’s data unit with insights from a panel of more than 17 million active and opted-in smart TVs. 

Snowpiercer, starring Jennifer Connelly and Daveed Diggs, first came to TV in May 2020 — eerie timing for a post-apocalyptic show centered around being confined in small spaces, given the ongoing coronavirus pandemic. As WarnerMedia’s Missy Chambless told AdExchanger last year, “There are always going to be people who love shows like this… We’re also about to enter a summer where there aren’t going to be theatrical blockbusters. People want action-packed content.” 

Of all the live, linear minutes of TNT watched by VIZIO smart TVs on Jan. 25, 9.19% of the time was spent watching the season premiere of Snowpiercer.

Looking at Inscape’s minute-by-minute viewership data, the series premiere on May 17, 2020 had fairly steady tune-in, while the season two premiere on Jan. 25, 2021 saw viewership decline slightly over the course of the episode.

Top local area markets for tune-in around the season two premiere included Glendive, MT; North Platte, NE; Eugene, OR; Casper-Riverton, WY; and Lake Charles, LA. 

What other shows are Snowpiercer viewers most likely to be watching? Per Inscape’s crossover data, multiple syndicated comedies are on the list, and The Walking Dead makes an appearance in the top five. 

Speaking of The Walking Dead, Inscape examined crossover for the two shows and found that 25% of viewers who watched Snowpiercer over the last year also tuned into at least two minutes of The Walking Dead, while 20% of TWD fans watched Snowpiercer. 

On the advertising side of things, TNT has been giving Snowpiercer promos a big push — last week, the show promo topped iSpot’s ranking of the programming networks were promoting most heavily with 317.6 million TV ad impressions. 

There was a 29.67% decrease in TV ad impressions from the season one premiere vs. season two (19.7 million impressions vs. 13.9 million), and the top most-seen brands ranking was also a bit different. In 2020, top brands by impressions included Geico, Discover Card, Apartments.com, Kia and Wonderful Pistachios, while for the season two premiere, HBO Max, Subway, Garnier, Keebler and Maybelline New York topped the list. Of that list, only Subway and Garnier did not advertise at all during new episodes of the first season — and of the top five brands for season one, Kia is the only one that advertised during the season two premiere.