Will SyFy’s Blood Drive Be Renewed?

Christina Ochoa (Grace) stars in Blood Drive. Photo Credit: SyFy Network

SyFy Network’s Blood Drive is approaching the end of its first season and fans of the series are chomping at the bit to hear about a renewal.  Blood Drive stars Colin Cunningham, Christina Ochoa, Alan Ritchson, and Darren Kent.  The premise? That’s difficult to explain – filled with wackiness and plenty of gore, here’s how SyFy explains it:

“Los Angeles 1999 – The Future: where water is a scarce as oil, and climate change keeps the temperature at a cool 115 in the shade. It’s a place where crime is so rampant that only the worst violence is punished, and where Arthur Bailey — the city’s last good cop — runs afoul of the dirtiest and meanest underground car rally in the world, Blood Drive. The master of ceremonies is a vaudevillian nightmare, The drivers are homicidal deviants, and the cars run on human blood.”

Like i said… Wacky with an overabundant side of gore. It pushes the envelope when it comes to television programming.  Heck, even their fans have an interesting nickname, they call themselves Bleeders. Yes, you read that correctly – Bleeders.  (And they’re darn proud of it too!)

Their #Bleeders hashtag is all over twitter and facebook and their message is clear: #RenewBloodDrive.  This is evidenced by the strong social media push for renewal by the fans of Blood Drive and in the success of their current petition for renewal.  Their goal for 1,000 signatures has been reached.  (At the time of this writing, they’re at 1,029.)  You can find the petition here or join their Blood Drive Facebook group.

Will their petition and social media push succeed?  Let’s look at some info…

Ratings and Info

• The show premiered with 834,000 viewers
• Ratings have been up and down over the first 10 episodes, but have been fairly consistent and averaging 480,000+ live viewers each week
• The #BloodDrive hashtag has been a trending tag (top 40) the last 3 weeks
• It’s been touted as one of the most unique shows on television

My Prediction

Blood Drive’s only downfall is a smaller overall audience.  This show is definitely not for everyone and cannot be considered a “typical” TV show.  Each week they daringly “push the envelope” in ways that probably make the network sensors squirm.

All that being said, 500,000 average viewers every week is reasonable for a cable network.  Shows have been renewed with numbers a lot lower – and nowhere near as groundbreaking as Blood Drive.  Given the decent numbers, unique premise, and a fandom that is rabid for a second season – I think they’ll get what they want.

Blood Drive will be renewed for a second season.