• by Wayne Friedman , February 1, 2017

NBCUniversal’s Oxygen is rebranding itself as a crime network for women, expanding its existing weekend “Crime Time” block.

For NBCU, this would be the second major change for its cable networks -- recently deciding to shut down Esquire as a linear network, remaining as a digital-only TV network.

Oxygen posted flat viewing results in 2016 versus 2015 -- averaging 238,000 prime-time Nielsen viewers, and down 10% to 103,000 18-49 viewers. In the fourth quarter of 2016, Oxygen averaged 251,000 viewers.

Looking at women 25-54, Oxygen averaged 79,000 viewers in the fourth quarter, tied for 43rd place among all cable networks. Hallmark Channel posted the best results in this key women’s demographic, 406,000.

Oxygen pulled in $184.6 million in national TV spending, according to iSpot.tv from January 31 2016 to January 31, 2017 -- up 7% from $172.7 million for the previous year.

Recently, Crime Time was expanded to four days a week, Friday through Monday.

Oxygen will be debuting original shows: “Three Days to Live” starting March 5, which follows abductions of women and the crucial days immediately following those events. 

Two other shows will begin in the third quarter: New episodes of a Dick Wolf-produced true crime series “Cold Justice,” which ran on TNT for three seasons, and Glass Entertainment Group’s “The Jury Speaks,” which looks at high-profile cases through the eyes of the jury.