Ratings: Fox’s ‘Empire’ Down, Still Dominant; ‘Survivor,’ ‘Chicago PD’ Winners Too

Rick Kissell
·4 min read
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Fox’s “Empire” lost a little more of its audience on Wednesday but remained the dominant program on a night that saw CBS rule early with “Survivor” and NBC close strong with “Chicago PD.”

According to preliminary national estimates from Nielsen, “Empire” averaged a 4.6 rating/14 share in adults 18-49 and 12.2 million viewers overall, down 8% (0.5) from last week for the show’s third straight week of declines since its Sept. 23 premiere. The 4.6 was still about as big as the night’s next two top shows combined (“Modern Family” and “Survivor”) and was 0.3 higher than “Empire’s” fourth episode from its rookie season last winter.

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Fox rookie “Rosewood” also was lower kicking off the night (1.4/5 in 18-49, 5.0 million viewers overall), down 0.4 to its smallest score to date. It placed third among the broadcast networks for its 8 o’clock hour.

At CBS, “Survivor” (2.1/8 in 18-49, 9.1 million viewers overall) continues to live up to its name, standing as the only program on the broadcasters to rise week to week in 18-49 and coming in just a bit below where it was on this night a year ago. From there, “Criminal Minds” (1.7/5 in 18-49, 8.9 million viewers overall) and “Code Black” (1.2/4 in 18-49, 6.9 million viewers overall) matched their scores of last week.

ABC’s comedies were all down a tenth week to week: “The Middle” (1.9/7 in 18-49, 7.1 million viewers overall), “The Goldbergs” (2.0/7 in 18-49, 6.4 million viewers overall), “Modern Family” (2.6/8 in 18-49, 7.8 million viewers overall) and “Black-ish” (1.8/6 in 18-49, 5.7 million viewers overall). “Modern Family” was again down more than 20% from last year when it didn’t face “Empire,” but was again Wednesday’s No. 2 series in 18-49. Closing the night, “Nashville” (1.2/4 in 18-49, 4.6 million viewers overall) is preliminarily up 0.2 from last week and matching its season high.

At NBC, “The Mysteries of Laura” (1.0/3 in 18-49, 6.9 million viewers overall) and “Law & Order: SVU” (1.5/5 in 18-49, 6.2 million viewers overall) were down a tick from last week. “Chicago PD” (1.5/5 in 18-49, 6.6 million viewers overall) held all of its demo lead-in and maintained its rating from last week; it has beaten its regular CBS and NBC competition in 18-49 with its last 19 originals dating back to last November.

In their second weeks of the season, CW’s “Arrow” (0.9/3 in 18-49, 2.5 million viewers overall) and “Supernatural” (0.8/3 in 18-49, 1.9 million viewers overall) were down in 18-49 by 0.2 and 0.1, respectively. “Arrow” held at last week’s premiere score in adults 18-34 (0.9), which was up from a 0.7 for its second episode of last season, and led among the broadcasters for its hour in men 18-34 (1.0/5). And “Supernatural” was up a tick from last week in 18-34 (0.8 vs. 0.7), shooting up especially among women of that age group (0.9 vs. 0.6).

Of note in late-night, was a strong performance by NBC’s “Late Night With Seth Meyers,” which hit an 18-month overnight high for a Wednesday (1.6 household rating) and equaled its second best Wednesday overnight ever. And in adults 18-49 in Nielsen’s Local People Meters, Meyers (0.6) outdrew the ratings of both Stephen Colbert on CBS (0.5) and Jimmy Kimmel on ABC (0.5) even though it airs an hour later.

NBC’s “Tonight Show Starring Jimmy Fallon” led the way overall with a 2.9 household rating/8 share in the overnights, followed by CBS’ “Late Show with Stephen Colbert” (2.2/6) and ABC’s “Jimmy Kimmel Live” (1.9/5). In the 25 markets with Local People Meters. Fallon (1.0), with guests Vin Diesel and Selena Gomez, equaled the combined ratings of Colbert (0.5) and Kimmel (0.5).

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