The Tribe Has Spoken: CBS’ ‘Survivor’ Roars Back With Wednesday Ratings Demo Win

CBS reality competition series “Survivor” returned with its 43rd season, quickly blazing its way to earning the night’s single best demo score across all major broadcast networks — a 0.79 in the advertiser-favored 18-49 age range across its two-hour season premiere, according Nielsen data.

Over on NBC, the also-popular “Chicago: Fire” may not have been able to match the demo score, but it took home a win for overall viewer numbers, netting 6.7 million viewers for the night in its 9 p.m. time slot for its Season 11 premiere.

In fact, all of the Dick Wolf produced “One Chicago” shows were ratings winners Wednesday. “Med,” which kicked off the night at 8 p.m., was second in viewer numbers with 6.5 million and in the demo with 0.70 as Yaya DaCosta, a Season 1 alum of the show, came back for a guest appearance as Dr. April Sexton.

“Fire” had the third highest demo score — 0.69, while the grittiest of the “Chicago” shows, “P.D.,” took home a 0.67 and was seen by 5.4 million viewers at 10 p.m.

“Survivor” took fourth in viewer numbers — around 5 million, to their highest-of-the night aforementioned demo score.

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From there, things were more spread out. Fox’s “The Masked Singer” took the fifth slot in the demo with 0.63, and sixth in overall viewership with 3.7 million viewers as two legendary celebrities were eliminated on its premiere night (spoiler alert: You can read their exit interviews here and here).

ABC’s Emmy darling “Abbot Elementary,” which won a writing Emmy for creator and star Quinta Brunson and Outstanding Supporting Actress Emmy for Sheryl Lee Ralph, was sixth in the demo with a 0.57 rating, but eighth in viewer numbers, netting 2.9 million viewers.

“The Conners,” which kicked off ABC’s comedy night of premieres at 8 p.m., was fifth in viewer ratings with 3.73 million and a demo score of 0.53 (the seventh highest of the night).

The return of “The Amazing Race” on CBS, which kicked off for the first time in an international location – Munich, Germany – was seventh in overall viewer numbers with 3.02 million, and eighth in the demo with 0.46 at 10 p.m.

“The Goldbergs” Season 10 premiere on ABC, where it was finally announced on the show that family patriarch Murray had died, took ninth in the demo with 0.44, and in viewers with 2.5 million.

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ABC’s “Home Economics” premiered to a demo score of 0.38 — the 10th highest of the night, and 2.1 million in viewers for 11th.

Those “Lego Masters” on Fox landed in 11th in the popular 18-49 demo, with a 0.36, followed by “Big Sky,” which airs at 10 p.m. with 0.26. ABC’s “Big Sky” took 10th in viewers, while the Lego building show took 12th, with 2.26 million and 1.468 million viewers, respectively.

A new episode of “DC’s Stargirl” on The CW earned a 0.06 in the demo and was seen by around 387,000 viewers.

Averages across the night give NBC a miniscule edge in the demo with 0.69 to CBS’ 0.68 — in overall night score, which also saw them earn an average of 6.3 million to CBS’ 4.6 million viewers. Fox’s demo average was 0.5 and 2.6 million total viewers, while ABC’s average was 0.41 and 2.6 million viewers. The CW earned an average score of 0.06 and 355,000. Fox doesn’t program the 10 p.m. hour.

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