The Lyon family helped Fox roar over Wednesday primetime Nielsen ratings — as usual — on Wednesday night with the Season 4 finale of “Empire.” However, while the Taraji P. Henson and Terrence Howard-led drama gave the network another win, the season-closer actually matched the series low “Empire” first hit in the key adults 18-49 range two weeks ago.
Meanwhile on CBS, “Survivor” wrapped Season 36 with its own weak numbers, equaling its lowest-rated regular episode ever and lowest-rated finale. But the ending to “Ghost Island” still pulled in enough eyeballs to bring the broadcaster to first place in total viewers for the evening.
Fox was first in ratings with a 1.4 rating/6 share in the advertiser-coveted 18-49 demographic and third in total viewers with an average of 4.6 million, according to preliminary numbers. At 8 p.m., the “Empire” finale put up a 1.6/8 and 5.2 million viewers. The “Star” finale at 9 landed a 1.2/5 and 4 million viewers.
CBS was second in ratings with a 1.3/6 and first in viewers with 6.8 million. From 8-10:30, the “Survivor: Ghost Island” finale posted a 1.4/6 and 7.2 million viewers. The show’s reunion special at 10:30 managed a 0.9/4 and 4.6 million viewers.
NBC was third in ratings with a 1.0/4 and second in viewers with 5.3 million. Following a repeat at 8, the season finale of “Law & Order: SVU” at 9 received a 1.1/5 and 5.7 million viewers. At 10, the second hour of the season-closer got a 1.3/5 and 6.5 million viewers.
ABC was fourth in ratings with a 0.6/3 and in viewers with 2.6 million. From 8-10, a telecast of “Toy Story 3” averaged a 0.6/3 and 2.5 million viewers. At 10, “20/20” settled for a 0.5/2 and 2.3 million viewers.
Telemundo was fifth in ratings with a 0.5/2 and sixth in viewers with 1.2 million.
Univision was sixth in ratings with a 0.4/2 and fifth in viewers with 1.3 million.
The CW was seventh in ratings with a 0.2/1 and in viewers with 914,000. The network filled its primetime block with a MLB game between the New York Mets and the Miami Marlins.