“Empire” sunk to series lows on Wednesday, one week after an already-rough midseason premiere. Those episodes marked the first two original hours of the Fox soap since star Jussie Smollett was arrested and charged with filing a false police report in Chicago.
Last night, “Empire” managed a 1.1 rating/6 share among adults 18-49 and 4 million total viewers. The drama’s previous series lows came on Halloween 2018, when the show drew a 1.2 demo rating and 4.2 million overall audience members.
The “Empire” midseason return a week ago tallied a 1.3 rating and 4.4 million viewers, per Nielsen, which means this follow-up episode slipped an additional 18 percent in the demo and 9 percent overall. As a result of those declines, CBS was able to tie Fox for first-place in primetime-ratings averages among adults 18-49. The “Survivor” home topped the evening in eyeballs of any age.
CBS and Fox tied for first in ratings, both with a 1.1 rating/5 share in the advertiser-coveted 18-49 demographic. CBS was first in total viewers with an average of 6.3 million, according to preliminary numbers. Fox was fourth in total viewers with 3.6 million.
For CBS, “Survivor” from 8 p.m to 10 p.m. posted a 1.3/6 and 7 million viewers. “SEAL Team” at 10 had a 0.7/4 and 4.9 million viewers.
For Fox, after “Empire,” “Star” at 9 received a 1.0/4 and 3.2 million viewers.
ABC was third in ratings with a 0.9/4 and in viewers with 3.8 million. “The Goldbergs” at 8 put up a 1.2/6 and 4.5 million viewers. At 8:30, “Schooled” had a 0.9/4 and 3.6 million viewers. “Modern Family” at 9 got a 1.1/5 and 4.3 million viewers. “Single Parents” at 9:30 received a 0.7/3 and 3.1 million viewers. At 10, drama “Whiskey Cavalier” closed primetime to a 0.6/3 and 3.7 million viewers.
NBC was fourth in ratings with a 0.8/4, but second in viewers with 5.1 million. A “Voice” recap from 8 to 10 averaged a 1.0/5 and 6 million viewers. A Michael Buble special at 10 had a 0.5/2 and 3.3 million viewers.
Univision was fifth in ratings with a 0.4/2 and in viewers with 1.2 million.
Telemundo was sixth in ratings with a 0.4/2 and in viewers with 1.1 million.
The CW was seventh in ratings with a 0.2/1 and in viewers with 692,000. The “Riverdale” musical episode at 8 got a 0.3/1 and 832,000 viewers. At 9, the “All American” season finale received a 0.2/1 and 552,000 viewers.