Empire [FOX]
The spring premiere of FOX’s “Empire” easily ranked as Wednesday’s #1 show in adults 18-49. It narrowly fell short of #1 in overall viewership.
According to fast national data posted by Showbuzz, Wednesday’s “Empire” drew a 2.8 adults 18-49 rating and averaged 7.894 million overall viewers.
The adults 18-49 figure was the best by a considerable margin; “Survivor,” the night’s #2 show, drew a 1.7.
The viewership figure only narrowly trailed the 7.895 million mark garnered by “Survivor,” and there is a chance the hierarchy could change in the final ratings report.
“Empire” was up slightly from the fall finale, which drew a 2.7 and 7.578 million viewers on December 14. It is, of course, worth noting that said fall finale aired in the 8PM hour.
— FOX led into Wednesday’s “Empire” with the series premiere of “Shots Fired.” It drew a 1.1 adults 18-49 rating and 4.668 million viewers.
While not terrible by 2017 standards, they are still rather modest — especially for a show airing as part of the same lineup as “Empire.”
FOX can, however, note that the show took second to “Survivor” in the 8-9PM timeslot (granted, ABC aired re-runs of its comedies in that hour).
Attention will now focus on how the show holds in the coming weeks.