EMPIRE: L-R: Guest star Kiandra Richardson and Terrence Howard in the "What Is Love" season premiere episode of EMPIRE airing Tuesday, Sept. 24 (9:00-10:00 PM ET/PT) on FOX. ©2019 Fox Media LLC. CR: Chuck Hodes/FOX.
The move to a new night and hype for the final season did not reinvigorate interest in FOX’s “Empire.”
While it fared decently from a competitive standpoint, Tuesday’s season premiere delivered a series low performance.
According to fast national data posted by Showbuzz, Tuesday’s episode scored a 1.0 adults 18-49 rating and averaged 3.35 million numbers.
The numbers, both series lows, trail the 2.0 rating and 6.09 million viewer mark garnered by last season’s premiere.
Granted, “Empire” endured a considerable ratings slide over the course of the last season. The fifth season finale scored a 1.2 rating and 4.09 million viewers on May 8, 2019.
Those episodes — like all previous iterations of the show — aired on Wednesday.
It is worth noting that the Tuesday move put “Empire” into direct competition with “This Is Us.” The drama is not the hit that it once was, but it still dominated the timeslot with a 1.8 rating.
“Empire” was the 9PM hour’s #2 show in adults 18-49.