*Fox’s “Empire” extends its week-to-week ratings climb and continues to defy the conventional wisdom that scripted series can no longer pack live ratings punch in an era of online and DVR viewing.
Wednesday’s ninth episode posted a 5.7 in adults 18-49 and 14.2 million total viewers in the fast nationals, according to Deadline.com.
This represents the highest Live+same day demo rating for any regular broadcast drama in over five years, since “Grey’s Anatomy” on October 1, 2009. And since “Empire” often gets adjusted up in the finals, last night’s episode may be able to tie the 5.8 Live+same day rating of the “Lost” finale in May 2010, which aired on a special night.
“Empire’s” ninth episode is up +50% vs. the premiere in 18-49, the biggest for a new broadcast series in a decade, since another Fox drama, “House,” which rose +85% over the comparable period in 2004.
Comparing episode 9 to last week’s fast nationals, “Empire,” executive produced by creators Lee Daniels and Danny Strong, Brian Grazer and showrunner Ilene Chaiken, was up +8% in the demo and +2% in total viewers.
“Fox,” which also featured “American Idol” (2.1, down -5% from last week) dominated the night in 18-49 (3.9) and also won in total viewers (11.5 million).
CBS launched its second new midseason drama series in four days, latest CSI offshoot CSI: Cyber starring new Oscar winner Patricia Arquette and co-staring Shad Moss (Bow Wow). The procedural opened with an OK 1.8 rating in adults 18-49. That was far better than the 1.0 premiere rating for “Battle Creek” last Sunday in the 10 p.m. slot.
The highest-rated series on CBS last night was the oldest, “Survivor” (2.3), which equaled the fast national for its 30th season premiere last week.
Things were largely status quo on ABC. “The Middle” (2.2) was up +10% from last week. “The Goldbergs” (2.5), “Modern Family” (3.4) and “Black-ish” (2.3) were all on par with their fast nationals last week; “Nashville” (1.4) was up +8%.
NBC aired a “Voice” “best of” blind auditions special (2.1) and a repeat of “Chicago PD,” the CW carries an “Arrow” rerun and a new “100” (0.5, flat).
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