A night of declines on broadcast Wednesday
Drops for everything from 'Designated Survivor' to 'Empire'
October 6, 2016
Only a handful of broadcast programs managed to avoid declines Wednesday night, airing opposite the National League wild card playoff game on cable.
ABC’s new 10 p.m. drama “Designated Survivor” won its timeslot with a 1.6 adults 18-49 rating, according to Nielsen. But, for the second straight week, the show fell, dropping from a 1.8 last week.
It does see extremely high DVR playback, so it will be interesting to see if any of these drops are being made up by time shifting.
ABC’s other new show seems to have steadied, though—for the second straight week, “Speechless” posted a 1.8, and it looks like a solid addition to the Wednesday comedy block.
“Modern Family” led the ABC lineup as usual, though it was off for the second straight week, to a 2.2.
On Fox, “Empire” remained the top show of the night, but it was off from a 3.6 in last week’s overnights and very close to matching its series low of 3.2, set last year on the night before Thanksgiving, traditionally a slow evening for broadcast.
Earlier in the night, “Lethal Weapon” posted a 1.7 at 8, also down from last week.
The CW’s “Arrow,” making its fifth-season debut, was also off year-to-year, dropping from a 1.0 to a 0.7.
That gave a smaller lead-in to new drama “Frequency,” which posted a 0.4. In the CW’s key demo of adults 18-34, “Arrow” posted a 0.6 while “Frequency” drew a 0.3.
NBC’s “Blindspot” was up a tenth from last week’s overnight to a 1.3 (it scored a 1.3 in finals). But the network’s “Law & Order: Special Victims Unit” and “Chicago P.D.” both fell to 1.3s, tying “SVU’s” second-lowest rating ever.
CBS’s “Survivor” posted a 1.8, tying ABC for No. 1 at 8 p.m. “Criminal Minds” (1.4) and “Code Black” (1.0) both slid from last week’s debuts.
***
Top show of the night in 18-49s
Fox’s “Empire” 9-10 p.m., 3.3 rating.
Top show of the night in 18-34s
Fox’s “Empire” 9-10 p.m., 2.7 rating.
Top show of the night in total viewers
Fox’s “Empire” 9-10 p.m., 9.24 million.
Overnights
|
||||||
|
Network
|
Adults 18-49
|
Adults 18-34
|
Households
|
|||
|
Rating
|
Share
|
Rating
|
Share
|
Rating
|
Share
|
|
|
Fox (8-10 p.m.)
|
2.5
|
9
|
1.9
|
9
|
4.8
|
8
|
|
ABC
|
1.8
|
6
|
1.0
|
5
|
4.0
|
7
|
|
CBS
|
1.4
|
5
|
0.8
|
4
|
4.7
|
8
|
|
NBC
|
1.3
|
5
|
0.8
|
4
|
3.7
|
7
|
|
Telemundo
|
0.8
|
3
|
0.7
|
3
|
1.0
|
2
|
|
Univision
|
0.6
|
2
|
0.5
|
2
|
0.9
|
2
|
|
CW (8-10 p.m.)
|
0.5
|
2
|
0.4
|
1
|
1.0
|
2
|
|
All ratings based on live-plus-same-day DVR playback, including shows replayed before 3 a.m. Seven-day DVR data won’t be available for several weeks. Forty-nine percent of Nielsen households have DVRs Source: Nielsen |
||||||
Overnights
|
||
|
Network
|
Show
|
18-49 Rating
|
|
FOX
|
Empire
|
3.3
|
|
ABC
|
Modern Family
|
2.2
|
|
CBS
|
Survivor
|
1.8
|
|
ABC
|
The Goldbergs
|
1.8
|
|
ABC
|
Speechless
|
1.8
|
|
FOX
|
Lethal Weapon
|
1.7
|
|
ABC
|
Designated Survivor
|
1.6
|
|
ABC
|
Black-ish
|
1.6
|
|
CBS
|
Criminal Minds
|
1.4
|
|
NBC
|
Chicago PD
|
1.3
|
|
NBC
|
Law & Order: SVU
|
1.3
|
|
NBC
|
Blindspot
|
1.3
|
|
CBS
|
Code Black
|
1.0
|
|
Telemundo
|
Señora Acero 3: La Coyote
|
1.0
|
|
Telemundo
|
Sin Senos si Hay Paraiso
|
0.8
|
|
CW
|
Arrow (season debut)
|
0.7
|
|
Univision
|
Tres Veces Ana
|
0.6
|
|
Telemundo
|
Silvana sin Lana
|
0.5
|
|
Univision
|
El Color de la Pasión
|
0.5
|
|
Univision
|
Despertar Contigo
|
0.5
|
|
CW
|
Frequency (series debut)
|
0.4
|
|
All ratings based on live-plus-same-day DVR playback, including shows replayed before 3 a.m. Seven-day DVR data won’t be available for several weeks. Forty-nine percent of Nielsen households have DVRs
Source: Nielsen
|
||
Tags: arrow, blindspot, designated survivor, empire, frequency, overnight ratings, overnights, wednesday overnights
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A night of declines on broadcast Wednesday
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