Ratings Watch: Empire Ends Strong, Dancing With the Stars Improves Vs. Fall
Fox’s Empire was such a phenomenon, the show’s finale is still breaking records as time-shifted DVR and video on-demand ratings come in. After three days of DVR/VOD viewership, the final hour of Empire added 4.3 million more viewers.
And in Adults 18-49, the show’s Season 1 finale averaged an 8.8 rating and 27 share. That’s the highest-rated freshman series ender since Grey’s Anatomy drew a 9.8 rating on May 22, 2005.
Meanwhile, the premiere of Dancing with the Stars‘ 20th season was up from its fall bow (15.4 million in Live+3 on Sept. 15) but down from a year ago (16.6 million in Live+3 on March 17, 2014).
The ABC News special 20/20: Untold Story of The Sound of Music was 20/20′s most-watched episode of the season, and gave ABC its highest viewership in the Friday 10/9c timeslot since New Year’s Eve.
Here is the top 25 total viewer ranker, including Live+3, for the week ending March 22, 2015.
RANK |
SHOW & NETWORK |
LIVE+3 |
WATCHED |
1 |
Empire (9pm) Fox |
21.9 |
17.6 |
2 |
Empire (8pm) Fox |
20.2 |
15.8 |
3 |
The Walking Dead AMC |
18.2 |
13.8 |
4 |
Dancing with the Stars ABC |
15.7 |
14.2 |
5 |
The Voice (Tuesday) NBC |
14.8 |
12.8 |
6 |
The Voice (Monday) NBC |
14.4 |
12.6 |
7 |
The Blacklist NBC |
13.1 |
8.6 |
8 |
Madame Secretary CBS |
12.7 |
10.8 |
9 |
60 Minutes CBS |
12 |
11.6 |
11 |
Survivor CBS |
11.4 |
9.6 |
12 |
Scandal ABC |
11.2 |
7.8 |
13 |
CSI: Cyber CBS |
10.5 |
8 |
14 |
NCIS CBS |
10.4 |
10 |
15 |
Grey’s Anatomy ABC |
10.3 |
7.7 |
16 |
The Good Wife CBS |
10.1 |
8.4 |
17 |
American Idol (Thursday) Fox |
9.9 |
8.5 |
20 |
Chicago Fire NBC |
9.7 |
7 |
21 |
Shark Tank ABC |
8.9 |
7.5 |
23 |
20/20: Untold Story of The Sound of Music ABC |
8.6 |
7.3 |
24 |
Last Man Standing ABC |
8.4 |
7 |
25 |
Once Upon A Time ABC |
7.7 |
5.8 |
Total viewers; in millions |