The meteoric rise (and rise and rise) of Empire‘s first season concluded during Wednesday’s two-hour finale. And though it appears to be again steady in the targeted demographic of adults 18-49, the show, as is its habit, added even more viewers.
Two hours of Empire averaged a 6.5 rating among adults 18-49 and 16.7 million viewers. As for its audience, that’s up 800,000 viewers from the previous week. The tune-in during the regular 9 p.m. hour was even more impressive. In its time slot, Empire fetched a 6.9 rating in the demo and 17.6 million viewers. (The nightly total gave Fox broadcast’s highest-rated night of regular programming since American Idol in 2012.)
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Empire premiered Jan. 7 to a 3.8 rating among adults 18-49 and 9.9 million viewers. It subsequently grew its viewership every week for each of the 11 episodes that followed — and, with the exception last week’s penultimate outing, Empire also managed the same feat in the key demo.
That’s just the same-day scores. With seven days of DVR, the latest data has Empire averaging a 6.5 rating with adults 18-49 and 15.8 million viewers. It will end the season as the top show on the broadcast networks, having officially passed The Big Bang Theory in the key demo, and second only to The Walking Dead on all of TV.
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Competition was slim, as most other nets opted for repeats. But CBS took second place for the night with a steady Survivor (2.2 adults) and a somewhat-diminished CSI: Cyber (1.4 adults), which was off three-tenths of a point from last week.
ABC aired the special The Untold Story of The Sound of Music (1.4 adults), and The CW had a steady move for Supernatural (0.7 adults) after Arrow (0.8 adults) lost three-tenths of a point at 8 p.m.
This article was originally published by The Hollywood Reporter.