All the twists and turns that happened on screen between Lucious, Cookie, and the rest of the Lyon family weren’t the only insane things about last night’s Empire finale, as the craziness of what happened in the show was mirrored by the absolutely ridiculous audience that the episode drew. The FOX series, which has consistently grown in total audience with every new episode it has aired this season, was watched by 16.7 million viewers during its Season 1 finale, garnering a 6.5 rating among adults 18-49. That’s not only the largest audience that has watched Empire all season long, but it also makes last night’s two-hour episode the highest-rated season finale for any first year show since Grey’s Anatomy in 2005.
But the records don’t end there. Empire‘s finale gave FOX its highest-rated Wednesday night in more than three years, and per EW.com, it also makes the freshman series broadcast’s top-rated TV series among original episodes (drama or comedy), beating out CBS’ monster hit The Big Bang Theory in the adult demo. And since Empire somehow managed to grow in viewership for ten weeks (ten weeks, guys!) straight, there’s no telling how many more people will tune in to watch when the show returns for Season 2 (which, if FOX wants to really capitalize on Empire‘s success, will be sometime this fall and not in early 2016).
Additionally, Empire‘s incredible ratings have inspired Hulu to snag exclusive streaming rights to the series. While episodes of Empire have already been on Hulu during Season 1, this ensures that Hulu will has exclusive streaming rights to the show for not just this season but any additional ones as well, so don’t expect Empire to show up on Netflix or Amazon any time in the near future.
“Empire is truly a television phenomenon,” said Craig Erwich, Head of Content at Hulu. “Empire’s story lines and music continue to dominate the popular culture conversation each week. Since its premiere, the series has remained one of the top shows on Hulu and we are ecstatic to be the exclusive streaming home to the biggest show of the year.”
[Photo via FOX]
Read more at http://www.tvovermind.com/empire/empire-finale-breaks-ratings-record-now-tops-big-bang-theory-tvs-top-rated-show-253697#2j5WqGhm1oKck8Q
No comments:
Post a Comment