Ratings: Fox Happy to Swap Out ‘Empire’ for World Series Game 2

Fox didn’t air “Empire” last night, but still walked away with a big Wednesday win — the broadcaster will let World Series rights preempt even its strongest regular primetime programming any day.

Read the network’s overnight metered-market TV ratings for Game 2 here. And here are Game 1’s fast national numbers from Tuesday.

Also of note last night, at 10 p.m., NBC’s “Chicago PD” managed to match ABC’s down “Designated Survivor” in the key 18-49 demographic for the first time.

Also Read: World Series Game 2 Stays Strong, Jumps 22 Percent Over Mets-Royals in Early Ratings

Fox was first in ratings with a 4.9 rating in the main demo and in total viewers with an average of 17.4 million, according to preliminary numbers. Game 2 ran throughout primetime and beyond.

ABC was second in ratings with a 1.6/5 and third in viewers with 6.2 million. “The Goldbergs” at 8 had a 1.7/6 and 6.1 million viewers. At 8:30, “Speechless” got a 1.6/5 and 5.8 million viewers. “Modern Family” at 9 earned a 2.2/7 and 7.3 million viewers. At 9:30, “Black-ish” posted a 1.7/5 and 5.8 million viewers. “Designated Survivor” at 10 dipped to a 1.3/4 and 6.2 million viewers.

CBS was third in ratings with a 1.5/5 and second in viewers with 7.2 million. “Survivor” at 8 put up a 1.8/6 and 8.3 million viewers. At 9, “Criminal Minds” had a 1.6/5 and 7.7 million viewers. “Code Black” at 10 got a 1.0/3 and 5.7 million viewers.

Also Read: Ratings: Game 1 of World Series Approaches 20 Million Total Viewers

NBC was fourth in ratings with a 1.3/4 and in viewers with 5.5 million. “Blindspot” at 8 received a 1.1/4 and 5.1 million viewers. At 9, “Law & Order: SVU” had a 1.4/4 and 5.6 million viewers. “Chicago PD” at 10 got a 1.3/4 and 5.8 million viewers.

Telemundo was fifth in ratings with a 0.7/2 and in viewers with 1.8 million.

Univision and CW tied for sixth in ratings, both with a 0.5/2. Univision was sixth in total viewers with 1.55 million, CW was seventh with 1.45 million.

Also Read: World Series Game 1 Jumps 20 Percent From Mets-Royals in Early TV Ratings

For CW, “Arrow” at 8 had a 0.7/2 and 1.9 million viewers. At 9, “Frequency” got a 0.3/1 and 1 million viewers.