Empire's Ratings Drop Despite Idol Lead-In

Last week we reported that, in contrast to its huge ratings success in the United States, Fox's Empire was having trouble finding audiences in other countries. This week, the hip-hop drama showed signs that its popularity might be weakening even in the U.S.

Wednesday night's episode of Empire earned a 4.2 rating in the 18-49 age demographic, a number that is one of the lowest of the series' second season. Only three prior episodes of the series rated lower than this week's: last year's November 23 episode, and the first two episodes of the series' first season.

This week's ratings drop is significant because the episode aired following the next-to-last episode of American Idol, and as Idol rolled toward its series finale, its ratings were up considerably. That Empire couldn't capitalize on Idol's hefty lead-in to raise its numbers to the heights it had achieved earlier in its run is somewhat concerning. The series had sometimes been able to pull above a 5.0 rating in same-day viewing, and above 7.0 when delayed viewing was taken into account.

Despite the dip, however, Fox still won the night easily with the combination of Idol and Empire, pulling in an average 3.2 rating in the 18-49 demographic.