Wednesday Ratings: ‘Survivor,’ Crime Dramas Lift CBS to Victory

“Survivor” came back to earth after its especially strong performance, but it and timeslot-winning outings by “Criminal Minds” and “CSI: Cyber” lifted CBS to victory in key demos on Wednesday. It remains slow going, meanwhile, for Fox’s “American Idol,” which remained low even without “The Voice” in its path.

According to preliminary national estimates from Nielsen, “Survivor” averaged a 2.2 rating/8 share in adults 18-49 and 9.4 million viewers overall to stand as Wednesday’s No. 1 program in both 18-49 and 25-54 (3.0/9). Oddly, it was down 0.3 from last week when it had additional reality-show competition from NBC’s “The Voice.”

From 9 to 11 p.m, “Criminal Minds” (2.0/6 in 18-49, 10.2 million viewers overall) and “CSI: Cyber” (1.5/5 in 18-49, 8.1 million viewers overall) led their timeslots in 18-49, with the former also the night’s most-watched show overall. They weren’t able to take advantage of NBC going to repeats with their competing crime dramas, with both CBS shows on par with last week (“Criminal Minds” should round to a 2.1 in the nationals).

ABC’s comedy block had another good night even without an original “Modern Family.” “The Middle” (1.9/7 in 18-49, 7.4 million viewers overall) was even and “The Goldbergs” was up (2.1/7 in 18-49, 6.9 million viewers overall) and also seems poised to round up to a 2.2 in the nationals. The hour was a close second to “Survivor” in 18-49 while easily beating third-place “American Idol.”

Following a “Modern Family” repeat (1.8/6 in 18-49, 6.0 million viewers overall), a special firstrun episode of “The Goldbergs” (1.9/6 in 18-49, 5.7 million viewers overall) fared the same as last week’s original “Black-ish” behind a “Modern” repeat; it came within a tenth of “Criminal Minds” for the 18-49 lead at 9:30. And at 10, “Nashville” (1.2/4 in 18-49, 4.6 million viewers overall) was up a tenth from last week’s low.

Fox’s “American Idol” (1.4/5 in 18-49, 7.5 million viewers overall) merely matched last week’s low in 18-49 despite lesser competition on NBC, which switched from “The Voice” to a repeat of “The Mysteries of “Laura” at 8 (0.7/3 in 18-49, 4.5 million viewers overall). It did jump up week to week in total viewers by about 15%.

“Laura” was followed on NBC by encores of “Law & Order: SVU” (0.8/3 in 18-49, 4.0 million viewers overall) and “Chicago P.D.” (0.8/3 in 18-49, 4.1 million viewers overall).

At CW, both “Arrow” (0.9/3 in 18-49, 2.4 million viewers overall) and “Supernatural” (0.7/2 in 18-49, 1.8 million viewers overall) were up a tick from their most recent originals, which had produced season lows for both. “Arrow,” which beat the Big Four in men 18-34 (0.9/4), was up 29% in 18-49 and 33% in 18-34 vs. the same night a year ago, while this was the largest overall audience for “Supernatural” since mid-February.

Preliminary 18-49 averages for the night: CBS, 1.9/6; ABC, 1.7/6; Fox, 1.4/5; Univision, 0.9/3; NBC and CW, 0.8/3; Telemundo, 0.5/2.

In total viewers: CBS, 9.2 million; Fox, 7.5 million; ABC, 5.9 million; NBC, 4.2 million; Univision, 2.5 million; CW, 2.1 million; Telemundo, 1.3 million.

Related stories

Wednesday Ratings: 'Black-ish' Hits 2015 High As ABC Wins Night

Ratings: 'Survivor' Lifts CBS to Victory on First Post-'Empire' Wednesday

Ratings: Fox's 'Empire' Adds Viewers for Ninth Straight Week Heading Into Finale

Get more from Variety and Variety411: Follow us on Twitter, Facebook, Newsletter