The premiere of the comedy “Fresh Off the Boat” drew ABC’s largest series audience in the 8:30-9 p.m. Wednesday time slot this season, according to live-plus-same day figures released by Nielsen.
“Fresh Off the Boat” averaged 7.94 million viewers, finishing third in the time slot behind the Fox singing competition “American Idol,” which averaged 11.6 million viewers, and the CBS crime drama “The Mentalist,” which averaged 9.1 million.
“Fresh Off the Boat” retained 96 percent of the audience of “The Middle” which preceded it. The amount of viewers a program retains from the preceding program is among the factors network executives consider when deciding whether to renew a series.
“Fresh Off the Boat’s” 2.5 rating among viewers ages 18-49 was the second highest for a comedy premiere this season, behind only ABC’s “black- ish.”
ABC, Fox and NBC target viewers ages 18-49, who are coveted by advertisers because they watch less television than average and are harder to reach.
Ratings for premieres are often unrepresentative of how the series will fare due to the heavy promotion they receive and because viewers who are interested in the concept may not return for future episodes.
A second episode of “Fresh Off the Boat” that aired from 9:31-10 p.m. averaged 7.47 million viewers, retaining 75.7 percent of the audience of “Modern Family” that preceded it.
The second “Fresh Off the Boat” episode was also third in its time slot behind the Fox hip-hop drama “Empire,” which averaged 11.45 million viewers, and the CBS crime drama “Criminal Minds,” which averaged 10.46 million.
—City News Service