#Empire: With viewership slightly down last Season, How confident are we in the series’ future?
Empire season 4 episode 3We’re back with another edition of our ongoing CarterMatt Ratings Watch article series, and the focus on this one is on Empire that has certainly had quite a run for a while now.
Is the Taraji P. Henson show anywhere near as successful as it once was? Not in terms of live viewership. Season 5 so far is averaging in total a 1.5 rating in the 18-49 demographic, which is down about 16% versus the fourth season’s average. The show has shown some steep decline in the past few years, so we cannot quite say that anything that we’re seeing here is all that much of a surprise. This is a show that got off to such a hot start that it was going to be impossible for them to be able to carry that through for most of the remainder of the series.
With that being said, though, let’s not get things twisted: Empire is still one of the biggest shows that Fox has and it does perform better than a number of other series out there. It’s routinely in contention to be Wednesday’s #1 show and it has made stars out of most of its cast members. Even with it just settling in at its current ratings, it has a lot to brag about. It’s with this in mind that we can say that its future is going to be dictated so much more by what the cast and crew wants than the ratings right now. So long as the show stays above a 1.0, we think that it is going to have a right to dictate its own future. That’s why a season 6 renewal is almost a lock, and why, so long as the cast and crew want to do it, there’s a good chance at a season 7.
The only thing that may hold the show back once you get to a season 6 or a season 7 is the idea of getting many cast members into new contracts — which is customary around that time. Everyone’s going to deserve more if they want to continue in the long-term, but that’s not something to worry about right now. The only thing that could slow Empire down is if the cast members want to move on, but there’s a way for the show to balance that out adequately — why not just give the show a shorter run in the future? That could allow them to continue to be a part of this family and spread their wings.
For now, just continue to enjoy the ride — there’s no reason to doubt the future, and we think that Empire will still be golden for many more years.
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