Chicago PD season 5 ratings report
How did Chicago PD ratings hold up in this latest season? We examine Chicago PD season 5 ratings and see what they tell us about Chicago PD’s season.
With Chicago PD season 5 in the books, we’re taking a more thorough look back at the show’s ratings this season, to get a better look at how the series fared during the 2017-2018 season.
When you look at this season of Chicago PD, one word comes to mind: consistency. This is the only One Chicago show that did not change its time slot this season.
It’s also the only series that didn’t, at some point during the season, have a freshman show as its lead-in. For Hank Voight and the Intelligence Unit, this season was business as usual, at least in the business of TV.
So did that stability on the schedule pay off in the ratings? Let’s take a look.
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There were 22 episodes of Chicago PD season 5, and in that sample, 16 of them were in the 6 million live viewer range.
Only one reached the 7 million live audience mark, but just five dropped into the 5 million range.
That’s the most consistency of any of the One Chicago shows—72 percent of Chicago PD episodes were in the same ratings range, compared to 55 percent for Chicago Med and 52 percent for Chicago Fire.
That’s where we see the effect that consistent scheduling has on a TV show. NBC didn’t mess with Chicago PD, except to preempt it twice for sports (like the one episode that got pulled for the World Series), and that made it easier for a regular audience to come back week after week rather than wondering when it was on, or if it was on at all.
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The average live audience for Chicago PD season 5 was 6.32 million live viewers. That actually ranks it second among the One Chicago shows for the season—Chicago Med has a slightly larger average (6.59 million) because it had more episodes that passed the 7 million mark.
Chicago Fire‘s average audience (5.91 million) came in third, some 410,000 viewers behind the Intelligence Unit.
Chicago PD‘s lowest-rated episode of the season was “Fallen” at 5.14 million live viewers. On the opposite end of the spectrum, bringing in the highest number was “Anthem” at 7.22 million.
This season also featured the show’s milestone 100th episode “Profiles” which had 6.83 million audience members tuning in live as part of the sole crossover with Chicago Fire.
And for the curious, the shocking season finale that confirmed the death of Alvin Olinsky (Elias Koteas) had 6.29 million live eyeballs. “Homecoming” came in 12th amongst the 22 episodes this season, so killing off Olinsky didn’t have any major effect in the TV ratings while creating all kinds of disagreement amongst the fans.
Next: Where to watch Chicago PD in June
The fifth season of Chicago PD held steady, delivering numbers that NBC should be proud of. But it should also serve as a teaching moment for the network, too—the show that stays in one place is able to get an audience to stay. As it’s also the one show that isn’t being reshuffled again on the fall schedule, let’s see if that still holds true in a few more months.