Law and Order SVU ratings report: Week of November 15

How did this week’s Law and Order SVU season 20 episode do in the TV ratings? Here’s the Nov. 15 edition of the SVU Ratings Report.

With the 20th season of Law & Order: Special Victims Unit season continuing, it’s time for another look at the Dick Wolf series’ TV ratings with the SVU Ratings Report.

Thursday’s installment “Mea Culpa” lost a sizeable portion of the show’s audience and brought it down under the 4 million live viewer mark, for the second time since “Accredo” aired on Oct. 18.

That episode had 3.96 million live viewers, and this week’s episode pulled in 3.99 million people watching live.

Ultimately, SVU lost 440,000 viewers this Thursday and had one of its lowest-rated episodes of the season. So what could’ve contributed to the decline?

Thursday evening was dominated by FOX‘s coverage of Thursday Night Football, which brought in the majority of the adults 18-49 crowd (3.5 share) and the second-most viewers (11.94 million).

Among the 10 p.m. shows, both of the series Special Victims Unit competes with picked up 14 percent in that demographic. CBS‘s SWAT and ABC‘s How To Get Away With Murder each had a gain of 14.3 percent more viewers aged 18-49 this week, which had to come from somewhere. Was it football, or was it NBC?

It’s impossible to tell, but the fact that both of its direct competitors are gaining viewers then is more competition for the Dick Wolf show.

Plus, NBC’s Thursday night lineup is not doing Olivia Benson and company any favors. There were 17 shows airing on broadcast TV this Thursday, and the four comedies in front of SVU were ranked 11th, 14th, 13th and 15th respectively. Its direct lead-in I Feel Bad reached less than 2 million live watchers.

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Currently, SVU season 20 remains 10th out of 17 shows and is now 10th among the 18-49 crowd. Keep an eye on its next new episode, because this week was the midseason finale of How To Get Away With Murder, so there will be something new on ABC when SVU returns. That might work to the show’s benefit.

It’s not good that the audience is shrinking but it’s still NBC’s most-watched show, which has to count for something. Perhaps after the holidays, with a change in competition, more people will find their way back to SVU.