Law and Order SVU ratings report: Week of March 14, 2019
How did this week’s Law and Order SVU season 20 episode do in the TV ratings? Here’s the March 14 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.
It’s been almost a month since the last new episode; the series has been sidelined since Feb. 21 for a variety of reasons, including a repeat last week. What effect did the lack of momentum have on this week’s installment?
Maybe absence makes the heart grow fonder, at least for TV fans. Thursday’s episode “Missing” brought in 4.31 million people watching live, which was up from the 3.98 who tuned into the Feb. 21 episode (+0.33, or 330,000 more).
The series was seventh in total viewers amongst the 16 shows on broadcast TV that night, and it tied for sixth place amongst the 18-49 demographic. That’s up two spots amongst total viewers.
Here’s where things get interesting. While SVU went up, everything else airing in the 10 p.m. time slot took a ratings hit.
Over on CBS, SWAT dropped to 3.84 million live viewers (compared to 5.40 back on the 21st) and ABC brought in its Shonda Rhimes-produced legal drama For The People with 3.43 million viewers watching live (better than the previous slot-holder How To Get Away With Murder, which had 2.58 opposite the last new Special Victims Unit episode).
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It certainly looks like Olivia Benson and her detectives took viewers from their direct competition, and that’s a goood sign, because for the first time in a long time, they were the top program airing in that time slot. Can they continue to do that next week?
It’d also be great if the show can continue to build its audience, because while 4.3 is not a shabby number, it’d be even better to see something around the 5 million mark. Remember that this is the only Dick Wolf series that NBC hasn’t renewed yet, so numbers still count—and can count for a lot.
Next. Chicago Med alum joins New York Undercover. dark
For the latest SVU season 20 spoilers and news, plus more on all of Dick Wolf’s other series, follow the Dick Wolf category at One Chicago Center.