Fans of the hit series “Empire” are apparently not feeling any love for baseball. Fox aired two games of the World Series (which, if you somehow haven’t heard, was ultimately won by Kansas City) and Cookie and company got pushed to the curb. Black viewers apparently sat on their hands, as no other Wednesday night show benefited from the hip-hop drama’s eight million fans.
Even without its juggernaut, Fox won a close race for the title of the week’s most watched TV network, with 11.7 million for its seven shows on the chart. CBS followed closely behind with 11 million viewers across eight of its shows. NBC took third with 9.2 million for five programs.
The total number of viewers for the Top 25 most popular shows in Black households, according to Nielsen, was down 17 percent from the previous week to 40.5 million.
Black TV Ratings for Week of Oct. 26 – Nov. 1
Top 25 Broadcast TV Shows in Black Households
| Rank | Program | Network | % of AA Homes | % of AAs P2+ | AA Viewers (000) |
| 1 | NBC SUNDAY NIGHT FOOTBALL | NBC | 14.9 | 7.8 | 3,071 |
| 2 | THE OT | FOX | 14.4 | 7.8 | 3,067 |
| 3 | SCANDAL | ABC | 13.5 | 6.6 | 2,608 |
| 4 | THURS NITE FOOTBALL | CBS | 12.6 | 6.3 | 2,481 |
| 5 | HOW TO GET AWAY W/MURDER | ABC | 12.2 | 5.9 | 2,313 |
| 6 | SUNDAY NIGHT NFL PRE-KICK | NBC | 11.1 | 5.9 | 2,313 |
| 7 | FOX WORLD SERIES GM5-PRE | FOX | 10.7 | 5.7 | 2,258 |
| 8 | FOOTBALL NT AMERICA PT 3 | NBC | 8.2 | 4.4 | 1,738 |
| 9 | FOX WORLD SERIES GAME 5 | FOX | 7.9 | 4.2 | 1,666 |
| 10 | THURS NITE PRE-KICK | CBS | 7.7 | 3.8 | 1,517 |
| 11 | NCIS: NEW ORLEANS | CBS | 6.9 | 3.2 | 1,258 |
| 12 | THURS NITE FTBALL KICK-OFF2 | CBS | 6.9 | 3.4 | 1,349 |
| 13 | NCIS | CBS | 6.9 | 3.1 | 1,240 |
| 14 | DANCING WITH THE STARS | ABC | 6.5 | 3.1 | 1,238 |
| 15 | BLACK-ISH | ABC | 6.3 | 3.2 | 1,251 |
| 16 | FOX WORLD SERIES GAME 2 | FOX | 6.3 | 3.2 | 1,248 |
| 17 | FOX WORLD SERIES GAME 1 | FOX | 6.2 | 3.1 | 1,220 |
| 18 | 60 MINUTES | CBS | 6.1 | 2.8 | 1,121 |
| 19 | FOX WORLD SERIES GAME 4 | FOX | 5.8 | 2.9 | 1,155 |
| 20 | SUPERGIRL | CBS | 5.7 | 2.8 | 1,120 |
| 21 | FOX WORLD SERIES GAME 3 | FOX | 5.7 | 2.8 | 1,106 |
| 22 | VOICE | NBC | 5.6 | 2.9 | 1,139 |
| 23 | BLUE BLOODS | CBS | 5.5 | 2.6 | 1,011 |
| 24 | CHICAGO PD | NBC | 5.4 | 2.6 | 1,027 |
| 25 | GREAT PUMPKIN, C. BROWN 2 | ABC | 5.0 | 2.7 | 1,057 |
Source: Nielsen. Number of viewers ages 2+ shown in thousands (1,000 = 1 million). Rankings are based on share of black households. Representing more than 13.45 million television households in the U.S., the African-American television audience is the largest minority segment in Nielsen’s measurement samples. All times are eastern.