Survivor ratings: Ghost Island premiere tops the night

Photo: Robert Voets/CBS Entertainment ©2018 CBS Broadcasting, Inc. All Rights Reserved.
Photo: Robert Voets/CBS Entertainment ©2018 CBS Broadcasting, Inc. All Rights Reserved.

Ghost Island continued the trend of Survivor ratings being the dominant force for Wednesday nights, as the Survivor Ghost Island premiere thrived.

Survivor Ghost Island entered its season on a bit of uncertainty. Fans of the show were getting tired of the outrageous number of advantages and idols found and played throughout the previous season, as well as a Final Four twist that fundamentally changed the flow of the game in untold ways. Thankfully, it’s hard to wear down the faithful audience of fans, as Wednesday night proved.

TV By The Numbers has posted the Wednesday, February 28 final Nielsen ratings, revealing that Survivor Ghost Island led the night in all categories. Its 8.19 million viewers were better than the second-place Chicago PD with 6.09 million viewers. Meanwhile, its 1.7/7 ratings/share split marked a better performance in the key demographic than anything else on the night. The only show to come close was 9-1-1 on FOX with 1.5/6.

In no uncertain terms, it means that the Survivor ratings heading into the 36th season of the show are so good that nothing else can come close right now. Once Empire returns around late March, then we may see some legitimate competition. Even then, its ratings have slipped in comparison to Survivor.

One reason Ghost Island returned to such a strong performance could be due to the fact that it’s a two-hour episode. In theory, that’s supposed to give fans a better perspective of all the castaways, as last season’s Heroes vs. Healers vs. Hustlers debut was just an hour short; the first time CBS has done that since One World. In practice, four players received zero confessionals, and two players had almost nothing to say!

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That could also be why the Survivor ratings for the premiere declined after each half-hour; the season’s theme didn’t grab people in. It will be interesting to see how things fare next week with a tribe swap coming.