As predicted when The Masked Singer moved to Wednesday night, Survivor ratings slip for the Island of the Idols premiere to a new contender.
For the longest time, it seemed as though moving Survivor from Thursday night to Wednesday night would cement the show’s legacy as a Wednesday night ratings leader. That was the case for much of the 2010s, but as Bob Dylan once said, “You better start swimmin’ or you’ll sink like a stone, for the times they are a-changin’.”
The final Survivor ratings for Wednesday night are in, and the Island of the Idols premiere lost in both viewership and in the key ratings/share split for the night. Episode 1 gathered a peak of 6.29 million live plus same-day viewers with a ratings/share split of 1.3/6. All of those figures lost to the two-hour premiere of The Masked Singer, which topped out at 8.02 million viewers and a 2.5/12 ratings/share split.
When CBS announced their Fall primetime schedule, I had mentioned at the time this was Survivor’s biggest test in the ratings in quite some time. However, I didn’t figure that FOX would double what CBS put out with The Masked Singer, as it couldn’t have been all of Tyler “Ninja” Blevins’ followers tuning in to drive the numbers.
To give an idea of how much the Island of the Idols premiere slumped compared to past premieres, the Edge of Extinction premiere showed a Survivor ratings/share at 1.6/7 with 7.75 million viewers. Additionally, the David vs. Goliath premiere posted numbers of 1.7/7 with 7.83 million viewers.
That should give you an idea of just how much a hit CBS’ ratings darling has taken thanks to a hot, relatively new FOX show trying to steal Wednesday night’s ratings. It should not reflect the product appearing on television, as these 20 castaways plus the mentors have been nothing but entertaining early on.