Prodigal Son ratings for Oct. 14: Freshman favorite holding steady

Prodigal Son ratings are staying firm as FOX’s buzzy freshman series continues, but is there cause for concern? See the latest Prodigal Son numbers.

Fans of FOX‘s new crime drama Prodigal Son will be happy to know that there hasn’t been much change in the show’s ratings this week. But there’s still some reason to be worried about its fate.

Monday’s episode “Designer Complicity” was the series’ fourth, with Malcolm (Tom Payne) finally starting to get some clarity about his dysfunctional childhood and confronting his mother Jessica (Bellamy Young).

The hour recorded 3.614 million live viewers, which was down only slightly from the previous mark of 3.79 million; that’s a difference of 0.18, or about 180,000 people.

Prodigal Son continued to rank tenth out of the 12 programs that aired on broadcast TV Monday. When you look at it that way, it’s certainly not encouraging; only The CW‘s All American and Black Lightning had smaller audiences.

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But much like the show itself, there’s more going on with these numbers than meets the eye. While the series may not have a huge total audience, there are a couple of factors that could work in its favor while fans wait to see if FOX will renew it for a second season.

More: What are Prodigal Son’s chances of being renewed?

Even if the show is on the lower end when it comes to total viewers, it’s scoring where it matters most: among adults aged 18-49. That’s the biggest cross-section that networks consider, because that’s the demographic which appeals the most to advertisers.

When you look at that group specifically, Prodigal Son is doing much better. Its 0.8 share this week was good enough to tie it for fifth out of 12 shows—and last week it scored a 0.9 that ranked it third in the key demo. So if it can pick up just that one more point again, it’s going to be one of the most-watched shows among the age group that networks and advertisers want the most.

Need another reason to feel optimistic? Prodigal Son is on pace with NBC‘s equally highly promoted Bluff City Law. The legal drama had 3.617 million people watching live this Monday, so it was only 0.004 ahead of the FOX series.

And that’s with all the attention that Bluff City Law has been given, with constant advertisements including during NBC’s Sunday Night Football. It’d be easy for Prodigal Son to surpass that, though it would have more work to do if it wanted to be Monday night’s top new series.

That title is held by CBS‘s courtroom drama All Rise, which pulled in 5.02 million viewers live, and also happens to be Prodigal Son‘s direct competition at 9 p.m.

But that series isn’t as attractive to viewers 18-49; it only had a 0.6 share in that category, compared to the FOX drama’s 0.8. And as we mentioned above, just one percentage point can make a significant difference, so a two-point gap is something to be proud of.

Considering that FOX has already ordered a full season of the serial killer drama, the network clearly has faith in it. It’s not implausible for the show to get to that 4 million mark, and that would put it fairly close to All Rise and well ahead of Bluff City Law. Plus, with Prodigal Son‘s appeal to the right demos, its chances for renewal look pretty good.

Prodigal Son Season 1 continues next Monday, Oct. 21 at 9 p.m. on FOX. Will the show gain more viewers as the season progresses?