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FBI: Most Wanted ratings for February 18, 2020: Spinoff on the rise

By Brittany Frederick

"Prophet" - A cult leader and his most trusted followers go on the run after he orders the murder of his own family. As Jess and the team race to find them, they uncover the self-proclaimed prophet's conman past, on FBI: MOST WANTED, Tuesday, Feb. 18 (10:00-11:00 PM, ET/PT) on the CBS Television Network. Pictured (L-R) Kellan Lutz as Kenny Crosby and Roxy Sternberg as Sheryll Barnes, Photo: Mark SchŠfer/CBS ©2019 CBS Broadcasting, Inc. All Rights Reserved
"Prophet" - A cult leader and his most trusted followers go on the run after he orders the murder of his own family. As Jess and the team race to find them, they uncover the self-proclaimed prophet's conman past, on FBI: MOST WANTED, Tuesday, Feb. 18 (10:00-11:00 PM, ET/PT) on the CBS Television Network. Pictured (L-R) Kellan Lutz as Kenny Crosby and Roxy Sternberg as Sheryll Barnes, Photo: Mark SchŠfer/CBS ©2019 CBS Broadcasting, Inc. All Rights Reserved /
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FBI: Most Wanted ratings were on the way up with this week’s episode Prophet. See the FBI: Most Wanted season 1, episode 8 live ratings.

The latest FBI: Most Wanted ratings prove that the FBI spinoff is continuing to grow its audience, even if the CBS series has some work to do before it catches its predecessor.

Tuesday’s installment “Prophet” featured Van Helsing actor-director Jonathan Scarfe as the leader of a disturbing cult, and it brought in 6.23 million live viewers. That’s up significantly from the prior week’s 6.10 million (+0.13, or an extra 130,000).

The extra viewers lifted Most Wanted up one spot in the broadcast TV rankings. It ranked fourth out of the 15 programs that aired during primetime on Tuesday evening, giving CBS three of the top four shows on the night.

For fans, the news gets even better when you zero in on the key demographic of adults 18-49 (the sub-section that appeals most strongly to advertisers and thus, networks). The series was also up in that respect, going from a 0.6 share to a 0.7.

More from FBI: Most Wanted News

It’s currently tied for sixth place amongst the demo audience, deadlocked with FOX‘s medical drama The Resident. And considering that The Resident is in its third season while this show is in its first, that’s nothing to sneeze about.

Want even more encouraging news? FBI: Most Wanted is doing pretty well when it’s compared to the show that it replaced in the Tuesday 10 p.m. time slot. The last NCIS: New Orleans episode to air in this time slot, back on Dec. 17, had 7.05 million people tuned in live. “Prophet” wasn’t there, but it was less than a million viewers apart.

And while it was fourth on its night, NCIS: New Orleans has since tumbled to 5.2 million audience members on Sundays and came in sixth over the weekend. So CBS has to feel confident about its choice to plug the FBI spinoff into the Tuesday spot, where it’s almost comparable to the program that it took over for and continuing to climb higher.

If there’s one downside for the FBI: Most Wanted ratings this time around, it’s that the series has yet to catch up to its parent program. It’s still a good 2-3 million shy on any given week, and well behind the juggernaut that is NCIS.

But in fairness, every Tuesday night broadcast show is well behind NCIS in live ratings. And this is still the first season for the series; not every crime drama is a hit right out of the gate. Especially when it didn’t start until midseason!

Plus, it’s at 10 p.m., which can be difficult for live viewing (as people either are turning in for work or school, or are more likely to have things on the DVR).

So there’s room for improvement here, but “Prophet” is evidence that the FBI brand can well and truly support a franchise. Can it keep rising to make this second series a mega-hit?

Next. FBI ratings cross a memorable threshold. dark

FBI: Most Wanted airs Tuesdays at 10 p.m. ET/PT on CBS.

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