‘American Idol’ wins ratings on repeat-heavy Wednesday

As the networks continue to space out new episodes of shows in the final months of the 2012-2013 season, last night’s schedule was packed with repeats. Still, each network did have at least one new show, but nothing could top a new American Idol on Fox.

Idol powered Fox to an easy win, drawing 12.7 million viewers and a 3.7 18-49 rating. The episode was down 3 percent from last Wednesday’s episode, notes Deadline. It did do better than Tuesday’s special episode, though.

According to HitFix CBS came in a very distant second, averaging 7.91 million viewers and a 1.9 18-49 rating. The network’s only new show was Survivor: Caramoan, which had 9.36 million viewers and a 2.5 18-49 rating. That was a 9 percent drop from last week. CBS’ repeats of Criminal Minds (7.27 million; 1.7) and CSI (7.1 million; 1.5) followed, both doing better than ABC and NBC in their timeslots.

ABC averaged 4.76 million viewers and a 1.5 18-49 rating. Sandwiched between reruns were new episodes of The Neighbors and Suburgatory. Neighbors had 5.61 million viewers and a 1.7 key demo rating, which was about the same as last week. Suburgatory had 4.62 million and a 1.7. a series low, notes THR.

NBC managed to draw 3.85 million viewers and a 1.1 18-49 rating. It’s only new show on the night was a Whitney episode, which pulled in 3.8 million viewers and a 1.3 18-49 rating. Its most watched show on the night was a Law & Order: SVU repeat, which drew 4.25 million and a 1.1 18-49 rating.

The CW’s repeats of Arrow and Supernatural averaged 1.43 million viewers and a 0.4 18-49 rating.

Univision again beat NBC, averaging 4.3 million viewers and a 1.7 key demo rating.