Chicago Fire crossed over with Chicago P.D. for the annual One Chicago two-parter on February 26, and it's already safe to say that Fire needs to cross over with P.D. and Med on NBC even more in future. The numbers are in for One Chicago on the night of the crossover, and while all three series enjoyed solid ratings, Fire came out on top.
One Chicago has earned a reputation for its remarkable consistency in ratings and viewership, with Chicago Med at 8 p.m., Chicago Fire at 9 p.m., and Chicago P.D. at 10 p.m. regularly dominating their time slots on Wednesday nights. Med is usually on top, but Fire had the edge on February 26 and even reached its largest same-day audience in more than a year. Read on for the notable Live+Same day numbers in the key 18-49 demographic from Chicago Fire's February 26 crossover with P.D.!
With the first half of the crossover that brought back a long-lost P.D. character at 9 p.m., Chicago Fire attracted an audience of 8.56 million, which THR reports is Fire's largest audience since all the way back on February 20, 2019. That episode was viewed by 8.85 million. Notably, Fire's audience for this P.D. crossover was smaller than its audience for the much-hyped "Infection" crossover between all three One Chicago shows back in the fall. Fire also got a boost in the ratings, hitting a 1.2.
I don't want to say that the boosts are 100% due to the crossover with P.D., but NBC went all-out on advertising the two-parter, and P.D. received boosts of its own, if not quite equal to Fire's. Chicago P.D.'s viewership jumped to 8.16 million for the second half of the crossover with Fire, which marked P.D.'s biggest audience since the "Infection" crossover. It tied Fire's 1.2 rating, which pretty much never happens for P.D. in Live+Same day calculation. The bump for Chicago Fire seemingly carried on into P.D.!
In case Fire hitting its highest viewership in more than a year and scoring a 1.2 isn't enough of a sign that the crossover was a winner for the heroes of Firehouse 51, Fire also managed to beat Med on the night, when Med is often the most-viewed of the One Chicago series. Admittedly, Fire didn't win by much, with its 8.56 million slightly edging out Med's 8.53 million, but it's icing on the ratings cake for Fire!
While more crossovers would likely be great for Fire (as well as Med and P.D.), will they happen? One Chicago generally comes together for one mega crossover between all of its shows in the fall, and then airs a two-parter between Fire and P.D. in the winter/early spring.
There are also frequent mini crossovers, with characters from the various shows dropping by the others to lend a hand. This formula has clearly worked with all three shows airing on the same night, so much so that I've come to suspect Grey's Anatomy and Station 19 on ABC are trying to replicate the success.
Considering NBC just handed down massive renewals for all three One Chicago series (and Law & Order: SVU), Fire, P.D., and Med still have three more seasons to cross over with each other. For now, you can catch new episodes on Wednesday nights, with Med at 8 p.m., Fire at 9 p.m., and P.D. at 10 p.m. on NBC.
