'Empire' ratings climb again in week 3 

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Gary Levin, USA TODAY 5:18 p.m. EST January 22, 2015

Cookie (Taraji P. Henson) says grace in the "The Devil Quotes Scripture" episode of "Empire."

This story has been updated with final Nielsen ratings for Wednesday.

The hip-hop family soap drew an average of 11.1 million same-day viewers for Wednesday\'s third episode, up from 10.3 million last week and 9.9 million for its Jan. 7 premiere.

A drama that builds in its second and third weeks is a rare and impressive feat, hinting at long-term success as more viewers discover the show, which stars Terrence Howard and Taraji P. Henson.

Modern Family and Black-ish (which also features a mostly black cast) aired repeats Wednesday night. But typically new shows\' premieres attract their largest audience, while subsequent episodes decline and then settle at a lower number.

Instead, Empire\'s audience was up 8% week to week, and its young-adult viewership rose 10%. Sixty percent of the audience for its first two episodes was African-American.