Ratings: ‘Big Brother’ Wins Thursday Night Packed With NFL Pre-Emptions

Preseason games created unreliable early numbers across the board — but CBS still came out on top in the end

Big Brother
CBS

CBS won another Thursday primetime — thanks to “Big Brother” — on a summer night marked by chaotic Nielsen numbers — courtesy of the NFL.

Last night, every broadcast network had at least one pre-emption for NFL preseason games in multiple markets throughout the evening, inflating the early data across the board. Because the numbers were more subject to change than usual, TheWrap has updated the early data with the more accurate fast-national ratings from Nielsen below. And, yes, “Big Brother” still scored a touchdown — just not by as much.

CBS was first in ratings with a 0.9 rating/5 share in the advertiser-coveted 18-49 demographic and in total viewers with an average of 3.9 million, according to final numbers. In between repeats at 9 p.m., “Big Brother” scored a 1.4/6 and 5 million viewers.

ABC, Fox and Telemundo tied for second in ratings, ABC with a 0.6/4 and Fox and Telemundo with a 0.6/2.

ABC was second in viewers with 2.8 million. At 8, “The Gong Show” received a 0.4/2 and 2.3 million viewers. At 9, “Match Game,” put up a 0.6/3 and 3 million viewers. At 10, “Take Two” had a 0.6/3 and 3 million viewers.

Fox was fourth in viewers with 1.8 million, airing only encores.

Telemundo was fifth in viewers with 1.5.

NBC was fifth in ratings with a 0.5/3 and third in viewers with 2.6 million. At 9, “Trial & Error” received a 0.4/2 and 1.9 million viewers. A second episode at 9:30 got a 0.3/1 and 1.4 million viewers.

Univision was sixth in ratings with a 0.4/1 and in viewers with 1.2 million.

The CW was seventh in ratings with a 0.1/1 and in viewers with 576,000, filling its primetime block with reruns.

Comments