TV Ratings: NBC’s preseason football, ‘Big Brother’ hard to beat

While “Big Brother” made for solid competition on CBS, the big winner of the evening was pre-season football on NBC. The big game led the network to a win for the evening, consistently scoring the best ratings throughout the night.  

Among adults 18-49, NBC averaged a 2.5 rating for the night, a far cry from ABC’s 1.5 rating in the key demographic. CBS averaged a 1.4 rating, followed by Fox’s 1.1 rating.

Overall, NBC averaged an estimated 7.3 million viewers for the night along with a 4.5 rating/7 share. CBS scored 3.8/6 and 5.944 million viewers, almost neck and neck with the 3.6/6 and 5.959 million viewers for ABC. Fox averaged 2.365 million viewers and a 1.4/2 for the night.

7 p.m. – CBS’ “60 Minutes” won the hour with 7.903 million viewers and a 1.0 rating among adults 18-49. ABC’s “America’s Funniest Home Videos” came in second with 6.335 million viewers and a 1.4 rating among adults 18-49, while “NBC Sports” lagged behind with 4.188 million viewers. Fox brought up the rear with repeats of “American Dad” and “Bob’s Burgers,” which scored an average of 1.799 million viewers.

8 p.m. – NBC let the games begin with its football programming netting 8.676 million viewers and a 2.9 rating with adults 18-49. “Big Brother” came in second with 7.748 million viewers and a 2.9 rating with adults 18-49, while a repeat of “Extreme Makeover: Home Edition” brought in 6.029 viewers and Fox’s animation block of repeats of “The Simpsons” and “The Cleveland Show” scored an average of 2.656 million viewers.

9 p.m. – NBC continued to dominate with 9.003 million viewers and a 2.9 rating with adults 18-49. ABC’s “20/20: The Sixth” brought in 6.029 million viewers and a 1.6 rating with adults 18-49. CBS’ repeat of “The Good Wife” scored 3.708 million sets of eyeballs, while Fox’s “Family Guy” followed by “In the Flow with Affion Crockett” came in last with 2.640 million viewers.

10 p.m. NBC scored again with 7.519 million viewers and a 2.6 rating with adults 18-49. “20/20: The Sixth” came in second with 5.933 million viewers and CBS’ repeat of “CSI: Miami” brought up the rear with 4.419 million viewers.