Fast National ratings for Wednesday, July 30, 2014.
A move to a new time period didn't hurt “Extant” among young viewers, but it didn't help the Halle Berry drama overall. CBS stayed second overall for Wednesday night behind NBC, but “Big Brother” helped the network tie for the primetime lead in the key demo.
Interestingly, the night's most notable result came not on The Big Four, but on The CW, which got a rather impressive premiere for “Penn & Teller: Fool Us,” which delivered the network's best non-“Whose Line” ratings of the summer.
And yes, you'll have to wait until the afternoon (or later) for “Sharknado 2: The Second One” figures. Sorry.
On to the numbers…
Among adults 18-49, NBC and CBS averaged a 1.5 rating for Wednesday night, tops in the key demographic. FOX averaged a 1.1 key demo rating for third, followed by ABC's 0.9 key demo rating. The CW averaged a 0.3 key demo rating for the night.
Overall, NBC won Wednesday night handily, averaging 7.5 million viewers and a 4.4 rating/8 share, far ahead of the 5.71 million viewers and 3.6/7 for CBS. ABC averaged a 2.3/4 and 3.58 million viewers, edging out FOX's 2.2/4 and 3.49 million viewers. The CW averaged a 0.7/1 and 1.15 million viewers for the night.
8 p.m. – “Big Brother” led the 8 p.m. hour for CBS with 6.49 million viewers and a 2.2 rating among adults 18-49. NBC's “America's Got Talent” encore was second with 6.29 million viewers and a distant second with a 1.2 key demo rating. ABC's “The Middle” and “The Goldbergs” repeats averaged 3.8 million viewers and a 0.9 key demo rating, compared to the 3.42 million viewers and 1.1 key demo rating for FOX's “So You Think You Can Dance.” The CW's “Penn & Teller: Fool Us” premiere averaged 1.76 million viewers and a 0.5 key demo rating.
9 p.m. – “America's Got Talent” pushed NBC into first for the 9 p.m. hour with 10.61 million viewers and a 2.2 rating among adults 18-49, more than doubling the 4.73 million viewers and 1.1 key demo rating for CBS' “Criminal Minds” repeat. FOX's “So You Think You Can Dance” was third with 3.56 million viewers and tied for second with a 1.1 key demo rating, topping the 3.44 million viewers and 1.0 key demo rating for ABC's “Modern Family” and “The Goldbergs” repeats. The CW's “The 100” repeat averaged 546,000 viewers and a 0.2 key demo rating.
10 p.m. – Pushed back an hour, “Extant” slipped to 5.905 million viewers, but remained steady with a 1.1 rating among adults 18-49. NBC's “Taxi Brooklyn” was a close second with 5.6 million viewers and tied for first with a 1.1 key demo rating. [Expect “Taxi Brooklyn” to slip in Finals, while “Extant” was steady across the hour and will also likely get a bigger DVR bump.] ABC's “Motive” averaged 3.5 million viewers and a 0.7 key demo rating.
All ratings information comes from preliminary Fast National Nielsen data, which includes live and same-day DVR viewing. All numbers are subject to change.