Ratings: ABC Game Show Premieres Can’t Quell the ‘Big Brother’ Effect

ABC and CBS tied in primetime ratings on Thursday, but got to their 0.6s in very different ways

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ABC

ABC and CBS tied atop the Nielsen ratings leaderboard on Thursday, but the two broadcast networks took very different paths to get there. For ABC, it was the fall premieres for game shows “Celebrity Family Feud,” “Press Your Luck” and “Match Game” that averaged out to a 0.6. For CBS, it was a strong “Big Brother” at 8 p.m. carrying the weaker “Love Island” and broadcast-television premiere of “Star Trek: Discovery.”

ABC and CBS tied for first in ratings, both with a 0.6 rating/4 share in the advertiser-coveted 18-49 demographic. ABC was first in total viewers with an average of 3.8 million, according to preliminary numbers. CBS was third in total viewers with 2.5 million.

On ABC, “Celebrity Family Feud” at 8 drew a 0.7/4 and 5.1 million viewers. At 9, “Press Your Luck” had a 0.6/4 and 3.5 million viewers. “Match Game” at 10 got a 0.5/3 and 2.9 million viewers. For CBS, “Big Brother” at 8 posted a 1.1/7 and 4 million viewers. “Love Island” at 9 received a 0.5/3 and 1.9 million viewers. The broadcast-TV debut of CBS All Access series “Star Trek: Discovery” at 10 had a 0.2/1 and 1.7 million viewers.

NBC was third in ratings with a 0.4/3 and second in viewers with 3.2 million. “The Wall” at 8 got a 0.4/3 and 2.9 million viewers. From 9-11, “Dateline NBC” averaged a 0.4/3 and 3.3 million viewers.

Fox, Univision and Telemundo tied for fourth in ratings, each with a 0.3/2. Fox was fourth in total viewers with 1.4 million, Univision was fifth with 1.1 million and Telemundo was sixth with 1 million.

Fox aired a pair of repeats on Thursday, filling up its two-hour primetime.

The CW was seventh in ratings with a 0.1/1 and in viewers with 719,000. “Mysteries Decoded” at 8 had a 0.1/1 and 787,000 viewers. A rerun followed.

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