CBS’ “Big Brother” was the highest-rated show in the key adults 18-49 demo during Thursday’s primetime, when the NFL preseason inflated Nielsen numbers across the broadcast networks thanks to several pre-emptions in local markets.
Due to the nature of live television, the below fast-national Nielsen numbers should be considered subject to significant adjustment when the final ratings come in later Friday.
CBS won the night in total viewers with 3.9 million, while NBC took the crown among the adults 18-49 demo (0.8 rating/4 share). CBS and Fox split for second in the demo with a 0.7/4 each. ABC tied with Telemundo for fourth in the demo and total viewers with a 0.4/2, though ABC came out on top with 2.3 million viewers, compared to the Spanish-language network’s 1.01 million.
For CBS, “Elementary” wrapped its seven-season run Thursday with a 0.4/2 and 3.1 million viewers. That was roughly even with its demo performance this season and slightly below its total viewer average.
NBC aired all repeats and finished second in total viewers with 3.7 million.
Fox was third in total viewers with 3.02 million. At 8 p.m., “MasterChef” scored a 0.8/5 and 3.5 million viewers. “Spin the Wheel” at 9 earned a 0.6/3 and 2.6 million viewers.
For ABC, “Holey Moley” at 8 put up a 0.5/3 and 2.9 million viewers. At 9, “Family Food Fight” got a 0.3/2 and just under two million viewers. At 10, “Reef Break” had a 0.3/2 and 2.1 million viewers.
Univision finished ahead of The CW with a 0.3/2 in the demo and 928,000 total viewers.
The CW finished with a 0.2/1 and 804,000 viewers overall. “The Outpost” at 8 managed a 0.2/1 and 898,000 viewers. At 9, the “Two Sentence Horror Stories” series premiere received a 0.2/1 and 708,000 viewers. A second episode at 9:30 got the same rating and share, but pulled in a slightly-higher 713,000 viewers.