Faced with competition from the Olympics, ABC's "Secret Millionaire" and "Extreme Makeover: Weight Loss Edition" plunged to series lows, but CBS's "Big Brother" gained, according to preliminary numbers.
NBC took an easy first place in ratings and total viewers with its Olympics coverage, scoring a 9.3 rating/26 share in the advertiser-coveted 18-49 demographic and 29.2 million total viewers. The special "Michael Phelps: America's Gold Champion" at 7 p.m. posted a 5.9/20 in the demo and 20.5 million total viewers, while the Olympics themselves the following hour drew a 10.5/27 in the demo and 32.1 million total viewers. That's a 9 percent dip in the demo from last Sunday, but a 14 percent bump from the equivalent night in the 2008 Olympics in Beijing. Overall, the London Olympics are outpacing the Beijing games by 5 percent in the demo.
Fox, which ran repeats throughout the night, took a distant second in the demo and fourth place in total viewers with a 1.2/3 and 2.7 million.
CBS came in third in ratings and second in total viewers with a 1.1/3 and 4.6 million. The network aired reruns, aside from "Big brother" at 8, which was up 11 percent in the demo compared to last Sunday with a 2.1/6 and drew 5.8 million total viewers.
Univision drew fourth place in ratings and fifth in total viewers with 0.9/3 and 2.6 million.
ABC took fifth place in ratings and third in total viewers with a 0.8/2 and 3.2 million total viewers. Its original programming took big hits, starting with "Secret Millionaire" at 8, which plunged 47 percent in the demo compared to its last original three weeks ago. It dropped to a series low of 0.8/2 and drew 3.8 million total viewers. "Extreme Makeover: Weight Loss Edition" from 9 to 11 fared even worse, dropping 50 percent from its last original three weeks ago to hit a series low of 0.7/2. It took 2.5 million total viewers.
