Ratings: NFL Pre-Season Gives NBC an Easy Win
Though down slightly from the equivalent NFL preseason game last year, the Pittsburgh Steelers-Indianapolis Colts matchup Sunday night gave NBC an easy overall win, while CBS's "Big Brother" enjoyed a boost after facing competition from the Olympics for the past two Sundays, according to preliminary numbers.
While the nature of live sports renders NBC's numbers for the night approximate, the network currently holds a handy first place in both the advertiser-coveted 18-49 demographic, with a 2.6 rating/8 share, and in total viewers, with 8.1 million. Following "Dateline" at 7 p.m., which posted a 1.5/5 and drew 5.8 million total viewers, the game posted a 3.0/8 in the demo. That was down 12 percent from last year's equivalent pre-season game, but it was still easily the night's top-rated program. It drew 8.9 million total viewers.
Fox, which ran repeats throughout the night, drew second place in ratings and fourth in total viewers with a 1.4/4 and 3 million.
CBS took third place in ratings and second in total viewers with a 1.2/3 and 5.6 million. The network aired repeats with the exception of "60 Minutes" at 7, which posted a 1.1/4 with 7.7 million total viewers, and "Big Brother" the following hour, which jumped 14 percent from last week -- when it was competing with the Olympics -- to a 2.3/7 and received 6.5 million total viewers.
ABC tied Univision for fourth place in ratings with a 1.0/3 and took fourth place outright in total viewers. (Univision averaged 2.7 million total viewers for the night.) ABC ran reruns with the exception of the season finale of "Extreme Makeover: Weight Loss Edition," which dropped 42 percent in the demo from last summer's season finale to receive a 1.1/3 and took 3.5 million total viewers.
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