“Big Brother” helped CBS capture Wednesday’s ratings race in key categories, but the network got little help from sci-fi drama “Extant,” which returned with low numbers. Overall viewership levels was down across the board heading into the long holiday weekend.
According to preliminary national estimates, the Halle Berry-fronted series averaged a 0.7 rating/3 share in adults 18-49 and 5.2 million viewers overall in the 10 p.m. hour, placing third among ABC, CBS and NBC in the demo and establishing a series low. The show bowed with a solid 1.6 demo rating and 9.58 million viewers overall in July of last year but fell off sharply from there, valleying with a 0.8 in 18-49 and 4.64 million total viewers with its penultimate episode. It was a surprise when CBS opted to renew it, though that’s largely due to a deal with Amazon that helps make the show profitable for the network regardless of the ratings.
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CBS fared better earlier Wednesday with “Big Brother” (1.8/7 in 18-49, 5.8 million viewers overall), which was the night’s No. 1 show despite being down about 10% from its premiere of last week. It was followed by a repeat “Criminal Minds” (0.9/3 in 18-49, 5.6 million viewers overall), which served as the lead-in for “Extant.”
For the night, CBS tied with NBC and Fox for the lead in 18-49 while winning outright in adults 25-54 and total viewers.
Fox was about even with last week with its unscripted combo of “MasterChef” (1.4/6 in 18-49, 4.3 million viewers overall), which aired its 100th episode, and “Bullseye” (0.9/3 in 18-49, 2.8 million viewers overall).
NBC was competitive despite airing repeats of its popular summer reality shows “America’s Got Talent” (1.1/4 in 18-49, 5.4 million viewers overall) and “American Ninja Warrior” (1.2/4 in 18-49, 4.3 million viewers overall). “Ninja Warrior” won its two-hour time period, and in the 10 o’clock hour it beat ABC’s “Wife Swap” by 50% (1.2 vs. 0.8) and CBS’ “Extant” by 71% (1.2 vs. 0.7).
ABC aired repeats of “The Middle” (0.7/3 in 18-49, 3.8 million viewers overall), “The Goldbergs” (0.7/3 in 18-49, 3.2 million viewers overall), “Modern Family” (1.0/4 in 18-49, 3.7 million viewers overall) and “Black-ish” (0.7/3 in 18-49, 2.9 million viewers overall), followed by an original “Celebrity Wife Swap” (0.7/3 in 18-49, 5.2 million viewers overall), which was down 0.2 from last week to tie its series low.
CW went with repeats of “Arrow” (0.3/1 in 18-49, 1.1 million viewers overall) and “Supernatural” (0.3/1 in 18-49, 1.1 million viewers overall).
Preliminary 18-49 averages for the night: CBS, NBC and Fox, 1.2/4; ABC, 0.8/3; Univision, 0.7/3; Telemundo, 0.6/2; CW, 0.3/1.
In total viewers: CBS, 5.5 million; NBC, 4.7 million; Fox, 3.6 million; ABC, 3.2 million; Univision, 2.0 million; Telemundo, 1.3 million; CW, 1.1 million.
