Led by a strong performance from its NFL preseason game between the San Francisco 49ers and Minnesota Vikings, NBC won the Sunday primetime 18-49 demo ratings race with a 1.5/6, far outdistancing the other Big Four broadcast networks. The game aired from 8:15-11 p.m.
Sunday night’s individual show ratings winner, however, was CBS reality series Big Brother, which averaged a 1.8/7 in the demo during the 8 p.m. to 9 p.m. hour, per Nielsen overnights. NBC’s SNF in that hour in the head-to-head battle vs. Big Brother scored a 1.7/6 in the demo.
The overnight ratings are not time-zone adjusted, so the ratings for the NFL game on NBC are subject to change.
Second behind NBC in the overall 18-49 primetime ratings battle was Fox with a 1.0/4. Fox was helped by an NFL preseason overrun, which produced a 1.2/5 but repeats of its animated comedy block for the remainder of the night averaged a 0.8/3.
CBS and ABC tied for third on the night, each averaging a 0.9/4 in the 18-49 demo.
Pulling down the strong start of the night by Big Brother for CBS was Candy Crush and a repeat of NCIS: Los Angeles which averaged a combined 0.4/2.
ABC’s strongest show in the demo was Celebrity Family Feud from 8 p.m. to 9 p.m., which scored a 1.2/4. Steve Harvey’s Funderdome followed with a 0.8/3 and The $100,000 Pyramid produced a 0.7/3.
Univision did a 0.4/1. Telemundo averaged a 0.3/1, primarily with a repeat of theatrical Penguins of Madacasgar.
