The season premiere of CBS' Big Brother 5 got the series off to a strong start on Tuesday, finishing first in its time period in both total viewers and numerous key demographics.
ADVERTISEMENT
According to the final National Nielsen ratings for July 6, Big Brother 5 was first in its timeslot in viewers, Adults 18-49, Adults 18-34 and Adults 25-54. Airing from 8:00-9:30 PM ET/PT, the premiere of the fifth Big Brother edition drew 9.55 million viewers and a 6.3/11 rating/share in households, as well as a 3.1/10 in the Adults 18-34 demographic, a 3.8/12 in Adults 18-49 and a 4.2/12 in Adults 25-54 -- a performance that placed it first in all the ratings categories.
The premiere outperformed CBS' previous 9-10PM ET/PT summer programming (repeats of The Guardian) by 58% in households (from 4.0/06), 192% in adults 18-49 (from 1.3/04), 343% in Adults 18-34 (from 0.7/02) and 133% in Adults 25-54 (from 1.8/05) while adding over 4 million viewers (from 5.45 million.)
Combined with the network's 9:30-11:00PM ET/PT broadcast of the premiere of The Amazing Race 5, the two CBS reality series took a bite out of the ratings performance of NBC's previously high-flying Last Comic Standing 2, defeating the NBC series in viewers, households, and Adults 25-54, and tying Last Comic in Adults 18-49.
Together, the three hour block of reality programming premieres led CBS to an across-the-board victory in viewers, Adults 18-49, Adults 18-34 and Adults 25-54.