Without a super-sized "Friends" airing against it this week, CBS's Survivor: Pearl Islands found smoother ratings sailing, and, although NBC will likely still win Thursday among adults 18-49 once the nationals are released, the performance helped lead CBS over the once unstoppable NBC lineup in the overnight ratings.
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The third episode of Survivor: Pearl Islands (airing opposite Friends second episode of the new season) was tied for first in adults 25-54 (9.2/22), a strong second in households (11.8/18), viewers (19.45 million, only 160,000 viewers behind Friends) and adults 18-49 (7.5/21).
With Friends off the air, Survivor: Pearl Islands posted terrific growth at 8:30pm. Survivor was up +15% in households (12.6/19 from 11.0/18), +28% in adults 18-34 (5.9/17 from 4.6/14), +22% in adults 18-49 (8.2/22 from 6.7/19), +19% in adults 25-54 (10.0/23 from 8.4/21) and added +2.64m viewers (20.77m from 18.13m). At 8:30 PM, CBS was first in households, viewers, adults 25-54 and tied for first with NBC in adults 18-49.
According to MediaWeek, Survivor's performance was equal to its week ago and year ago numbers.