ratings

The July sweeps aren’t as competitive as the other four-week periods monitored throughout the year to set ratings for local advertisers. But that doesn’t make Univision’s July sweeps showing any less impressive. The Spanish-language broadcaster picked up its second straight July victory, just the second time a non-English network has won a sweep period.

The CMA Music Festival had just enough ratings juice to lift ABC past usual Tuesday night winner NBC. The special averaged a 1.8 adults 18-49 rating from 8 to 11 p.m., down 10% from a 2.0 last year, when it aired on a Monday and not a Tuesday. It finished as the No. 2 program of the night on broadcast, behind only NBC’s America’s Got Talent, which posted a 2.0. That was off 17% from last week, perhaps due to the added competition from ABC.

The new 10/90 sitcom from Debmar-Mercury premiered Monday at 9 p.m. to 449,000 viewers in the key adult 18-49 demographic. A second episode at 9:30 p.m. had 381,000 viewers. Later this week, the cable network will issue live-plus-three-day ratings.

ABC’s latest spinoff of The Bachelor didn’t do as well as its previous spinoff. Bachelor in Paradise premiered with a 1.3 adults 18-49 rating from 8 to 10 p.m. last night, off 13% from the most recent premiere of Bachelor Pad, which posted a 1.3 two years ago. Pad was canceled last year, and this year ABC revived the same basic premise as Pad for the new show Paradise, reuniting rejected suitors from previous Bachelor and Bachelorette seasons and sent them to the tropics, where they’re looking for “love” once again.

The NFL preseason kicked off last night with the annual Hall of Fame Game, and that boosted NBC to an easy primetime victory. The Sunday Night Football contest between the Buffalo Bills and the New York Giants averaged a 2.5 adults 18-49 rating from 8 to 11 p.m. The additional Sunday night competition appeared to take a toll on CBS’s Big Brother, which fell 14% from last week, to a 1.9 at 9 p.m. That was still the No. 2 show of the night on broadcast.

For the second year in a row, Spanish-language television network Univision nabbed the No. 1 spot in primetime among 18-49 year-old viewers during the July sweeps. Univision Communications said its flagship Univision network outpaced its English-language competitors during the prime-time hours among the demographic group most important to advertisers.

When you produce a show that’s a lot like a Renaissance fair, you know you’re appealing to a relatively small crowd. And few of them tuned in last night to the premiere of The Quest, ABC’s new reality competition series. The show bowed to a 0.7 adults 18-49 rating, finishing fourth in its 8 p.m. timeslot. Quest dipped slightly from its first to its second half hour, from a 0.7 to a 0.6, never a good sign for a new show. CBS’s Big Brother was, as usual, the top program of the evening, averaging a 2.1 at 9 p.m., even to last week.

CBS’s new Halle Berry drama maintained last week’s rating despite moving away from its strong lead-in, Big Brother. Extant averaged a 1.1 adults 18-49 rating at 10 p.m., flat to last week, when it aired at 9 p.m. It tied NBC’s Taxi Brooklyn as the No. 2 show in the hour, both finishing behind Univision’s Que Pobres Tan Ricos, which posted a 1.4.

No. 1: NBC blunting the premiere of ABC’s Rising Star with a special America’s Got Talent, plus four others, including one cancellation.

The NBC reality show surged 30% over last week’s debut, the biggest week-to-week growth for any new series this summer. Food averaged a 1.3 adults 18-49 rating at 8 p.m., up from a 1.0 last week. The show finished as the No. 2 program on the night, behind only lead-out America’s Got Talent, which, as usual, dominated its 9 to 11 p.m. timeslot. Talent averaged a 2.4, even to last week, and topped the No. 2 network in its timeslot, ABC, by 140%.

The ABC reality show posted a 1.9 adults 18-49 rating from 8 to 10 p.m., down 27% from a 2.6 for last summer’s finale. The show did increase by a tenth over its penultimate episode. The Bachelorette: After the Final Rose special at 10 p.m., where Andi and her fiance dished on life since the finale, drew a 2.1, tying with NBC’s American Ninja Warrior as the night’s No. 1 program in the demo.

Fox News Sunday is gaining ratings momentum in Washington, D.C., beating its major-network competition in all categories for the first time in seven years.

CBS won yet another Sunday night on the strength of Big Brother, despite the rest of its schedule drawing lackluster ratings. Brother was easily the highest-rated show of the night on broadcast, posting a 2.1 adults 18-49 rating in its 8 p.m. timeslot. That was off a tenth from last week, but it more than doubled the rating for the No. 2 original show of the night, 9 p.m. lead-out Unforgettable, which posted a 1.0.

A whopping 11.3 million viewers watched Derek Jeter’s final All-Star game on Fox, making it the highest rated showdown between the National and American leagues since 2010. NBC’s America’s Got Talent and CBS’s Extant were second and third most-watched shows during the week ending July 20.

For the first time in its four-year history, CBS daytime chatfest The Talk is more popular in key demos than the show that inspired it, ABC’s The View.

Most of the adults 18-49 who watched last week’s debut of Extant returned last night. The new 9 p.m. CBS drama averaged a 1.5 18-49 rating in its second outing, returning 94% of last week’s rating. It easily won its timeslot against minimal competition, and it was the night’s No. 1 show among total viewers, averaging 7.87 million. Of course, Extant also got a healthy lead-in from Big Brother, the night’s top show, which averaged a 2.0 18-49 rating at 8 p.m., growing 5% over last week.

Only a handful of original shows aired on the Big Three against Fox’s coverage of the game, and most saw ratings decline from last week. The All-Star Game was the night’s top program overall, but accurate ratings for the game will not be available until later this afternoon because overnights do not take into account actual program data, only timeslot data. Also, they do not account for time zone differences.

The finale of the miniseries 24: Live Another Day, a limited-run revival of the hit drama 24, posted its best rating since June 2 last night. 24 averaged a 1.7 adults 18-49 rating, up 21% from a 1.4 last week. Among total viewers, the show drew its biggest audience since its May premiere, averaging 6.5 million total viewers. Fox has not said whether 24 will return, though producers have indicated they’d be open to another limited-run series.

CBS’s reality competition Big Brother saw solid gains versus the previous week on Sunday night, on what was otherwise a very slow night for broadcast TV viewing. Brother posted a 2.1 rating among viewers 18-49 in its 8 p.m. timeslot, up 17% from a 1.8 the previous Sunday. That made it easily the top show of the night in the demo, comfortably ahead of a repeat of ABC’s America’s Funniest Home Videos, which was No. 2 for the night with a 1.5 rating.

The World Cup has been a record-breaking event for Univision, which has dominated its TV rivals in several of America’s largest cities — Los Angeles, Miami and Houston. It even won the New York market for some games. The unprecedented exposure that it has received from the World Cup could not have come at a better time for Univision, which is exploring the possibility of a deal in the middle of a flurry of big media industry mergers.

Last night several shows rebounded from low ratings induced by the impending July 4 holiday last week, the strongest among them CBS’s Big Brother. Brother posted a 2.0 adults 18-49 rating, up 25% from last week’s 1.6, a series low for the long-running reality show. Brother, which aired at 9 p.m., was easily the night’s top show. Fox’s Hell’s Kitchen was the night’s No. 2 program with a 1.5 at 8 p.m., up 15% from last week’s season-low 1.3.

The new show did become the top debut of the summer among adults 18-49 and total viewers, but it barely finished ahead of a repeat of America’s Got Talent in its timeslot. Extant posted a 1.7 18-49 rating, winning the 9 p.m. timeslot by 0.1 over a Talent rerun. Extant got a good lead-in from Big Brother, the night’s highest-rated show, which posted a 1.9 at 8 p.m. And the new drama averaged a strong 9.4 million total viewers and was the night’s top show among adults 25-54 with a 2.4.

Univision has benefited from increased female viewership for World Cup games after a series of ads emphasized the soccer players’ manly qualities.

Just how incredibly dominant is America’s Got Talent? Even in repeats the reality show can dominate a night. A rerun of Talent last night boosted NBC to first place for the night, winning all six half-hours in primetime. Talent averaged a 1.7 adults 18-49 rating from 8 to 10:01 p.m., finishing as the night’s No. 1 show.

Last season’s breakout hit is taking one in the ratings. A week after Under the Dome premiered to much lower numbers than in season one, the show took another slide in its second episode. Dome averaged a series-low 1.7 adults 18-49 rating at 10 p.m., down 19% from a 2.1 for last week’s second-season premiere. In fact, it finished behind NBC’s American Ninja Warrior in the hour, the first time it has failed to win its timeslot.

Big Brother stayed on top for the second straight Sunday night. The long-running CBS reality show posted a 1.8 adults 18-49 rating at 8 p.m., even to last week’s Sunday debut. It was significantly ahead of the competition. ABC’s Rising Star and Fox’s Family Guy repeat tied for No. 2 with a 1.2 apiece. Star helped push ABC to No. 1 in primetime, just slightly ahead of CBS, which had much lower ratings the rest of the night after Brother finished up.

The United States was bounced from the World Cup Tuesday, but not before setting one last record for ESPN. The Americans’ exciting 2-1 overtime loss to Belgium drew the biggest rating for a soccer game in network history. The contest averaged a 9.6 household rating, according to Nielsen overnights, which is also the best rating ever for a World Cup game on ESPN.

With many viewers already stepping away from the television for the 4th of July holiday weekend, usage among adults 18-49 dropped 4% from last Wednesday night. Most original episodes were steady or within a tenth of a point of last week’s showings, though Big Brother dropped a hearty half of a ratings point from last Wednesday’s season opener on CBS. Still winning the night, Big Brother nabbed a 1.8 rating among adults 18-49 and 5.6 million viewers.

America’s Got Talent lifted NBC to a dominant Tuesday victory, yet again. Talent averaged a 2.6 adults 18-49 rating from 8 to 10 p.m., even with its most recent original episode two weeks ago. It was by far the highest-rated program on a night littered with repeats. Talent nearly tripled the ratings for ABC’s two original programs, Extreme Weight Loss and Celebrity Wife Swap, which both averaged a 0.9.

The Big Five networks plus Univision and Telemundo are off 12% in 18-49s this summer, the result of shorter NBA and NHL finals, lackluster new shows and the usual viewer erosion

Under the Dome posted much lower ratings for last night’s second-season premiere than it did for last summer’s big debut. Still, even a diluted Dome was better than everything else on broadcast. The drama averaged a 2.2 adults 18-49 rating at 10 p.m., down 33% from last summer’s premiere, which posted a 3.3. It was also off 21% from the September season finale, which averaged a 2.8.

Sunday’s Mexico-Netherlands game averages 10.4 million total viewers, becoming the most-watched program in Spanish-language TV history.

Fox Television Stations CEO Jack Abernethy and Nielsen President, U.S. Media, Lynda Clarizio just released the following statement: “Nielsen and Fox Television Stations Inc. have come to a mutually beneficial resolution to continue their longstanding relationship.  Both companies are committed to more meaningful and accurate measurement in local markets. We look forward to a strong and productive relationship going forward.”

With its long-term contract with Nielsen set to expire today, the Fox Television Stations Group was preparing to become the first network-owned TV station group to walk away from Nielsen in decades. While sources say negotiations continued over the weekend, the two companies were characterized as being at loggerheads over some key contractual and methodological issues, and that the Fox stations were considering dropping Nielsen altogether and instead using rival TV ratings service Rentrak exclusively.

On a slow night for broadcast, ABC’s new singing competition Rising Star fell from last week’s debut, though it still did well enough to lift the network into a tie for first on Sunday. Star averaged a 1.2 adults 18-49 rating, down 20% from a 1.5 for last week’s bow. The show finished first in its 9 to 11 p.m. timeslot, besting original competition on NBC and CBS. But CBS had the top show of the night with Big Brother, which averaged a 1.8 rating at 8 p.m. in its Sunday night debut, down 22% from Thursday night’s most recent episode.

For the second straight night, Big Brother improved over the previous year’s rating and boosted the network to a first-place finish. Brother averaged a 2.3 adults 18-49 rating at 9 p.m., up 10% over a 2.1 for its first Thursday episode last year. The program, now in its 16th season, was even to Wednesday night’s debut rating.

Big Brother can still draw a crowd in its 16th year. The CBS reality show returned to slightly higher ratings than last year with Wednesday night’s premiere.The program averaged a 2.3 adults 18-49 rating, up a tenth from its 2013 bow. That was easily the top show of the night on broadcast, with NBC and ABC’s schedules peppered with repeats.