The War of 18-49, Big Brother

BIG BROTHER (CBS)

Scheduling history:  Since airing throughout the week in season one, Big Brother has traditionally been scheduled on three nights per week. Early in the run, the third day was a very low-priority evening (Friday or Saturday), but since season seven it's been Sunday. The first two days have been some mix of Tuesday, Wednesday and Thursday, with Wednesday/Thursday/Sunday the arrangement for the last half decade.

See (who saw) how it all began: Though CSI is the best-known show to benefit as a Survivor lead-out, the first long-running show Survivor helped was actually Big Brother. The season and still series high came in Big Brother's post-Survivor series premiere, when it pulled 22.4 million viewers and a 9.9/27 demo on 7/5/00. The first season of Big Brother was a pretty crazily scheduled affair, airing an average of four hours per week across six different nights. There were about seventy airings total in that first season. I don't have a lot of the first season info, so I didn't try breaking it down by day as I do in future seasons, but the show was clearly at its strongest levels ever when it got to air after Survivor, as it did several times in season 1. The actual season 1 average is most likely a lot lower than the one listed below, since most of the missing data is from lower-rated evenings.

The best of times: Big Brother never got stronger in terms of individual episodes than when it aired out of that soaring first season of Survivor in 2000, but the biggest raw season overall was probably the third. Both of the midweek evenings averaged well over a 4.0 demo, and the 6.4 demo on 9/19/02 (leading out of a Survivor season premiere) was the highest rating outside of the first season. However, on a historical-adjusted basis the most recent seasons (16-19) have been the biggest.

The worst of times: A previous War of 18-49 post examined how So You Think You Can Dance basically fell apart the moment it was asked to become a regular season player. Big Brother had the same problems in that situation. Asked to take up a lot of real estate during the WGA strike of 2007-08, Big Brother had easily its weakest season yet during spring 2008. And there was no recovery in the summer, as the summer 2008 season ticked very slightly down overall to what remains the weakest season in the history of the show. Since we don't have all the results from when the show aired on Saturdays during the first half of its run, I'm not totally confident on this one, but the series low out of my data is a 0.9 on the 4th of July in 2018, and it found some more 0.9's in 2019.

Then vs. now: Initially, the stories of both So You Think You Can Dance and Big Brother in the regular season were similar; both dropped below their typical summer numbers in a regular season environment, then the overload negatively impacted the next summer season. From there, though, the stories have diverged. So You Think You Can Dance has continued to limp along, just barely ekeing out its last few renewals. But Big Brother managed to bounce back, and its thirteenth season was amazingly its third straight season of growth. After a hiccup against the Olympics in 2012, it came most of the way back in A18-49+ in 2013 and has been at its strongest yet in 2014, 2015, 2016 and again in 2017. And these hours are ever more valuable for CBS in the summer as their usual menu of repeats continues to sag.

Adults 18-49 info by season:

Seas	Year	Slot	Avg	y2y	Lo	Hi	Results	Grade
2	Summer 2001	Thursday 8:00	4.29		3.5	6.0
		2	Summer 2001	Saturday 8:00	2.36				1.9	3.1
		2	Summer 2001	Tuesday 8:00	4.33				3.7	5.5
3	Summer 2002	Wednesday 9:00	4.40	+2%	3.8	5.6
		3	Summer 2002	Thursday 8:00	4.27	0%			3.1	6.4
		3	Summer 2002	Saturday 8:00	2.63	+11%			2.1	3.7
4	Summer 2003	Wednesday 9:00	3.63	-17%	2.9	4.2
			4	Summer 2003	Wednesday 9:00	3.96			-7%	3.6	4.3
		4	Summer 2003	Friday 8:00	2.71	+3%			2.2	3.0
5	Summer 2004	Tuesday 8:00	3.81	+5%	3.1	4.4
		5	Summer 2004	Thursday 8:00	3.56	-10%			3.3	3.9
		5	Summer 2004	Saturday 9:00	2.46	-9%			1.8	2.9
6	Summer 2005	Thursday 8:00	3.00	-16%	2.5	3.4
		6	Summer 2005	Tuesday 9:00	3.36	-12%			3.2	3.6
		6	Summer 2005	Saturday 8:00	2.11	-14%			1.8	2.7
7	Summer 2006	Thursday 8:00	2.73	-9%	2.5	3.2	detail
		7	Summer 2006	Tuesday 8:00	3.00	-11%			2.6	3.6	detail
		7	Summer 2006	Sunday 8:00	2.51	+19%			2.1	3.0	detail
8	Summer 2007	Thursday 8:00	2.76	+1%	2.2	3.3	detail
		8	Summer 2007	Sunday 8:00	2.55	+1%			2.0	2.9	detail
		8	Summer 2007	Tuesday 9:00	3.02	+1%			2.6	3.4	detail
9	Winter Spring 2008	Tuesday 9:00	2.28			1.9	2.6	detail
		9	Winter Spring 2008	Wednesday 8:00	2.13		1.9		2.4	detail
		9	Winter Spring 2008	Sunday 8:00	2.33		2.2		2.8	detail
10	Summer 2008	Sunday 8:00	2.11		-17%	1.9	2.6	detail
		10	Summer 2008	Tuesday 9:00	2.36	-22%	2.1		2.7	detail
		10	Summer 2008	Wednesday 8:00	2.17	-22%	1.8		2.7	detail
11	Summer 2009	Thursday 8:00	2.31	+7%	1.9	2.7	detail
		11	Summer 2009	Sunday 8:00	2.25	+7%		1.9	2.6	detail
		11	Summer 2009	Tuesday 9:00	2.50	+6%		2.0	3.0	detail
12	Summer 2010	Thursday 8:00	2.42	+5%	2.2	2.7	detail
		12	Summer 2010	Sunday 8:00	2.46	+9%		2.2	2.8	detail
		12	Summer 2010	Wednesday 8:00	2.58	+3%		2.2	2.9	detail
13	Summer 2011	Thursday 9:00	2.67	+10%	2.3	3.1	detail	A-
		13	Summer 2011	Sunday 8:00	2.71	+10%			2.4	3.2	detail	A-
		13	Summer 2011	Wednesday 9:30	2.80	+9%			2.4	3.3	detail	A-
14	Summer 2012	Thursday 9:00	2.15	-19%	1.8	2.6	detail	C-
		14	Summer 2012	Sunday 8:30	2.19	-19%			1.9	2.6	detail	C-
		14	Summer 2012	Wednesday 8:00	2.13	-24%			1.9	2.5	detail	C-
15	Summer 2013	Wednesday 8:00	2.19		+3%	1.9	2.5	detail	B
		15	Summer 2013	Sunday 8:30	2.22	+1%	1.8			2.5	detail	B
		15	Summer 2013	Thursday 9:00	2.22	+3%	1.7			2.5	detail	B
16	Summer 2014	Wednesday 8:00	2.23	+2%	1.8	2.6	detail	A-
		16	Summer 2014	Thursday 9:00	2.16	-3%			1.6	2.4	detail	A-
		16	Summer 2014	Sunday 8:00	2.16	-3%			1.8	2.5	detail	A-
17	Summer 2015	Wednesday 8:00	2.04	-9%	1.8	2.2	detail	B+
		17	Summer 2015	Thursday 9:00	1.99	-8%			1.8	2.1	detail	B+
		17	Summer 2015	Sunday 8:00	1.95	-9%			1.7	2.3	detail	B+
18	Summer 2016	Wednesday 8:00	1.84	-10%	1.6	2.1	detail	B+
		18	Summer 2016	Thursday 9:00	1.80	-10%			1.7	1.9	detail	B+
		18	Summer 2016	Sunday 8:00	1.70	-13%			1.3	2.1	detail	B+
19	Summer 2017	Wednesday 8:00	1.87	+2%	1.7	2.2	detail	A
		19	Summer 2017	Thursday 9:00	1.83	+2%			1.6	2.1	detail	A
		19	Summer 2017	Sunday 8:00	1.80	+6%			1.4	2.0	detail	A
20	Summer 2018	Wednesday 8:00	1.52	-19%	0.9	1.7	detail	B
		20	Summer 2018	Thursday 9:00	1.51	-18%			1.3	1.7	detail	B
		20	Summer 2018	Sunday 8:00	1.48	-18%			1.2	1.7	detail	B
21	Summer 2019	Wed 9:00, Wed 8:00	1.13	-26%	1.0	1.3	detail	C
		21	Summer 2019	Thursday 9:00	1.06	-30%			0.9	1.2	detail	C
		21	Summer 2019	Sunday 8:00	1.12	-25%			0.9	1.3	detail	C

Historical-adjusted ratings by season:

Seas	Year	A18-49+	Label	Now19	y2y	Lo	Hi	Premiere	Finale
3	Summer 2002	102	hit(sum)	0.97		88	130	95	130
		3	Summer 2002	99	hit(sum)	0.94		72	149	72	149
		3	Summer 2002	61	solid(Fri)	0.58		49	86	49	74
4	Summer 2003	82	solid(sum)	0.78	-20%	65	95	86	95
		4	Summer 2003	89	solid(sum)	0.85	-10%	81	97	83	95
		4	Summer 2003	61	solid(Fri)	0.58	0%	50	68	59	61
5	Summer 2004	94	hit(sum)	0.89	+15%	76	108	94	103
		5	Summer 2004	88	solid(sum)	0.83	-2%	81	96	91	86
		5	Summer 2004	60	solid(Fri)	0.58	-1%	44	71	49	71
6	Summer 2005	74	solid(sum)	0.70	-16%	61	84	84	74
		6	Summer 2005	83	solid(sum)	0.79	-12%	79	88	84	79
		6	Summer 2005	52	flop	0.49	-14%	44	66	47	66
7	Summer 2006	67	marg(sum)	0.64	-9%	62	79	69	79
		7	Summer 2006	74	solid(sum)	0.70	-11%	64	89	69	76
		7	Summer 2006	62	marg(sum)	0.59	+19%	52	74	52	64
8	Summer 2007	73	solid(sum)	0.70	+9%	58	88	72	88
		8	Summer 2007	68	marg(sum)	0.64	+9%	53	77	56	66
		8	Summer 2007	80	solid(sum)	0.76	+8%	69	90	69	90
9	Winter Spring 2008	69	flop	0.66		57	79	76	73
		9	Winter Spring 2008	64	flop	0.61		57	73	60	73
		9	Winter Spring 2008	70	marginal	0.67		67	85	67	70
10	Summer 2008	64	marg(sum)	0.61	-6%	57	79	63	67
		10	Summer 2008	71	solid(sum)	0.68	-11%	63	82	67	82
		10	Summer 2008	66	marg(sum)	0.62	-11%	54	82	54	82
11	Summer 2009	77	solid(sum)	0.73	+17%	63	90	76	86
		11	Summer 2009	75	solid(sum)	0.71	+17%	63	86	66	70
		11	Summer 2009	83	solid(sum)	0.79	+16%	66	100	70	93
12	Summer 2010	86	solid(sum)	0.82	+12%	78	96	89	92
		12	Summer 2010	87	solid(sum)	0.83	+17%	78	99	85	78
		12	Summer 2010	92	hit(sum)	0.87	+10%	78	103	82	103
13	Summer 2011	105	big hit(sum)	1.00	+22%	90	122	110	94
		13	Summer 2011	107	big hit(sum)	1.01	+22%	94	126	98	94
		13	Summer 2011	110	big hit(sum)	1.05	+20%	94	130	102	114
14	Summer 2012	91	hit(sum)	0.87	-13%	76	110	110	85
		14	Summer 2012	93	hit(sum)	0.88	-13%	80	110	97	102
		14	Summer 2012	90	hit(sum)	0.86	-18%	80	106	85	106
15	Summer 2013	104	hit(sum)	0.99	+15%	90	119	104	119
		15	Summer 2013	105	big hit(sum)	1.00	+14%	85	119	90	109
		15	Summer 2013	105	big hit(sum)	1.00	+16%	81	119	81	104
16	Summer 2014	119	big hit(sum)	1.13	+14%	96	138	122	138
		16	Summer 2014	115	big hit(sum)	1.09	+9%	85	127	122	117
		16	Summer 2014	115	big hit(sum)	1.09	+9%	96	133	96	133
17	Summer 2015	121	big hit(sum)	1.15	+2%	107	131	125	131
		17	Summer 2015	118	big hit(sum)	1.13	+3%	107	125	125	119
		17	Summer 2015	116	big hit(sum)	1.10	+1%	101	137	107	107
18	Summer 2016	126	big hit(sum)	1.20	+4%	113	141	127	138
		18	Summer 2016	124	big hit(sum)	1.18	+4%	113	132	117	118
		18	Summer 2016	117	big hit(sum)	1.11	+1%	93	141	106	125
19	Summer 2017	153	mega(sum)	1.45	+21%	139	176	139	176
		19	Summer 2017	150	mega(sum)	1.42	+21%	127	167	132	148
		19	Summer 2017	147	mega(sum)	1.40	+26%	116	159	116	156
20	Summer 2018	139	big hit(sum)	1.32	-9%	87	155	136	155
		20	Summer 2018	138	big hit(sum)	1.31	-8%	119	151	128	139
		20	Summer 2018	135	big hit(sum)	1.28	-8%	112	160	112	125
21	Summer 2019	119	big hit(sum)	1.13	-14%	106	137	134	132
		21	Summer 2019	111	big hit(sum)	1.06	-19%	92	125	118	116
		21	Summer 2019	117	big hit(sum)	1.12	-13%	98	135	108	134

For more on The War of 18-49, my look at the history of primetime TV's veteran shows, see the Index.