TV Ratings: Preseason football, 'Big Brother' lead Sunday Nielsens

Chargers QB Phillip Rivers and his Cowboys counterpart Tony Romo met up in Sunday's most-watched program.

Credit: AP

"Sunday NIght Football" coverage of the Cowboys-Chargers exhibition game carried NBC to an easy win in the Sunday ratings, according to Nielsen's Fast Affiliate numbers.

For the night, NBC averaged a 2.9 rating in the adults 18-49 demographic, and 8.9 million viewers overall. CBS was second, thanks largely to "Big Brother," with a 1.7 demo rating and 6.7 million viewers, followed by ABC (1.3, 5.5 million) and FOX (1.2, 2.6 million).

7 p.m. -- "Dateline NBC" eked out a demo win for the hour, with a 1.5 and 6.8 million overall viewers, though CBS' "60 Minutes" (1.4, 8.5 million) was actually more-watched. An "America's Funniest Home Videos" repeat (1.2, 5.2 million) was third for ABC, followed by FOX repeats of "American Dad" and "Bob's Burgers" (0.9, 1.9 million).

8 p.m. -- "Big Brother" (3.3, 8.8 million) just edged out a demo win over football (3.2, 9.8 million), followed by "Simpsons" and "Cleveland Show" repeats on FOX (1.2, 2.7 million) and an "Extreme Makeover: Home Edition" rerun on ABC (1.1, 4.7 million).

9 p.m. -- Football owned the night from here on out, averaging a 3.7 demo rating for the hour and 10.3 million viewers overall. FOX's pairing of a "Family Guy" repeat and a new "In the Flow with Affion Crockett" combined for second place in the demo (1.4, 3.1 million), though "In the Flow" lost 30 percent of its lead-in. A "20/20" special got ABC third place (1.3, 6 million), followed by a "The Good Wife" repeat on CBS (1.0, 4.2 million).

10 p.m. -- Football continued to dominate (3.1, 8.7 million), followed by more "20/20" (1.4, 5.9 million) and a "CSI: Miami" repeat on CBS (1.2, 5.2 million).

All ratings information comes from preliminary Fast National Nielsen data, which includes live and same-day DVR viewing. All numbers are subject to change, particularly in the case of live events.