Preliminary Ratings: Thursday 07/21/2016

The last night of the Republican National Convention saw ABC and CBS coverage ratings go up, while NBC fell by a million viewers, night-to-night. NBC did not have its usually great lead in support for the RNC coverage, but was still able to beat ABC and CBS.

CBS won the night, with strong showings from its encore comedies, at 8 PM, and BIG BROTHER at 9 PM. It was the #1 network, across the board, for the two hours, Thursday's RNC coverage was the best night for CBS.

NBC was not far behind, as the season finale of SPARTAN: ULTIMATE TEAM CHALLENGE was #2 in the 8 PM and 9 PM hours, with a 0.9 demo rating and 3.3 million viewers. NBC's RNC coverage still topped four million viewers and equalled the previous night's 1.1 rating in Adults 18-49.

ABC edged out FOX for the #3 spot of the night, mainly because HOME FREE, on FOX, was the lowest rated program of the night, from any of the Big 4 Networks. The season finale of BONES was third in its 8 PM time slot, beating BATTLE BOTS.

Preliminary L+SD Network Averages:

	Total viewers	A18-34	A18-49	A25-54
ABC	3.10 million	0.4	0.7	1.0
CBS	4.90 million	0.8	1.2	1.6
CW	0.80 million	0.1	0.2	0.2
FOX	2.80 million	0.4	0.6	0.9
NBC	3.50 million	0.6	1.0	1.3

Time	Net	Program	P2*	A18-34	A18-49	A25-54
8:00	ABC	Battlebots	3.10	0.5	0.7	1.0
9:00	ABC	Greatest Hits	2.90	0.4	0.7	0.9
10:00	ABC	Republican National Conv.	3.20	0.4	0.7	1.1
8:00	CBS	The Big Bang Theory [R]	6.60	0.7	1.3	1.8
8:30	CBS	Life in Pieces [R]	5.00	0.6	1.1	1.5
9:00	CBS	Big Brother	5.60	1.2	1.7	2.1
10:00	CBS	Republican National Conv.	3.40	0.5	0.7	1.0
8:00	CW	Legends of Tomorrow [R]	0.80	0.1	0.2	0.2
9:00	CW	Beauty & The Beast	0.70	0.2	0.2	0.2
8:00	FOX	Bones (SF)	3.80	0.5	0.8	1.1
9:00	FOX	Home Free	1.70	0.3	0.4	0.6
8:00	NBC	Spartan (SF)	3.30	0.6	0.9	1.2
10:00	NBC	Republican National Conv.	4.00	0.6	1.1	1.4

* - viewers in millions