For Thursday night, it was the opening game and kickoff for the football season that ruled the ratings this week.
NBC had the lead with over 15 million viewers for their NFL Opening Kickoff and averaging nearly 25 million for the first game between the Vikings and the Saints.
In the 8PM hour, Big Brother held second with over 7 million viewers, and the season premiere of The CW’s Vampire Diaries came in third with 3.35 million viewers, according to initial overnight ratings posted at TVByTheNumbers.com. TVD had a 1.6/5 in the target 18-49 demographic that The CW enjoys. A press release will surely be coming later on.
At 9, the premiere of Nikita came in second place for demographics (1.4/4) and nearly 3.6 million viewers. Competition in the hour, however, was relatively light aside from football — the premiere was up against the season finale of Rookie Blue and repeats of CSI and Fringe.
