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‘Big Brother’ Season 19: Can ‘BB19’ Cast Continue Ratings Success For CBS?

By Ryan DeVault
Published on: 09:54 PST, May 15, 2017

Big Brother Season 19 begins with its premiere on June 28. By then, the BB19 cast will have already been introduced to fans, with CBS producers hoping that the television ratings can continue to be impressive for the reality competition show. As previously reported by the Inquisitr, a lot of early Big Brother 19 spoilers have been revealed, including the dates and times for when the episodes will air. Casting director Robyn Kass has also reviewed all the videos of potential houseguests, setting the stage for another interesting summer.

The Big Brother 18 ratings were quite good for CBS, with the program routinely winning its time slot. A report by Variety just pointed out that the show did so well, CBS ordered two more seasons of the reality competition show. There have even been recent rumors that Big Brother 20 could be a season of just returning houseguests, possibly using host Julie Chen’s idea of bringing back all the past winners. That could certainly be a ratings bonanza, especially as viewers tune in to see what has happened to people who competed on the show more than 15 years ago.

So can the Big Brother season 19 hype lead to a lot of viewers tuning in? CBS already has commercials running for BB19, helping create buzz not just for the television audience, but also for the fans who subscribe to the live feeds. The network also has a promotion going on where viewers can watch past seasons of the show through the All Access applications. For fans who forgot who the Big Brother 18 winner was, this is a prime opportunity to go back and watch past episodes before the Big Brother 19 season premiere on June 28.

A report by TV Series Finale from last year breaks down the Wednesday night episode and just how many people were tuned in for those Big Brother 18 episodes. Wednesday nights typically featured the Veto Competition and Veto Ceremony each week for the show and an estimated 6.067 million viewers tuned in. The best BB18 ratings numbers came from the key demographic of viewers aged 18-49. That demo turned in a 1.86 rating average, which ranked among the best of any program during the summer 2016 television season.

So can the Big Brother 19 ratings keep up with the impressive numbers of the past few seasons on CBS? That might just depend on whether the BB19 cast is a completely new set of houseguests or if producers are planning on having an All-Stars season. The first time around, Big Brother: All-Stars had impressive ratings to begin with, but as fan favorites began getting evicted, viewers began changing the channel. That’s the risk of bringing back a familiar cast, as viewers may have a number of houseguests that they would rather root against than watch three times a week.

Now there is a possible reason for concern when it comes to the Big Brother 19 ratings, as the overall seasonal numbers have taken a dip in each of the last six years. Big Brother 13 had six returners, and it was Rachel Reilly who won the $500,000 prize. BB13 had an average of 7.95 million viewers per episode, followed by a downturn in numbers for each of the following years. The key demographic numbers remained high, though, meaning that the show still appeals to advertisers aiming products toward younger viewers.

It’s worth noting that the number of episodes of Big Brother 13 was 29, but CBS increased the episode order to 42 with Big Brother 18. It’s difficult to maintain interest through an entire summer, let alone on 42 separate nights. Will producers present some intriguing twists and turns this season to make sure that viewers are still tuning in for the weekly drama? Will there be some popular former houseguests in the BB19 house to help spur the ratings? Viewers will have to wait a bit longer for those spoilers, but Big Brother Season 19 is less than 50 days from starting.

[Featured Image by Frederick M. Brown/Getty Images]

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