‘Big Brother’ Hits Milestone 1,000th Episode on a Ratings Upswing

Big Brother will hit a TV milestone on Thursday, becoming the first primetime entertainment show in the United States to air 1,000 episodes. It’s reaching that mark while also riding improved ratings this summer.

Since it airs multiple times each week — most seasons of the show have between 30 and 40 episodes — Big Brother has reached the 1,000-episode mark in its 28th season. It’s far ahead of The Simpsons (which reached 800 episodes near the end of season 37 in February) and fellow CBS reality staple Survivor (727 through season 50), which premiered a few weeks before Big Brother in 2000.

Through Aug. 9 (the most recent week for which cross-platform data is available), Big Brother is averaging 5.21 million viewers per episode with a week of multi-platform viewing. The audience is up 10 percent year to year and is on pace for a second straight season of ratings growth. Ratings have also grown among adults 25-54 (by 21 percent) and adults 18-49 (by 15 percent) — in keeping with a trend of improved numbers for long-running reality shows in the past year that also includes Survivor 50 and Dancing With the Stars.

Companion show Big Brother Unlocked, which airs on Fridays, has also grown: It’s averaging 3.14 million cross-platform viewers over seven days, up 21 percent year to year.

Big Brother’s 5.21 million viewers over seven days ranks among the top 10 shows of the summer across all platforms — and it’s handily outpacing one of the summer’s other big reality shows, Love Island USA. Nielsen data has the Peacock dating show at an average of 3.8 million viewers over seven days.

In terms of total viewing time, Big Brother is on pace to top 15 billion minutes for the season (including viewing of its round-the-clock live feeds), which would be a huge jump from 8.6 billion last year. By comparison, Love Island USA’s eighth season drew 10.87 billion minutes of watch time during its run in June and July.

CBS is also seeing increased cross-pollination between its two longest-running reality franchises. The networks says 2.9 million Survivor viewers have watched at least a few minutes of Big Brother this season (vs. 2.4 million last year). Among Survivor 50 viewers who also watch Big Brother, 37 percent have watched more than half of the season’s episodes so far. Two-time Survivor player Dee Valladares is part of the Big Brother cast.