The broadcast television summer season is underway and as is the case every year, the networks have hopes of launching a series or two that catches on with viewers and can be a returning staple for summers to come.
Unfortunately, summer is harder than the regular season to develop not only a hit series, but even one that is watched by a significant-sized mass audience. That's why each network summer after summer consistently brings back a few key series that have a proven following to keep it competitive.
For NBC it's America's Got Talent and American Ninja Warrior. For CBS it's Big Brother, which the network airs three nights a week, and the more recent Under the Dome. For ABC it's The Bachelorette and Rookie Blue. And for Fox it's Masterchef and So You Think You Can Dance.
America's Got Talent, which just returned for its 10th season, is king of the summer and has been for virtually all of its 9 previous seasons. Last summer AGT averaged 10.4 million viewers and a 2.4 18-49 demo rating for its twice weekly first-run shows, numbers that would rank it among the most-watched during the regular season also.
American Ninja Warrior, which just began its seventh season, started airing in the summer of 2011 during its third season. The series last summer averaged 5.3 million viewers and a 1.8 in the demo and had a median age audience of 48, one of the lowest on summer broadcast TV.
Both have aired for two weeks so far this summer with AGT averaging 11.1 million viewers and a 2.6 demo rating and Warrior averaging 6.3 million viewers and a 1.9 in the demo, both drawing larger audiences than they averaged last season.
Big Brother on CBS has been a summer staple for the network since 2000 and returns for its 17th season in late June. The network airs three first-run Big Brother episodes each week and last season the trio averaged 6.4 million viewers and a 2.2 demo rating. It also draws a younger summer audience with a median age of 49 last summer.
CBS may have gotten its hopes up two summers ago when it premiered sci-fi drama series Under the Dome and it averaged 11.2 million viewers and a 2.7 in the demo to unseat AGT as the top broadcast show of the summer. However, like most regular season sci-fi shows, when Under the Dome returned for its second season last summer it took a big dip in the ratings, averaging 7.2 million viewers and a 1.6 18-49 demo rating. While still good for summer, it didn't come close to dethroning AGT as the most-watched summer series.
ABC's The Bachelorette returned three weeks ago for its 11th season and it has been airing during the summer on the network since 2008. Last summer The Bachelorette averaged 6.6 million viewers and a 1.7 18-49 demo rating. This summer so far, it has averaged 6.3 million viewers and a 1.9 in the demo, but one of those episodes aired on Memorial Day when viewership is traditionally low. So expect those numbers to rise a bit.
Rookie Blue has not been a big ratings draw for ABC, but the police drama which began airing during the summer of 2010 and is now entering its sixth season, averaged 5.2 million viewers and a 1.0 in the demo last summer. And those numbers of strong enough to return the series summer after summer rather than trying to replace it with a new series from scratch.
Masterchef which premiered on Fox on May 20, is now in its sixth season. Last summer it averaged 5.4 million viewers and a 1.9 18-49 demo rating with a median age audience of 49. So You Think You Can Dance, which returned for its 12th season on June 1, has been airing during the summer since 2005. Last summer it averaged 4.1 million viewers and a 1.3 demo rating.
Last summer the broadcast networks took a major step aimed at no longer taking a back seat to cable when they introduced 13 scripted and nine new reality series. However, there were no major hits.
CBS is bringing sci-fi drama Extant, starring Halle Berry, back for a summer season. It averaged a good-for-summer 6.1 million viewers, but only recorded a 1.1 in the 18-49 demo and had a median age audience of 60.
NBC premiered drama The Night Shift last summer leading out of AGT and while its numbers were good, averaging 6.6 million viewers and a 1.4 in the demo, it lost a huge chunk of its lead-in audience. NBC did move the series into its regular lineup this past spring and it averaged 5.5 million viewers and a 1.4 in the demo.
NBC also premiered sitcom Undateable last summer and it averaged just 2.8 million viewers and a 0.9 18-49 demo rating. However the network also moved it onto its regular season lineup in the spring and it averaged 5.3 million viewers and a 1.5 in the demo.
So NBC did launch a couple of series last summer that filled slots in its regular season lineup, although both were far from hits.
Cumulatively, ABC, CBS, Fox, NBC and The CW will introduce 17 news series this summer and bring back 23 series from last summer.
Here's a closer network-by-network look at the new and returning summer 2015 programming.
ABCThe Bachelorette returned on May 18 and has averaged a similar-sized audience compared to last summer, and the network has also already run a short-run new game show 500 Questions which aired on five consecutive weekday nights beginning May 20 and averaged 4.8 million viewers and a 1.0 18-49 demo rating. Celebrity Wife Swap also returned on May 20 at 10 p.m. and through two episodes is averaging 3.3 million viewers and a 1.1 demo rating, compared to last summer's average of 3.6 million viewers and a 1.1.
Extreme Weight Loss premiered for the summer on Tuesday, May 26 at 9 p.m. with only 2.9 million viewers and a 0.9 18-49 rating. That compares to the 3.6 million viewers and 1.0 demo rating it averaged last summer.
New summer drama series The Whispers debuted at 10 p.m. on Monday, June 1 and drew 5.7 million viewers and a 1.5 18-4
Most recent headlines
05/01/2027
Worlds first 802.15.4ab-UWB chip verified by Calterah and Rohde & Schwarz to be ...
06/09/2026
June 9 2026, 23:00 (PDT) Dolby and MagentaTV Bring Fans Closer to the FIFA Worl...
04/08/2026
Dalet, a leading technology and service provider for media-rich organizations, t...
04/07/2026
April 7 2026, 19:00 (PDT) Detective Conan: Fallen Angel of the Highway Opens in...
15/06/2026
Detach from Direct-Attached: How Remote Editing with EVO Keeps Creative Teams Mo...
14/06/2026
Library captures 1960s R&B/pop drum sound
Following on from their recent wave of plug-in effects, Iconic Instruments have just launched an all-new virtual d...
14/06/2026
HBO Comedy Rooster Shot with URSA Cine 17K 65
Brie Clayton June 14, 2026
0 Comments
Large format brings viewers intimately close to characters.
Black...
13/06/2026
Latest expansion pack includes 252 presets
Devious Machines have recently introduced another expansion for their powerful multi-effects plug-in, Infiltrator...
13/06/2026
Create custom DAW/plug-in controllers using prompts
MetaGrid have recently introduced an all-new AI Builder function to their touchscreen-based control surf...
13/06/2026
Share
Copy link
Facebook
X
Linkedin
Bluesky
Email...
13/06/2026
Share
Copy link
Facebook
X
Linkedin
Bluesky
Email...
12/06/2026
YES Network and The Gotham Sports App will air seven Athletes Unlimited Softball...
12/06/2026
The United Football League will host its FAST Innovation Suite at the 2026 United Bowl presented by Credit One Bank on Saturday, June 13 at 3:00 p.m. ET at Audi...
12/06/2026
PTZOptics and LayerJot will present live demonstrations at InfoComm 2026 showing how natural-language AI prompting, robotic camera control, and on-device comput...
12/06/2026
MultiDyne Video and Fiber Optic Systems will exhibit at InfoComm 2026, featuring...
12/06/2026
Ateme has announced that Eurovision Services is using Ateme's software-based frame-rate conversion technology for international live event workflows. The de...
12/06/2026
Bitmovin and Simplestream have announced a partnership with Xperi to simplify the launch of OTT streaming services on TiVo OS smart TVs and devices. The collabo...
12/06/2026
Net Insight has announced that a multinational technology company is deploying a...
12/06/2026
MLB Players Inc., the business arm of the MLB Players Association, has announced a partnership with Athletes First to develop and sell brand partnerships across...
12/06/2026
Guntermann and Drunck (G&D) and VuWall have announced the CommandKeyboard-Advanc...
12/06/2026
Comcast Smart Solutions announces a new smart technology deployment with Major L...
12/06/2026
Elevation Worship completed the initial leg of its Elevation Nights 2026 tour ...
12/06/2026
AJA Video Systems has announced KONA IP25 support for Colorfront Transkoder and ...
12/06/2026
Audinate Group Limited (ASX: AD8) will exhibit at InfoComm 2026 (Booth C7321, Ce...
12/06/2026
Pac-12 Commissioner Teresa Gould has announced the appointment of Scott Adametz as Chief Technology Officer. The Pac-12 describes the hire as the first CTO appo...
12/06/2026
Grass Valley has announced AMPP Edge Live, a production system combining Grass Valley hardware, NVIDIA Blackwell GPU acceleration, and AMPP OS in a single platf...
12/06/2026
At one time a trailblazer with the launch of the Longhorn Network, the Universit...
12/06/2026
Ratings Roundup is a rundown of recent rating news and is derived from press rel...
12/06/2026
Chyron has announced PAINT 10.4, an update to its illustrated replay and sports ...
12/06/2026
SVP, Production, Mark Gross: With the new schedule, with not having every Sunday night, it has given us an opportunity to take a step back and reimagine what o...
12/06/2026
For Televisa Technical Engineering Manager Roberto N nez Ibarra and the small team of 12 technicians and two production personnel at the IBC things are already ...
12/06/2026
Simple Steps to Better Acoustics - Taming The Small Room
Most of us mix in spare rooms and small spaces, where the acoustics fight us at every turn. At Gear...
12/06/2026
Latest addition expands vintage-inspired effects palette
Meris' Ottobit pedal range draws its inspiration from vintage gaming consoles, and the latest a...
12/06/2026
Soundbox-based chamber strings series expanded
Sonora Cinematic have just announced the launch of the second instalment in their Soundbox-based chamber stri...
12/06/2026
Share
Copy link
Facebook
X
Linkedin
Bluesky
Email...
12/06/2026
Share
Copy link
Facebook
X
Linkedin
Bluesky
Email...
12/06/2026
AJA Announces KONA IP25 Integration with Colorfront Software
Brie Clayton June 12, 2026
0 Comments
Collaboration enables uncompressed SMPTE ST 2110 I/O ...
12/06/2026
URSA Cine 12K LF Used to Create Visuals for STUTS' K-Arena Concert
Brie Clayton June 12, 2026
0 Comments
Organic visuals projected on a giant scre...
12/06/2026
MTI FILM Acquires Mango New Edit, Expanding its Global Post-Production Services ...
12/06/2026
AI Point Tracking Speeds Up Complex VFX Tracks in Mocha Pro
Jessie Electa Petrov June 12, 2026
0 Comments
The 2026.5 release adds automatic point trac...
12/06/2026
Bitmovin, a provider of video streaming solutions, has partnered with Simplestream, a provider of OTT and broadcast solutions, and technology provider Xperi, to...
12/06/2026
Leostream Corporation, creator of the world-leading Leostream Remote Desktop Access Platform, today announced Jigsaw24, a leading B2B IT solutions provider wit...
12/06/2026
Share
Copy link
Facebook
X
Linkedin
Bluesky
Email...
12/06/2026
Share
Copy link
Facebook
X
Linkedin
Bluesky
Email...
12/06/2026
Share
Copy link
Facebook
X
Linkedin
Bluesky
Email...
12/06/2026
Share
Copy link
Facebook
X
Linkedin
Bluesky
Email...
12/06/2026
Share
Copy link
Facebook
X
Linkedin
Bluesky
Email...
12/06/2026
How Aussie indie games and screen are levelling up with IP 11 June 2026
Ari Harrison, Pro Jank Footy
Head of Games Joey Egger and Ari Harrison of Umbrella sha...
12/06/2026
AgentPerf from Artificial Analysis, the industry's first agentic AI benchmark, gives developers, enterprises and infrastructure providers a clear way to com...
The broadcast television summer season is underway and as is the case every year, the networks have hopes of launching a series or two that catches on with viewers and can be a returning staple for summers to come.
