Love Island premiere ratings make so-so impression; Bring the Funny solid

How were the Love Island premiere ratings, and did they justify CBS’ aggressive marketing campaign for the show? We’re just one episode in, but we don’t think the network got what they were hoping for out of the British TV sensation.

This extended opening episode ended up drawing as a whole a 0.6 rating in the 18-49 demographic and then also 2.7 million viewers, down big in both measures from what Big Brother drew there on Tuesday nights last week. This is hardly a good start to a show that CBS is planning to run new episodes for 5 times a week, though we imagine if it continues to draw this rating, they’ll at least see it through until the end of its run. If it starts to trickle down to a 0.5 or 0.4, we wouldn’t be shocked if they started to trim down the number of broadcasts. Remember that this is a show that they are planning to run every night of the week for the next several weeks in hopes of turning it into some sort of big-time viral sensation. We’re not sure that it is going to get there.

If Love Island doesn’t end up working, it’s already going to be easy to understand why after watching the premiere. While the show did its best in order to recreate the magic from the UK version, it also can’t be anywhere near as edgy or raunchy because of where it’s airing. This feels so much more like something better-suited for an MTV or a streaming service that can better go unfiltered and take on issues in even more of an organic way.

As for the premiere of Bring the Funny, NBC has something to smile about here in a way that CBS does not. With 6.2 million viewers, this was the most-watched premiere of a new summer broadcast show in two years. Meanwhile, this goes along with a strong 1.2 rating in the demo that wasn’t too far off the America’s Got Talent lead-in.

If you want to check out some video thoughts on the Bring the Funny premiere, check out the video below! Once you do that, remember to subscribe to CarterMatt on YouTube so you don’t miss out on our daily TV updates.

There is a little bit of hope for all of these shows to improve from here, mostly in that they all aired opposite the MLB All-Star Game and that is the sort of thing that can make it a little bit hard to succeed. There are only so many viewers available in the summer!

What do you think about the Love Island premiere ratings?

Be sure to share in the attached comments, and remember to come back soon for some other news. (Photo: CBS.)