'Vampire Diaries' premiere draws 4.8m

Thursday night's Vampire Diaries series opener pulled in the largest ever audience for a CW premiere, according to the latest figures.

The show, which stars Ian Somerhalder and Paul Wesley as warring vampire brothers, pulled in 4.84m during the 8pm hour.

Elsewhere at 8pm, Big Brother 11 took 7.62m for CBS, and reruns of ABC's Grey's Anatomy and Fox's Bones logged 3.97m and 4.28m respectively.

Reruns dominated the 9pm hour: Fox's Fringe interested 3.5m, Grey's Anatomy had 4.51m for ABC, and 7.43m watched CSI on CBS. Over on The CW, the season premiere of Supernatural logged 3.39m, down from last year's 3.96m.

Later, at 10pm, reruns of CBS's The Mentalist and ABC's Private Practice managed 8.05m and 3.46m respectively.

NBC's NFL Kickoff, which saw the Steelers take on the Titans, averaged an all-conquering 18.85m between 8.30pm and 11pm.