ABC Winner in Election Ratings

Although the first to say George Bush was elected President, CBS was third in preliminary ratings for the networks’ election-night coverage, audience estimates for 17 cities showed Wednesday.

ABC’s coverage won Tuesday’s election-night ratings battle by more than 3 ratings points, according to one estimate by rival CBS.

NBC was second, even though it waited more than an hour after CBS and ABC projections to join them in declaring the vice president the victor.

CBS declared Bush the winner at 6:17 p.m. PST, followed 3 minutes later by ABC. NBC didn’t make its call for Bush until 7:30 p.m. PST.

For the Peacock Network, that was a far cry from 1980, when Ronald Reagan won a landslide victory over then-President Jimmy Carter. That year, NBC, the first to declare Reagan the winner, did it at 5:15 p.m. PST.

An NBC spokeswoman said the network’s delayed call for Bush on Tuesday night was due to a delay in data coming from key precincts in Michigan.

“We were being very careful because we didn’t feel we had enough” to project a presidential winner in that state, said the spokeswoman.

According to overnight Nielsen estimates provided by CBS, first-place ABC averaged a 14.7 rating and 22% share of the available audience in the 17 cities--including Los Angeles--during its prime-time coverage of election night.

NBC was second with an 11.4 rating and a 17% audience share, followed by CBS, which averaged a 9.7 and a 14% share.

In Los Angeles, NBC’s coverage, aired on KNBC-TV, was first in the ratings, averaging an 11.2 rating from 4 to 10 p.m. PST, according to Nielsen estimates. ABC’s coverage, aired by KABC-TV, was second with a 10.3. CBS coverage on KCBS-TV was third with a 6.8.

During the 8 to 11 p.m. period in Los Angeles, KCOP Channel 13’s broadcast of “The Godfather Saga” was the big winner, drawing an average 12.5 rating and 19% of the viewing audience.