TV Ratings : World Series Makes CBS a Winner

The World Series got off to a good start on CBS last weekend. According to figures released Tuesday by the A.C. Nielsen Co., the opening game between Atlanta and Toronto on Saturday was seen by nearly 50 million people, and the second game on Sunday attracted about 54 million--enough to make it No. 2 in the week’s prime-time ratings.

With additional help from the baseball playoffs and its strong Monday night lineup, CBS easily won the network competition, averaging a 14.9 rating compared to 12.1 for ABC, 11.1 for NBC and 7.2 for Fox.

Despite the big numbers for Sunday’s World Series game on CBS, NBC proclaimed its counterprogramming strategy a success. The first installment of “Jewels” got a smaller audience overall but out-delivered baseball for advertisers who were interested in reaching women between the ages of 18 and 54.

* It doesn’t get the same notice as CBS’ higher rated “60 Minutes,” but ABC’s “20/20” remains a dominant ratings force on Fridays at 10 p.m. The news magazine ranked No. 13 among last week’s 87 prime-time programs with an audience of about 14.3 million homes, while its dramatic competitors--CBS’ “Picket Fences” and NBC’s “I’ll Fly Away”--each reached about 7.5 million.

TV Ratings

Points Share 1. “Roseanne” (ABC) 21.6 32 2. “World Series Game 2” (CBS) 20.2 32 3. “Murphy Brown” (CBS) 19.2 28 4. “Coach” (ABC) 19.0 29 5. “Home Improvement” (ABC) 18.6 28 * “20/20” (ABC) 15.4 29

Complete list, F10 (Each rating point represents 931,000 homes. Share is the percentage of viewing audience.)