CBS Sweeps Ratings Gold

CBS endured critical derision for its Winter Olympics coverage, but that event still helped the network skate to an easy victory in the February ratings sweeps, even if figures suggest that all the fanfare left barely an echo behind.

Scheduling changes initiated after the Olympics--designed to capitalize on CBS’ inflated audience those 17 days--have thus far yielded few dividends. Specifically, Tom Selleck’s new comedy, “The Closer,” has delivered modest ratings against stiff Monday competition, and the new Ann-Margret soap opera, “Four Corners,” stumbled out of the starting gate and was canceled after just two weeks.

In addition, such existing shows as “Brooklyn South,” “The Magnificent Seven,” the David Caruso vehicle “Michael Hayes,” Bryant Gumbel’s newsmagazine and “The Gregory Hines Show”--which has since been yanked from the schedule--failed initially to exhibit a post-Olympic ratings renewal, despite the promotional lift CBS received.

In touting the network’s second consecutive sweep victory--the first time CBS has accomplished that feat since the last Winter Olympics in 1994--officials cited some residual benefits from the Winter Games, including the highest-rated Grammy Awards telecast in five years, help in launching a new series version of “Candid Camera” to go with “Kids Say the Darndest Things” on Friday nights and heightened exposure for David Letterman’s late-night show and the sitcom “Everybody Loves Raymond.”

“Letterman was up, Letterman was rediscovered, Letterman was reinvigorated,” said CBS Television President Leslie Moonves.

Yet with CBS’ prime-time ratings subsiding after the Olympics, even Letterman--who ranked first in late night for the two weeks of competition--lagged behind “The Tonight Show With Jay Leno,” which will again win that race when the final numbers for the time period are tallied next week.

Whatever disappointments CBS may have experienced, however, pale in comparison to results for ABC, which fell to fourth place for the four-week survey period that concluded Wednesday--the first time ABC, CBS or NBC has had fewer people watching than Fox during sweeps in that network’s 11-year history.

ABC seemingly miscalculated on several fronts, drawing poor ratings with its four-hour Motown retrospective and a tribute to actor Christopher Reeve that aired Sunday. On the plus side, the network scored big numbers with its latest Oprah Winfrey production, “The Wedding,” after Winfrey helped its cause in November with the movie “Before Women Had Wings.”

“I think they’re going to ask Oprah to produce a movie every Sunday night from now on,” Moonves quipped.

By contrast, Fox aggressively challenged the Olympics and was rewarded with a larger audience than the network averaged before the Games. Fox’s strong performance was fueled by its popular Sunday lineup of “The X-Files,” “King of the Hill” and “The Simpsons,” as well as sensational specials such as “World’s Scariest Police Chases” and “Magic’s Biggest Secrets Revealed.”

“It’s the same formula we’ve been using all year,” said Fox Entertainment Group President Peter Roth.

The upstart WB network also achieved significant improvement compared to a year ago, as its youth-oriented fare “Buffy the Vampire Slayer,” “7th Heaven” and the new drama “Dawson’s Creek” appeared largely immune to any Olympic drain.

That said, even the lowest-rated Olympics in three decades demonstrated how dominant such event-oriented programming can be in today’s television climate, in which the average viewer, thanks to cable and satellite dishes, can choose from among nearly four dozen channels.

CBS’ average audience surged nearly 50% compared to last year’s February sweeps, to 21 million viewers in prime time--7.3 million more than its nearest competitor, NBC.

Increased TV viewing because of the Olympics also boosted overall ratings for the four major networks slightly--a modest gain that still bucks a trend that has seen the traditional networks gradually lose audience to alternative channels and leisure-time activities, including a 5% decline this season.

The other networks experienced varying degrees of success countering the Games. Ratings leader NBC--which will televise the next five Summer and Winter Olympics, from 2000 through 2008--didn’t want to diminish that franchise and basically threw in the towel, scheduling reruns and movies and watching its ratings plummet 20% compared to February 1997, with 13.7 million people tuning in on average.

Fox averaged 12.2 million viewers during the survey--mirroring its total from a year ago, when the Olympics weren’t part of the equation--compared to 11.7 million for ABC, a 17% decline.

ABC’s futile efforts to counter the Olympics has fueled the perception within Hollywood that the network is rudderless. In addition, ABC has proved unstable from a personnel standpoint, with several senior executives leaving over the last few weeks.

With CBS’ ratings elevated, ABC also had to settle for fourth place among adults 18 to 49, the age bracket that most directly influences advertising rates. Fox finished right behind NBC, and CBS--which usually brings up the rear in terms of younger demographics--won handily by that measure as well.

Networks try to boost ratings during sweeps to help their affiliated TV stations, which use results from November, February and May as the basis for setting advertising rates. Stations are especially concerned about how many viewers the networks deliver to their late local newscasts airing right after prime time.

“I think it’s absolutely extraordinary that at a time of greater competition than ever before, any network can adopt a strategy of hibernation,” Fox’s Roth said, alluding to NBC’s approach.

NBC wouldn’t respond, but officials have acknowledged that their aim was simply to ride out the Olympic storm. The network should be difficult to beat in the next sweeps, which begin April 23, given the Super Bowl-sized ratings anticipated for the already much-hyped “Seinfeld” finale.

The best news for ABC came from its Saturday morning children’s lineup. Armed with a slate of such shows as “101 Dalmatians” and “Doug,” produced by corporate parent Disney, ABC defeated perennial children’s leader Fox in attracting children under 12, ending Fox’s 20-sweep winning streak in that competition.

Because the Olympics so dramatically skewed the latest survey, Nielsen Media Research will provide stations and advertisers a separate ratings breakdown for negotiating purposes that excludes those days.

* LOCAL VICTORS: KNBC-TV beats its news rivals; Jerry Springer medals. F35