New Year’s Eve Events on TV Attract More Viewers

A slightly higher percentage of Americans apparently viewed New Year’s Eve festivities on television this year, based on preliminary data from TV ratings service Nielsen Media Research.

Estimates from 46 major cities that account for more than half of U.S. homes indicate that just over half of TV sets were in use Friday evening, a relatively small increase compared to 1998 and other recent years. National results won’t be released until Monday.

Television networks were generally anticipating increased audiences due to Y2K concerns, with polls and sluggish ticket sales for many concerts suggesting more people might stay home.

Among the networks, ABC, which aired more than 24 hours of consecutive millennium coverage, drew by far the highest ratings. The network attracted about 22% of the available prime-time audience, compared with 12% and 9%, respectively, for NBC and CBS.

Figures were not immediately available for the all-news cable channels and PBS, which also offered marathon coverage of the day’s festivities.

Beyond ratings, TV news organizations see such major events as an opportunity to strengthen their identities among viewers.

“This event is incredibly important in defining everyone to their audience,” said Rick Kaplan, president of CNN, which is running 100 consecutive hours of millennium-related coverage that will continue through Tuesday morning. “How you react to [such events] really speaks volumes. I think we served our audience well.”

CNN scored a significant coup Friday, as Moscow correspondent Eileen O’Connor landed the first television interview with acting Russian President Vladimir Putin just prior to Boris Yeltsin’s resignation.

ABC’s strong showing, at least based on early projections, also could be a boon to that network, which currently trails NBC in nightly news, the early morning shows and Sunday morning discussion programs.