Second Episode of ‘Survivor’ Outdraws ABC’s ‘Millionaire’

CBS’ “Survivor” fortified its hit credentials Wednesday, as the second episode of the 13-week summer series beat “Who Wants to Be a Millionaire” while adding 2.6 million viewers to its impressive premiere ratings.

In fact, CBS is already contemplating a second edition of the series, with preliminary plans for a new version that would at the earliest run during the first quarter of 2001. The producers, however, must locate a new venue; a resort is due to be built on Pulau Tiga, the Malaysian island where the producers staged the program’s current incarnation, which focuses on the interaction of 16 strangers in that remote jungle setting.

Based on national viewing estimates from Nielsen Media Research, an average of 18.1 million people watched Wednesday’s episode, compared with 15.6 million tuning in ABC’s “Millionaire.”

Ratings for both programs built during the hour, with an audience of nearly 19.5 million watching “Survivor” from 8:30 to 9 p.m.

“Survivor” also continues to attract younger adults--an audience normally elusive to CBS, whose median viewing age is over 50--easily besting its time-period competition, including “Millionaire,” by that measure.

Despite “Survivor’s” strong overall performance, results were somewhat skewed on the West Coast and especially in Southern California, where the series played opposite the concluding portion of NBC’s NBA Finals coverage.

In Los Angeles, “Survivor” was watched in an estimated 520,000 homes during its first half-hour. At the same time, the opening of the Lakers-Pacers championship series on KNBC-TV amassed 1.7 million homes, or almost a third of available households in the station’s viewing area and a whopping 46% of all homes with a TV in use.

Tune-in for “Survivor” did climb after the game ended, as more than 650,000 homes viewed the show locally after 8:30 p.m.

CBS’ initial success with “Survivor” will provide a strong platform to promote the network’s upcoming fall lineup as well as the similarly themed “Big Brother,” another European concept, this one focusing on 10 strangers isolated in a house for 100 days. The network will broadcast that series five nights a week beginning July 6.

CBS is also using “Survivor” to try helping “The Early Show,” with the latest contestant voted off the island scheduled to appear on the ratings-starved morning program each Thursday.