ABC Claims Its Second Sweeps Win

When networks began rushing prime-time quiz shows into production last fall, the goal was to board that gravy train or help derail the program leading it, “Who Wants to Be a Millionaire.”

Scanning wreckage from the February sweeps that ended Wednesday night, however, reveals not even a temporary answer to the other networks’ dilemma, as ABC emerged with its second consecutive sweeps victory due almost entirely to the enormous popularity of the game show hosted by Regis Philbin.

In fact, ABC’s ratings rose 21% during the four-week survey versus the corresponding period in 1999--the only major network to post a year-to-year gain.

Rivals were quick to point out the 16 hours of “Millionaire” broadcast last month accounted for nearly a fifth of ABC’s schedule, calling the program--which averaged 28.6 million viewers per night--”a weapon” ABC has used to club its competitors.

Alan Wurtzel, NBC’s president of research and media development, couched the quiz show’s impact in mythological terms, saying, “The nights that ‘Millionaire’ isn’t on, ABC is basically a mere mortal network again.”

If so, ABC--which hadn’t won a major sweeps in five years before “Millionaire” delivered the November crown--is offering no apologies. According to Nielsen Media Research data, the network averaged 16 million viewers last month, holding a wide edge over NBC (13.4 million) and CBS (13.3 million), whose ratings were down 8% and 5%, respectively.

Fox also diminished by 8%, to 10.1 million viewers, and inadvertently helped other broadcasters with its much-lampooned special “Who Wants to Marry a Multi-Millionaire?” Fallout from revelations about the would-be groom turned the Feb. 15 stunt into the most-covered story on TV newsmagazines during sweeps, according to analysis by monitoring service NewsTV Corp., yielding high ratings for “Dateline NBC,” “20/20” and “Good Morning America.”

Executives waiting for the “Millionaire” phenomenon to fade were tossed few lifelines. CBS rather feebly noted the program’s audience profile has gradually gotten older, suggesting younger viewers may be tiring of it. The network’s Grammy Awards telecast also beat the quiz show in their head-to-head duel, the first program to do so.

That said, the program’s audience has grown since regularly joining the prime-time lineup airing at least three times per week. February ratings climbed 17% versus November, when “Millionaire” was presented 18 consecutive nights as an “event” as opposed to an ongoing series.

This surge came despite a cloning process that placed a new quiz show on each network. CBS pulled its entry, “Winning Lines,” due to low ratings, while NBC’s “Twenty One” and Fox’s “Greed” have enjoyed some success, albeit on a modest level when held up against the “Millionaire” measuring stick.

Beyond single-handedly hoisting ABC out of third place, “Millionaire” benefited adjacent programs such as “Dharma & Greg” and “The Practice.” The legal drama had already been on an upswing this season but soared to record heights, up 53% compared to last February when the show followed “20/20.”

With “Millionaire” luring wayward network viewers back in much the way events such as the Super Bowl and Academy Awards do, overall tune-in for the major networks bucked a long-standing trend toward erosion, as ABC, CBS, NBC and Fox totaled nearly 53 million viewers during prime time, about the same as February ’99.

In addition, Nielsen estimates 102 million people in the U.S. watched television during prime time for the sweeps, a 2% increase from last year. That’s noteworthy in light of steadily growing Internet usage, which has yet to cut into TV viewing in a significant way.

Conducted in February, May and November, sweeps are vital to local TV stations because the data are used to negotiate advertising rates, prompting networks to roll out high-profile fare to boost tune-in for their owned and affiliated stations.

From that perspective, NBC laid claim to first place by one key measure: the 10:30 to 11 p.m. half-hour that funnels viewers directly into the late local newscasts, from which stations derive a disproportionate share of their revenues.

NBC’s own howitzer remains “ER,” which actually checked in more people than a year ago, when numbers were inflated by George Clooney’s much-ballyhooed farewell. Four airings of the medical drama averaged 32.5 million viewers--the only series to exceed ABC’s nightly tally for “Millionaire.”

NBC can also point to strong 10 o’clock performances by “Law & Order” and its spinoff, “Law & Order: Special Victims Unit,” which has found a home Fridays in the slot once occupied by “Homicide.”

Despite “Millionaire’s” dominance, the other networks have intimated ABC may be mortgaging the future by devoting so much of its schedule to the franchise, throwing in extra editions as the survey’s end neared to safeguard its victory among the young adults coveted by advertisers, facing stiff competition from NBC.

Moreover, even with “Millionaire,” some high-profile ABC series stumbled, among them the new drama “Once and Again” and sophomore comedy “Sports Night,” which officials yanked in the midst of sweeps due to subpar ratings.

The only other broadcaster to achieve gains in February was UPN, as ratings for the emerging network increased by nearly 40%--to about 4.1 million viewers nightly--due largely to “WWF Smackdown!,” which has tripled UPN’s Thursday-night audience.

By contrast, the WB network lost about a quarter of its audience, slipping behind UPN. WB has attributed its decline in part to sacrificing carriage on Chicago superstation WGN, costing the network some national exposure, but additional problems--including WB’s inability to launch new comedies and the failure of its gambit moving the critically lauded drama “Felicity” to Sunday nights--also contributed to the slide. Wholesale lineup changes are planned for April, among them transferring “Felicity” to Wednesdays and new drama “Roswell” to Mondays.

David Letterman’s absence and heavily promoted return breathed life into the late-night competition, as Letterman’s “Late Show” beat “The Tonight Show With Jay Leno” last week, celebrating the CBS program’s most-watched week since 1995. Leno will still triumph overall but by a reduced margin.

In similar fashion, NBC’s “Today” maintained its sizable advantage over “GMA” despite gains by the ABC morning program, which recorded its highest-rated week in more than two years thanks to last week’s appearance by “Who Wants to Marry a Multi-Millionaire?” “bride” Darva Conger.