Condit, Sports Push ABC to Win

Connie Chung’s interview with Rep. Gary Condit and more conventional sporting spectacles paced ABC to a solid ratings victory last week, based on viewing estimates issued Tuesday by Nielsen Media Research.

“PrimeTime Thursday’s” exclusive Condit interview ranked as the most-watched program this summer and highest-rated news program since 1999. Still, it drew less than half the audience that tuned in to ABC’s major interview coup that year, when Barbara Walters sat down with Monica Lewinsky.

ABC also benefited from televising preseason “Monday Night Football” (the highest-rated of three nighttime NFL telecasts on the major networks last week) and the Little League World Series--drawing the biggest audience since at least 1993 for that event, which traditionally aired in the afternoon. Teens, in fact, were prominently represented on the networks last week, as both the “Teen Choice Awards” and “Miss Teen USA” pageant enjoyed modest ratings gains compared to last year.

“Everybody Loves Raymond” continues to buck this summer’s dismal viewing trend for network reruns. In the “What a difference a year makes” department, meanwhile, CBS’ prime-time average dove 45% versus the corresponding week a year ago, when the original “Survivor” finale aired.

(BEGIN TEXT OF INFOBOX / INFOGRAPHIC)

Network Averages

Here is the number of viewers (in millions) that each network averaged per hour of prime time, for last week and for the season.

*--*

Last Season Network week To date ABC 9.66 11.13 CBS 7.50 11.23 NBC 7.04 10.61 FOX 6.11 8.46 UPN 3.48 3.58 WB 2.67 3.39

*--*