NBC Skates Easily to No. 1 Spot
Two nights of women’s figure skating and the closing ceremonies provided a strong finishing kick to NBC’s coverage of the Winter Olympics, nearly tripling the network’s audience during the corresponding week a year ago and beating combined prime-time viewing of CBS, Fox and ABC by more than 9 million viewers, based on viewing estimates issued Tuesday by Nielsen Media Research.
The Olympics have left NBC--perched in second place before the Games began--with a commanding lead for the current TV season, which began in late September and officially concludes in late May.
For the record:
12:00 a.m. March 1, 2002 FOR THE RECORD
Los Angeles Times Friday March 1, 2002 Home Edition Main News Part A Page 2 A2 Desk 2 inches; 40 words Type of Material: Correction
Nielsen chart--In the Nielsen TV rankings in some editions of Wednesday’s Calendar, the decimal point was missing in the numbers that quantify viewers for each program. The top-ranked program averaged 43.31 million viewers; the lowest-ranked program averaged 1.86 million viewers.
ABC, meanwhile, comes out of the Winter Games leading Fox--which benefited from airing the Super Bowl and World Series--by only the narrowest of margins in total viewership and tied with CBS for third among adults ages 18 to 49, the key demographic among advertisers.
Not surprisingly, CBS drew modest ratings against the closing ceremonies with “The Rosa Parks Story,” though the movie did take the silver in its time slot.
More youth-oriented programs generally fared better against the Games, including Fox’s “The Simpsons,” which, still durable in its 13th season, ranked behind only “Everybody Loves Raymond” overall among non-Olympic offerings.
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National Nielsen Viewership
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