Monica boosts ABC to 2nd-place sweeps tie
Interview draws record aud to web
Scandal fatigue? I don't think so.
Nearly half of the Americans watching TV Wednesday night tuned into the teary "20/20" interview, in which a newly made-over Lewinsky described to Barbara Walters her intimate relationship with President Clinton and the toll the public ordeal has taken on her and her family.
With a 33.4 household rating and 48 share from 9 p.m. to 11 p.m., the interview averaged 48.5 million total viewers and averaged a 20.2/44 among adults 18-49 (all figures based on Nielsen data). The telecast trailed only the Super Bowl this season in all key categories (40.2/61 household rating, 83.7 million total viewers and 36.4/71 in adults 18-49).
Most-watched
ABC said the Lewinsky interview was the most-watched news program ever in terms of total viewers, although it didn't match Oprah Winfrey's 1993 special primetime "entertainment" interview with Michael Jackson, which averaged a 39.3/56 and drew 62.3 million total viewers.
Pitted against the all-time most-watched TV programs, the Lewinsky interview was near the bottom of the top 100 list.
Lewinsky's largest audience, with a 53 share, was women 50 and older. However, 15% of kids 2-11 and 25% of teens watching TV tuned in to hear the details of the affair, including a segment in which Walters asked her to define phone sex.
In total, 74 million Americans watched at least six minutes of the interview. Rather than tuning in early and then fading out, the interview's share of the household audience increased each half-hour, from a 44 to a 52 share. The city most interested in Lewinsky was San Francisco, which drew a 54 share, compared with a 52 share in Los Angeles and a 46 share in New York.
Shot in the arm
The best news for ABC was that Lewinsky gave the web a last-minute February sweeps shot-in-the-arm. The Alphabet web rose four-tenths of a rating point among adults 18-49 for a second-place tie with Fox.
The final adults 18-49 sweeps tallied were: NBC in first place with a 6.2/17 ABC and Fox in second place with a 5.4/14, CBS in fourth with a 4.1/11, the WB was fifth with a 2.0/5, and UPN was sixth with a 1.3/3.
NBC was up 7% from the November sweeps and 5% from last February; ABC was up 4% from November and 15% from last February, while Fox was down 5% from November and 7% from last February. CBS was even with its November performance and down 42% from its Olympics-inflated February last year. The WB increased 5% from November and 11% from last February, while UPN grew 8% from November, but fell 19% from last February.
In households, NBC held onto first place with a 10.0/16, and CBS was second (9.7/16). The Lewinsky interview improved ABC's finish by six-tenths of a rating point (from an 8.3 to an 8.9/14), but it wasn't enough to lift the web out of third. Fox was fourth (7.2/11) , the WB fifth (3.6/5) and UPN sixth (2.1/3).
ABC won't be the only network to benefit from Monica mania. Britain's Channel Four was scheduled to air its own Lewinsky interview on Thursday. ABC agreed not to sell foreign rights to the "20/20" interview, so Lewinsky can take a large chunk of the foreign rights sold by Channel Four on top of the estimated $600,000 upfront payment she's receiving from the British broadcaster.
ABC also limited the number of domestic excerpts it would air or provide to other broadcasters in order to maximize Lewinsky's take from the Channel Four interview sales.
