Kids' WB chases Nick in Sat. ayem race

'Digimon' eyeing 'Pokemon'

By TOM BIERBAUM

Pocket Monsters and Digital Monsters are scaring up a real Saturday morning ratings race.

Cable's Nickelodeon has inched back ahead of the broadcast kidvid pack, but Kids' WB is in hot pursuit, thanks to the ongoing ''Pokemon'' phenomenon.

And a close battle for third is shaping up between ABC and Fox, with Fox remaining competitive thanks to its successful introduction of ''Digimon: Digital Monsters.''

Nick has moved ahead of Kids' WB for the past three Saturday mornings, but the margin last week was just a tenth of a ratings point (4.2 vs. 4.1 in kids 2-11). WB's 10 a.m. ''Pokemon'' seg was the morning's top scorer in that demo with a 7.2 rating, followed by the Nick pair of ''Spongebob Squarepants'' (5.5) and ''Rugrats'' (5.2), then the 8:30 ''Pokemon'' seg (4.6).

Fox's top kidvid draw is ''Digimon'' (3.6), a Japanese import not directly related to ''Pokemon,'' but featuring similar content.

In averages for the last eight Saturday mornings, the WB holds a narrow edge over Nickelodeon, with a 4.2 rating in kids 2-11 (up 125% over last year) vs. Nick's 4.0 (even with last year).

''Digimon'' is keeping Fox Kids lineup (2.9, down 6%) third, though ABC, led by ''One Saturday Morning" (2.7, even) is close behind, and expects to pick up momentum after the disruption of football preemptions ends in January.

Those Saturday-morning leaders are followed by the Disney Channel (1.6, down 6%), Cartoon Network (1.5, up 7%), CBS (0.7, even) and Fox Family Channel (0.6, up 50%).

In the 3-5 p.m. weekday-afternoon race, the season-to-date order is Nick, WB and Fox, with ''Pokemon'' allowing the WB to more than double year-ago results.

NBC's teen-aimed TNBC lineup is leading Saturday mornings this fall in the 12-17 demo, despite a 33% drop vs. last year from a 3.3 rating to a 2.2.

Last Sunday night's kidvid star was Fox Family Channel's TV premiere of ''Casper Meets Wendy.'' The sequel to the 1995 ''Casper'' theatrical pic beat all broadcast and cable competition from 8-10 p.m. by conjuring up 1.46 million kid viewers.

Each rating point reps 1% of the U.S. total for the audience being measured. The share is also a percentage, but calculated against only viewers watching TV during the slot involved.