Tonys up slightly, N.Y. tepid
Bucks-76ers Game 7 draws 10.2/16
According to preliminary nationals from Nielsen that will be finalized today, Sunday's two-hour telecast of the 55th annual Tony Awards on CBS averaged a 6.4 rating/10 share, a slight improvement over last year's record low 6.2/10 but still the second lowest on record. In overall audience, this year's estimated 9.1 million viewers tops both last year (8.5 million) and 1996 (8.7 million).
Show, hosted by "Producers" stars Nathan Lane and Matthew Broderick, fared considerably better in key demos, logging its best marks in three years in adults 18-49 (2.5/6) and adults 25-54 (3.2/7). In each demo, it's about a 33% improvement vs. a year ago.
Gotham, as usual, was the top-rated of Nielsen's 51 metered markets (9.7/14) but the city's rating was down by 12% vs. last year (11.0/16) and 17% from 1999 (11.7/17).
The lower New York rating is a bit of a surprise given all the excitement and record-setting year on Broadway -- thanks in large part to "The Producers," which won a whopping 12 Tonys on Sunday. But the national spotlight and headlines commanded by the show and its creator, Mel Brooks, may have helped sparked more interest nationwide.
Among the top 10 markets, Boston (9.2/14), San Francisco (8.3/15) and Philadelphia (8.1/11) all posted strong scores as did medium-sized markets St. Louis (11.4/17) and Pittsburgh (8.7/13).
In Los Angeles, this year's show nabbed a 7.7/12, about on par with two years ago (7.8/13) and 17% better than last year (6.6/10), when the city was wrapped up in its Lakers' victory in the seventh and deciding game of the NBA's Western Conference finals.
PBS' coverage of the opening hour of Sunday's Tonycast netted a 2.4 rating (roughly 3.4 million viewers) in weighted metered-market overnights, a 20% increase vs. last year's 2.0 rating. Show was again produced by WNET-13 in Gotham.
Elsewhere Sunday, NBC's Game 7 of the NBA's Eastern Conference finals (Philadelphia-Milwaukee) netted a 10.2/16 in metered-market overnights, the highest for an Eastern contest since the final game of the New York-Indiana conference final in 1999. Still, compared with last year's boffo Western Conference seventh game (14.5/23 for Lakers-Portland), Sunday's comparable matchup was down 30%.
Game earned a 35.6/50 in Milwaukee and a 32.5/44 in Philadelphia.
Reliable national numbers and demos were unavailable for the game, but it's expected to make NBC an easy winner on the night.
The NBA Finals begin Wednesday in Los Angeles, pitting the defending champion Lakers against the Philadelphia 76ers. NBC, which will telecast every game of the best-of-seven series in primetime, announced Monday that it plans to air special half-time events during each game, including a mini-concert featuring U2 as well as brief episodes of the net's quizshow "Weakest Link," featuring NBA players and announcers.
