Tuesday was another tough night for the 2006 Winter Olympics on NBC, which settled for distant second-place demo finishes opposite Fox's "American Idol" and "House." The Games won easily in the 10 o'clock hour.
According to preliminary nationals from Nielsen, the Winter Olympics averaged a 5.6 rating/14 share in adults 18-49 and 18.5 million viewers overall from 8 to 11, peaking at 10 o'clock with a 6.7/17 in the demo.
Fox's "American Idol" (roughly 11.3/29 in 18-49, 27 million viewers overall from 8 to 9:03) and "House" (roughly 7.9/19 in 18-49, 19.4 million viewers overall from 9:03 to 10:03) trounced the Games in 18-49 and other demos, although NBC's Olympics coverage did draw more total viewers in the 9 o'clock hour. "Idol" was down about 12% week-to-week, while "House" eased about 9% from its series highs of a week earlier.
ABC was paced by the steady "Boston Legal" at 10 (3.3/9 in 18-49, 10.4 million viewers overall) and CBS by 9 o'clock spec "Dr. Phil: Love Smarts" (3.0/7 in 18-49, 9.0 million viewers overall).
At 10, the Olympics on NBC (6.3/17 in 18-49, 16.7 million viewers overall) topped the combined demo deliveries of ABC and CBS.
Preliminary 18-49 averages for the night: Fox, 9.6/24; NBC, 5.6/14; ABC, 2.6/7; CBS, 2.5/6; WB, 1.9/5; UPN, 0.4/1.
In total viewers: Fox, 23.2 million; NBC, 18.5 million; CBS, 8.7 million; ABC, 7.4 million; WB, 4.6 million; UPN, 1.1 million.
Contact Rick Kissell at
rick.kissell@variety.com