Games gain with skating
'Idol' has Olympics beat
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Thursday's epic opening-hour showdown pitting high-rated unscripted programs on each of the major nets went easily to TV's No. 1 show, "American Idol"; later the highest-rated hour of the 2006 Winter Olympics rallied the Peacock to victory for the night, according to Nielsen.
Although well down from figure-skating finals in previous Winter Olympics, Thursday's primetime coverage of the Torino Games averaged an 8.1 rating/20 share in adults 18-49 and 25.72 million viewers overall from 8-11:50 p.m. -- the highest demo score for an NBC telecast since May's season finale of "ER," and the most watched program overall on the net since a night of the 2004 Athens Summer Olympics.
When numbers for the weekend are tabulated, including Sunday's Closing Ceremonies, the 2006 Torino Games are expected to have logged the lowest numbers for an Olympics since at least 1988, down more than 30% in adults 18-49 vs. the popular 2002 Salt Lake City Games, when more programming aired live in the U.S.
Most eyes on Thursday were on the night's 8 o'clock tussle, which saw Fox's "Idol" (airing on a special night) take on not only the Olympics on NBC, but reality skeins "Survivor" on CBS and "Dancing With the Stars" on ABC.
As expected, "Idol" (9.9/24 in 18-49, 23.38m) won easily, with CBS' "Survivor: Exile Island" placing second in demos (5.5/14, 14.85m), followed by the Olympics on NBC (4.4/11, 17.73m) and "Dancing" on ABC (3.7/9, 14.78m).
By cannibalizing each other, though, it's not surprising that all three of the reality series delivered their lowest-rated hours of the season.
The top seven broadcast nets (including Spanish-lingo Univision) combined for a big 69 share of the audience at 8:30, with Nielsen reporting viewing levels among adults 18-49 in Thursday's opening hour were 11% above the season average.
Of course, it didn't serve NBC or ABC to fire their best ammo in the opening hour opposite "Idol" and "Survivor" -- and they didn't.
"Dancing" aired a recap of the season from 8 to 9 and then packed its second hour with performances. And NBC didn't get to those skaters competing for medals until the 10 o'clock hour and later.
Thursday's highest-rated hour of primetime was NBC's Olympics from 10 to 11 (10.1/25 in 18-49, 30.32m), although the 11 o'clock half-hour -- when American hopeful Sasha Cohen skated -- drew a higher Nielsen number (10.4/29, 30.61m).
Fox, which will make life miserable for its rivals by airing results-show editions of "Idol" on the next two Thursdays as well, placed second for the night because "Skating With Celebrities" (3.4/8, 8.02m) didn't do much from 9 to 10.
ABC's "Dancing" had a strong showing after "Idol" and "Survivor" ended, hitting a 15 share in 18-49 and nearly 21 million viewers overall with its penultimate seg of the season. For its two hours, the hoofing contest earned a 4.9/12 in 18-49 and 17.70 million total viewers.
Also for the Alphabet, Chris Cuomo's interview with Joran Van Der Sloot -- the prime suspect in the disappearance of Natalee Holloway -- generated the highest scores in 18-49 (4.4/11) and 25-54 (5.2/12) for "Primetime" in the 10 o'clock hour since November 2003.
NBC's Olympics coverage went on to win the primetime races on Friday (prelim 4.1/12 in 18-49 and 15.5 million viewers overall) and Saturday (prelim 4.6/14, 15.5 million).
