CBS's primetime coverage of the Nagano Games averaged a
16.2/26, which is down 13% from Albertville in '92 and down
42% from Lillehammer in '94. CBS estimates that 184 million
viewers watched all or part of the Games, making it the
third most-watched event in TV history, trailing only
Atlanta in '96 and Lillehammer in '94. In the February
Sweep-to-date, CBS has a 16.0/25, which is 70% ahead of
NBC's 9.4/15, 122% ahead of ABC's 7.2/11 and 103% ahead of
Fox's 7.9/12. CBS announced that its O&O stations averaged
a 17.5/27 for their primetime coverage, boosting ten of the
13 O&O's to first place in their respective markets (CBS
Sports). Sunday's Closing Ceremony earned an 11.7/18 from
8:00-11:00pm ET, and was beat out by ABC's telecast of
"Oprah Winfrey Presents: The Wedding," which scored a
16.9/26 from 9:00-11:00pm ET (HOLLYWOOD REPORTER, 2/24).
PLACE IN HISTORY: USA TODAY's Rudy Martzke notes the
16.2 rating makes its the third-lowest Winter Olympics in
history. Grey Advertising's Jon Mandel: "By not running
events, CBS lost the men, and because the warm-and-fuzzy
pieces weren't so warm and fuzzy, women didn't watch" (USA
TODAY, 2/24). Sanford C. Bernstein & Sons' Tom Wolzien said
CBS was the "victim of just plain bad luck ... plus, you had
some very aggressive counter-programming from the other
networks. ... I think there were some very sophisticated
programming tactics that were used this time" (CHICAGO
TRIBUNE, 2/24). In N.Y., Richard Sandomir writes, "By
various measures, the ... Games were highly successful."
The net posted strong February sweeps numbers, did well with
its O&Os and David Letterman's "Late Show" beat out NBC's
"Tonight Show" (N.Y. TIMES, 2/24). DAILY VARIETY's Rich
Katz writes that industry observers called CBS's performance
"disappointing," but said it "would still benefit the net."
Katz adds that CBS "will turn a profit" on the Games, since
by adding "additional commercial times into its Olympic
coverage late in the second week, CBS helped ensure it would
not lose money on the event." Katz notes "several" analysts
predict CBS will see a $30M profit (DAILY VARIETY, 2/24).
