TV Ratings : Amazing Facts! Amazing Moola! (At Least for CBS)

The concluding week of the Winter Olympics registered another set of TV records. With the release of the A.C. Nielsen figures Tuesday, CBS noted these amazing facts:

* CBS’ weekly prime-time average of 30.5 was higher than the total of all three other networks combined--the first time that feat has been achieved. With Greg Gumbel anchoring, it was the highest weekly ratings average in CBS’ history.

* CBS won all seven nights and all 44 half-hours of prime time, as it did the week before. No network had managed that since ABC’s coverage of the 1984 Summer Olympics.

* Last Wednesday’s coverage, which included the first performances of the much-anticipated women’s figure skater competition, was the sixth highest-rated broadcast of all time (48.5) and the highest-rated Olympics telecast ever. CBS estimated that more than 126.6 million U.S. viewers watched at least part of the prime-time program. And Friday’s coverage of the women’s figure skating finals drew an estimated 119.9 million, the network said, making it the highest-rated Friday in history.

* The Olympic tune-in also helped the “CBS Evening News,” which beat its ABC and NBC rivals for the first time since August of 1992.

Southland Ratings

Here are A.C. Nielsen’s Top 10 prime-time programs in the Los Angeles area during the same week. Each rating point equals 50,064 households.

Sta- Rat- Program tion ing 1 Winter Olympics (Wed.) KCBS 49.4 2 Winter Olympics (Fri.) KCBS 42.4 3.Winter Olympics (Mon.) KCBS 27.4 4.Winter Olympics (Tue.) KCBS 22.7 5.60 Minutes KCBS 22.4 6.Winter Olympics (Sat.) KCBS 21.1 7.Winter Olympics (Sun.) KCBS 20.9 8.Winter Olympics (Thu.) KCBS 20.7 9.The Simpsons KTTV 19.7 10.The Simpsons (8:30 p.m.) KTTV 19.1

Weekly Averages

CBS: 30.5

ABC: 10.0

NBC: 9.5

FOX: 7.3

*

Season to Date

CBS: 14.5

ABC: 12.4

NBC: 11.3

FOX: 7.2