Abc Breaks Nbc Grip On Ratings

Thu., Sept. 18, 1997

Associated Press

Thanks to Miss America and Michael Jackson, ABC ended NBC’s 18-week winning streak atop Nielsen Media Research’s prime-time television rankings.

ABC, with its 8.6 rating and 15 share, won a fiercely competitive week in which the top four networks finished within two ratings points of each other, Nielsen said Tuesday.

ABC’s telecast of the Miss America pageant finished seventh in the ratings, a dramatic improvement over the network’s usually moribund Saturday night schedule.

It was also a good week for ABC newsmagazines: a Wednesday “PrimeTime Live” featuring the JonBenet Ramsey case finished second, Barbara Walters’ “20/20” interview with Michael Jackson was 11th, and the new Thursday “20/20” won its first head-to-head competition with CBS’s “48 Hours.”

For the week, NBC finished second with an 8.2 rating and 14 share, CBS had a 7.8 rating and 13 share, and Fox had a 7.1 rating and 12 share.

For the week of Sept. 8-14, the top 10 shows, their networks and ratings, were:

“Seinfeld,” NBC, 16.0; “PrimeTime Live,” ABC, 13.9; “Emmy Awards,” CBS, 13.5; “3rd Rock From the Sun,” NBC, 13.5; “NFL Monday Night Football: Kansas City at Oakland,” ABC, 13.4; “Frasier,” NBC, 13.0; “77th Annual Miss America Pageant,” ABC, 12.5; “Friends,” NBC, 12.3; “Dateline NBC” (Tuesday), NBC, 12.1; “ER,” NBC, 12.0.

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