Olympics Viewing Tops Nielsens

The Winter Olympics aren’t quite the hit that CBS expected, but the network still buried its competitors last week in Nielsen Media Research’s prime-time television ratings.

CBS had a 16.9 rating and a 27 share last week, with more than twice the number of average viewers of second-place NBC.

Normally that would be reason for wild celebration during a “sweeps” month when ratings are watched closely to set local advertising rates. But CBS’s Olympic ratings are below past Games and the network has been harshly criticized for its coverage.

The 16.2 rating and 26 share for Olympic coverage through Tuesday is 37 percent below the Lillehammer Olympics of 1994 and 14 percent below the Albertville Games of 1992.

Nevertheless, the seven nights of Olympic coverage were among last week’s eight most-watched programs. Another CBS show, “60 Minutes,” had its highest ratings in three years to become the only program to beat an Olympics broadcast.

NBC’s “Nightly News” won the evening news race with a 9.1 rating and 18 share. The “CBS Evening News” was second with an 8.8 rating and 17 share, followed by ABC’s “World News Tonight” with an 8.7 rating and 17 share.

For the week of Feb. 9-15, the top 10 shows, their networks and ratings were:

“Winter Olympics” (Thursday), CBS, 19.3; “Winter Olympics” (Tuesday), CBS, 18.2; “Winter Olympics” (Sunday), CBS, 18.0; “60 Minutes,” CBS, 17.1; “Winter Olympics” (Saturday), CBS, 15.4; “Winter Olympics” (Wednesday), CBS, 15.3; “Winter Olympics” (Monday), CBS, 14.8; “Winter Olympics” (Friday), CBS, 14.8; “ER” special, NBC, 13.3; “Seinfeld,” NBC, 13.2.