Roanoke Times
Copyright (c) 1995, Landmark Communications, Inc.
DATE: SATURDAY, March 2, 1991 TAG: 9103020146
SECTION: EXTRA PAGE: E-2 EDITION: METRO
SOURCE: Associated Press
DATELINE: LOS ANGELES LENGTH: Medium
CBS finished the 28-day February sweeps period with a 13.5 average Nielsen rating and a 22 audience share - about half a million homes ahead of NBC.
It was a hard hit for NBC, which had reigned as the No. 1 network for the last 11 sweeps battles. Although the network placed second in the February race with a 12.9 average rating and a 21 share, it suffered the largest viewer drop-off (15 percent) of the Big Three.
ABC was third with a 12.1 rating and a 19 share.
Sweeps are quarterly ratings contests used by local stations to help set advertising rates.
A rating point equals 931,000 TV households in the Nielsen universe of 93.1 million homes. A share is the percentage of the audience tuned in to a show in its time period.
CBS' vice president for research and planning, David Poltrack, said NBC should win the season ratings race by a couple of rating points.
"We're not conceding that, but they should," he said at a news conference Thursday.
But Poltrack also noted that season-to-date figures showed ABC, NBC and CBS in a virtual dead heat. Each network held a 21 share of the audience. NBC had a 12.8 average rating. CBS and ABC each had 12.5.
Poltrack defended his network's strategy of programming nostalgic comedy specials featuring a Mary Tyler Moore and an "All in the Family" reunion.
CBS ran more than 22 hours of specials during February sweeps. NBC broadcast nine, ABC seven.
"Every network puts its best foot forward during the sweeps," Poltrack said. "Specials helped us win the sweeps, but I would say it was not the quantity, it was the quality of our specials."
Poltrack credited the turnaround to entertainment president Jeff Sagansky, who took over prime-time programming in December 1989.
Sagansky's foremost goal as head of nighttime programs has been to lure younger viewers to CBS, specifically those baby boomer consumers beloved by advertisers.
"We will be significantly ahead of our game plan when the season ends and going into next season," Poltrack said.
Poltrack and Bob Niles, NBC's ratings researcher, said the Persian Gulf War stole a significant number of prime-time viewers who defected to the Cable News Network.
CNN's prime-time performance jumped from a 1.2 rating last February to a 4.3 rating this month. Each ratings point represents 574,000 cable TV homes.
"Where that audience would have been if there hadn't been a war, we'll never know," Niles said.
by CNB