Date: 18th September 2000

Not Much Ratings Muscle At Sydney


Ratings for Friday's coverage of the opening ceremonies of the Sydney Olympics were off 32 percent from 1996, drawing a 16.1 rating and a 29 share versus a 23.6/45 four years ago.

However they were well above the 13.8/29 garnered by the opening ceremonies in Barcelona in 1992. Although analysts said that Friday's results were in line with expectations, they expressed concern about ratings for Saturday's coverage. The 13.6/25 result may turn out to be the worst ratings for any single night of Olympics competition coverage in history.

A bigger loser may have been CBS's Survivor, which is running nightly during the Olympics. Friday's episode landed in third place behind the Olympics and ABC's reruns of Whose Line Is It Anyway?

Source: Studio Briefing