Friday, March 05, 1999
Lewinsky helps Ch. 9 win sweeps
BY JOHN KIESEWETTER
The Cincinnati Enquirer
Monica Lewinsky's interview with Barbara Walters on ABC Wednesday didn't draw bigger ratings than the Super Bowl or Oprah Winfrey's 1993 chat with Michael Jackson. But it drew enough.
The two-hour 20/20 broadcast on WCPO-TV scored a 37.7 rating, or about 301,600 Tristate homes, and catapulted Channel 9 into first place in the February news ratings on the final day of sweeps.
Fifty percent of the 383 Tristate homes with Nielsen meters were tuned to Ms. Lewinsky.
Tristate interest in the interview exceeded the national average. Nielsen gave ABC's show a 33.9 rating and 47 percent audience share, based on 44 large markets, including Cincinnati.
ABC Research estimated that 70 million viewers watched some of 20/20 Wednesday, with the two-hour show averaging 48.5 million viewers.
Only Ms. Winfrey's 1993 interview had more viewers, but since that was produced by ABC Entertainment, the network could claim Ms. Walters' interview was “the most-watched news program ever broadcast.”
However, this 20/20 fell far short of the all-time TV record, a 60.2 rating and 77 audience share for the last M*A*S*H in 1983.
In terms of Tristate viewing records, 20/20 didn't dent the Top 10. Local records kept since the introduction of Nielsen meters here rank it No. 13.
The highest-rated broadcasts here have been the 1994 Winter Olympics skating by Nancy Kerrigan and Tonya Harding (47.7), the last Cheers in 1993 (47.3) and the final Seinfeld in May (41.7). Wednesday's 20/20 also failed to top the 1999 Super Bowl (40.1) and the 1993 Oprah Winfrey show (39.3).
But 20/20 helped Channel 9 more than double its 11 p.m. news audience Wednesday, drawing a 23 rating and 41 percent audience share. Channel 9, which had been third or second most of sweeps, won the month with an 11.8 rating. WKRC-TV (Channel 12) was second (11.5), and WLWT (Channel 5) was third (10.2). WXIX-TV (Channel 19) averaged an 8.3 rating at 10 p.m. weekdays.
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