By Kevin Downey

    "Survivor: The Australian Outback" may lack some of the water-cooler talk of the original.
   It lacks nothing else. In many ways it’s actually doing a whole lot better.
    In its final few weeks, "Survivor 2" is averaging roughly 28 million viewers, like the first one. This is despite more intense competition from NBC’s "Friends" and originals on the other networks, where the first season went virtually unchallenged with summer repeats.
    And CBS has reportedly upped the asking price for a 30-second commercial for the May 3 final episode by at least 33 percent, to $800,000 or more. 
   That's compared to last year’s $600,000 price for the last episode of "Survivor 1", which generated about $35 million.
    While the show’s audience is impressive, the leverage CBS now has is the proven strength of "Survivor 2" in knocking down the competition.
    No matter how creatively NBC promotes its Thursday lineup or repackages repeats, it’s not only failing to hold up but is doing worse as attention builds for the "Survivor" finale and the audience for its companion show "CSI" continues to grow.
    Last week, for instance, NBC aired premiere episodes of "Friends," "Will & Grace," and "ER" and averaged a 4.9, adult 18-49 rating, to CBS’s 9.5 for last Thursday night. "Survivor" and two episodes of "CSI" were the top three shows in the demo for the week.
    Along with its Thursday problems, NBC has also stumbled badly elsewhere.
    An XFL playoff game last week was up 25 percent from a week earlier but tied as the No. 100 show in the 18-49 demo. The network’s "Mary, Mother of Jesus" movie last Sunday ranked No. 72 and was among the lowest rated shows for the night.
    The result for NBC has been a 6.0 percent decline in its primary target audience for the season so far. It now leads by one-tenth of a rating point over ABC and just two-tenths over Fox.
    The standing so far: NBC with a 4.7 to ABC’s 4.6, Fox’s 4.5, and CBS’s 4.1. Both UPN and the WB have a 1.6.
    CBS’s 18-49 rating, meanwhile, is up 7.9 percent for the season.
    NBC’s best shot at holding onto its lead is the fact that "Survivor" goes off the air just as the May sweeps get underway and a few weeks before the season wraps up.
   The "Survivor" and "CSI" lineup, however, has not only damaged NBC but has hurt ABC and UPN as well.
   The audience for ABC’s "Whose Line is it Anyway" is down over 44 percent compared to its average for last season, and "WWF Smackdown’s" audience is down 19 percent on UPN.
    CBS’s strong ratings on Thursday and lower ratings for its competition combined to give the network a win in every demo last week and, once inconceivable, seven of the ten top-rated shows in adults 18-49.
    CBS averaged a 4.1, adult 18-49, rating last week to Fox’s 3.5, ABC’s 3.3, and NBC’s 3.2, its lowest rating ever in a regular season. UPN had a 1.3 to the WB’s 1.2.
    CBS also won the previous week with a 4.2 to ABC’s 4.1, Fox and NBC’s 3.7, and UPN and the WB’s 1.2. These ratings were not available last week because of technical difficulties at Nielsen.
    Last week, CBS had an 8.4 household rating and 15 share, based on Nielsen data. ABC had a 6.7/12, NBC had a 5.7/10, Fox had a 4.9/8, and UPN and the WB tied at a 1.9/3.
    For the season, CBS and ABC are tied at an 8.6/14, NBC has a 7.9/13, and Fox has a 6.2/10. The WB is beating UPN with a 2.5/4 to a 2.4/4.
    Meanwhile on the other networks, ABC’s midseason shows did not do as well last week as they did in earlier airings.
    Two episodes of "My Wife & Kids" were down 13 percent to a 4.7. And "What About Joan" was down 19 percent to a 4.7 against a special Tuesday episode of Fox’s "Boot Camp," which improved on its 18-49 rating by one-tenth of a point over the previous week to a 6.2.

April 18, 2001 © 2001 Media Life

-Kevin Downey is a staff writer for Media Life

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