That Fundraising Telethon was a dud too....more people watch CSI than watched the Telethon on 24 CHANNELS!!!
LOS ANGELES (Zap2it.com) The multi-network "Shelter from the Storm" benefit special raised millions of dollars for victims of Hurricane Katrina, but it didn't draw nearly the audience of a similar effort following the 9/11 terrorist attacks four years ago.
U.S. viewers of the Friday (Sept. 9) telethon donated $30 million to the American Red Cross and Salvation Army; money raised internationally hasn't been totaled yet.
While the money raised is clearly the most important thing about "Shelter from the Storm," the relatively small number of viewers is worth noting. Airing on 29 broadcast and cable networks, the one-hour special, featuring a number of celebrity appearances and performances by U2 with Mary J. Blige, Kanye West, Paul Simon, Doctor John and others, averaged about 24 million viewers
That's fewer people than watched an average episode of "American Idol" or "CSI" last season. By comparison, about 89 million people watched the post-9/11 benefit "America: A Tribute to Heroes," which did air on a wider range of networks than the Katrina benefit.
A telethon for Katrina victims on BET, which partly overlapped with "Shelter from the Storm," averaged 1.2 million viewers; the network says it raised an additional $11 million.