On in 2 more hours here. Please don't spoil it for the rest of us.
'Super Millionaire' Helps ABC but Doesn't Provide Mega-Payoff (source:
http://www.nytimes.com/2004/03/01/business/media/01super.html) By BILL CARTER
Published: March 1, 2004
In something of a microcosm of ABC's fortunes this television season, the comeback of "Who Wants To Be a Millionaire" last week started strong in the ratings but faded as the competition stiffened.
The game show, now called "Super Millionaire" to reflect the $10 million jackpot, still performed better than almost everything else on ABC's schedule. It was the highest-rated program on the network each of the five nights it was on last week, although none of the shows matched Sunday's promising performance, when it was the highest-rated show on any network.
The show averaged more than 13 million viewers a night, a strong showing that would place it about 21st among all shows this season. But its viewership among the 18-to-49-year-olds that ABC most cares about - the group advertisers want to reach the most - was more modest. "Super Millionaire'' attracted about 5.3 million viewers in that age range, (good for about 37th overall this season). Still, the show was some good news for ABC, which is mired in fourth place among the four major networks and a drag on the earnings of its parent, the Walt Disney Company. It improved on all the shows it replaced on ABC's regular schedule and on the ratings on the shows that preceded it, as well as performing surprisingly well among younger men from 18 to 34. Last Thursday, the network ordered another week's worth of the shows in May.
As the show's executive producer, Michael Davies, put it, "The ratings were solid, not spectacular, solid." But he added, "I'm sure in their wildest dreams ABC wanted 'Millionaire' to be the show that could put the network on its back and carry it. It's not that."
ABC needed a super performance from "Super Millionaire" if it was going to post an improvement in its results for the February sweeps, one of three special ratings periods a year that determine a network's affiliate advertising rates. Despite the show's respectable showing, ABC is expected to still be down 7 to 10 percent from February 2003, even though it will carry the Academy Awards for the first time during a sweeps month.
Lloyd Braun, the chairman of ABC Entertainment, noted that the Oscar show was a boost but that last February ABC received almost as much out of a two-hour special on Michael Jackson. Still, a pattern seems to be repeating: ABC gets some solid results in the fall and then sees those gains start to slip after January.
Both Mr. Braun and his partner, Susan Lyne, the president of ABC Entertainment, have said their network has been the most vulnerable to the midseason entry of "American Idol" on Fox. ABC's two strongest nights - Tuesday and Wednesday, when shows like "All About Jim'' and "My Wife and Kids'' appear - happen to be the same nights the Fox hit is on.
"We're getting our clocks cleaned on those nights," Mr. Braun said.
Over all, ABC continues to finish first or second in more than 60 percent of the half-hours in prime time, Mr. Braun said. But he added, "What we have are singles and doubles." Continuing the baseball metaphor, he said, "Our lineup is all shows hitting like .270. Everybody else has a guy or two hitting .340; Fox has one of those guys, but uses him in four spots in its lineup.''
But even with "American Idol" scoring huge ratings all month, Fox will be down the most of any network, about 25 percent from last year. That is because Fox simply had nothing to match the gigantic ratings posted last year by "Joe Millionaire."
Mr. Davies said he expected "Super Millionaire" to benefit from word of mouth and increased promotion when it returns in May. "This show is not going to blow out again,'' he said, referring to ABC's overuse of the original show four years ago. "We proved we could do a rating this month. I think the network can depend on the show again.''