• by February 2, 2001

Despite losing an extremely tight ratings battle, early indications are that NBC's hit sitcom, Friends seems poised to win the war with CBS reality-TV show Survivor II.

In their first head to head match-up, Survivor scored a 17.1 Nielsen rating, while the extended episode of Friends earned a 16.6. While not beating Survivor in the ratings department, Friends did exactly what they had to do - they retained their current audience.

According to CBS's top research executive David Poltrack, Friends ratings were typical of a first run episode of the show, meaning Survivor's audience was comprised of people who either don't normally watch TV at that time on Thursday, or people who watch shows other than Friends.

What this means for advertisers is that if they bought Friends before, they should have no qualms about advertising with them now, despite being up against Survivor.

- Adam Bernard may be reached at AdamBernard@mediapost.com