Globes Golden for NBC

  • by January 22, 2002
NBC's telecast of the Golden Globe Awards drew its largest audience in three years and dominated Sunday night's ratings.

According to preliminary nationals from Nielsen, the 59th annual kudofest averaged 23.4 million viewers during its three hours (8-11 p.m.), peaking in the 10 p.m. half-hour (25.6 million), when Harrison Ford received the Cecil B. DeMille career achievement award.

It's the third-largest turnout in the seven years since NBC began carrying the Globes, with nearly 1 million more viewers watching on average than a year ago (22.5 million).

In the coveted adults 18-49 demographic, this year's show (preliminary 9.4 rating/22 share) was down 5% in rating vs. last year (9.9/22) but up 4% from 2000. It combined with a preliminary 4.2/11 for a one-hour "Arrivals Show" to give NBC the biggest Sunday adults 18-49 rating for any network (8.1/19) since Fox's coverage of Game 7 of the World Series on Nov. 4.

National ratings won't be released by Nielsen until Wednesday due to the Monday Martin Luther King Jr. Day holiday.

The other networks aired mostly original programming opposite the awards show. The 9 p.m. hour saw ABC's "Alias" place second to the kudocast in adults 18-49 (preliminary 3.9/9) while its star, Jennifer Garner, was taking the stage to claim a Golden Globe for her performance in the rookie series.

The Fox game show "The Chamber" held up OK in its second outing, finishing right behind "Alias" in the demo (preliminary 3.8/9). It did a 4.7/11 with its premiere a week earlier and now moves to its regular time slot, Fridays at 8.

Fox, which had an National Football League playoff overrun in Sunday's first half-hour, finished second on the night in adults 18-49 (preliminary 5.6/13). CBS, with the Chuck Norris made-for-TV movie "The President's Man" (preliminary 13 million, 3.1/8 in 18-49), was second in total viewers (12.3 million).

The NFL's four conference semifinals over the weekend, meanwhile, averaged a 19.7/35 in homes, according to Nielsen overnight data -- a 15% increase over last year (17.2/35).

The weekend's highest-rated contest was the late National Football Conference matchup Sunday on Fox (4:15 p.m. ET kickoff) between the Green Bay Packers and St. Louis Rams. Despite a blowout Rams victory, the game netted a 21.0/36 in overnights, a 2% increase vs. last year's Philadelphia Eagles-New York Giants late game (20. 6/36).

Sunday's early American Football Conference game on CBS between the Baltimore Ravens and Pittsburgh Steelers (12:40 p.m. ET) scored a 19.9/40, up 6% vs. last year's Baltimore-Tennessee Titans game (18.8/39).

The two Saturday games averaged an 18.9/33 in overnights, a 29% improvement vs. last year.

Local ratings for the cities whose teams were playing Saturday or Sunday were Pittsburgh (53.0/79), St. Louis (48.7/75), Milwaukee (46.4/69), Philadelphia (42.7/57), Boston (40.3/61), Chicago (38.9/61), Baltimore (34.8/57) and Oakland (28.7/53).

- (Variety)

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