Slight Gain for Big Game

A dramatic finish yielded only minor ratings gains for the Super Bowl, while Fox’s “Malcolm in the Middle” fumbled away most of that audience due in part to its late postgame start, based on viewing estimates issued Tuesday by Nielsen Media Research.

Viewing of the game rose 3% from last year (the percentage of U.S. homes tuning in was actually the same, but the population has grown), as usual dwarfing anything else broadcast on TV this season. Viewers drifted away, however, during the protracted postgame show, and the youth-oriented “Malcolm”--which didn’t get on the air until 10:52 p.m. Eastern time--fell more than 50% short of post-Super Bowl viewing of “Survivor” last year.

Insert your own joke here, meanwhile, for NBC’s attempt to lure away viewers with a special Playboy Playmate edition of “Fear Factor” versus Fox’s halftime and postgame coverage. NBC did draw the highest young-adult rating for any network against the Super Bowl in eight years, but the ratings were still modest.

On Friday, an interview with Celine Dion helped “20/20” belt out its biggest audience in 10 months, though the newsmagazine still trailed NBC’s “Law & Order: Special Victims Unit” in its time slot. ABC also received a lift from “Stephen King’s Rose Red,” which finished its three-night run as the highest-rated miniseries since King’s “Storm of the Century” in 1999.

Brian Lowry

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National Nielsen Viewership

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