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The 75th Annual Academy Awards (2003) (TV)

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26 March 2003 | From Studio Briefing | See recent Studio Briefing news

Ratings for Sunday night's Oscars telecast may have sunk to an all-time low, but the show still easily topped everything else in sight last week as coverage of the war in Iraq unhinged ordinary viewing patterns. Nielsen Research indicated that 70.1 million viewers tuned into coverage of Thursday's first night of hostilities by the networks and cable news channels. NBC drew the largest slice of that audience, 18.2 million viewers, followed by CBS with 13.2 million and ABC with 10.9 million. Among cable channels, CNN, which had been expected to return to the top of the ratings heap once the Iraqi crisis turned from talk to war, found itself in shock and awe of Fox News Channel's 4 million viewers. CNN, which had established its reputation during the first Gulf War, came in second with 3.6 million viewers. During primetime on Sunday -- during the Oscars -- Fox averaged 5.8 million viewers; CNN, 4.7 million. "For a long time, people accepted that CNN was the place casual news viewers would go for breaking news," Jonathan Swallen, director of media knowledge at Universal McCann, told today's (Wednesday) London Financial Times. "But Fox has translated its every-day audience gains into something more substantial." CBS took the biggest hit, as ratings for its coverage of the NCAA basketball tournament, frequently interrupted by war updates, were but dribbles compared with former NCAA contests. Thanks to its Oscars coverage, ABC won the week with an 8.6 rating average and a 14 share. NBC followed with a 6.8/11. CBS was third with a 6.2/10, edging out Fox's 6.0/9.

The top ten shows of the week according to Nielsen Research: 1. 75th Annual Academy Awards, ABC, 20.4/32; 2. Oscar Countdown 2003, ABC, 12.6/20; 3. American Idol (Tuesday), Fox, 12.3/18; 4. American Idol (Wednesday), Fox, 10.4/15; 5. Judging Amy, CBS, 9.9/16; 6. JAG, CBS, 9.7/15; 7. Friends, NBC, 9.6/15; 7. Survivor: Amazon, CBS, 9.6/14; 9. Scrubs, NBC, 9.3/14; 10. Everybody Loves Raymond, CBS, 8.9/13; 10. Will & Grace, NBC, 8.9/13.

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1 article from 2003