September 27, 2002

Final National Nielsen Ratings for Thursday, Sept. 26....

CBS's PREMIERE THURSDAY IN CLOSEST COMPETITIVE POSITION TO NBC SINCE THE 1990-91 SEASON IN VIEWERS, HOUSEHOLDS AND KEY DEMOGRAPHICS

CBS Up +61% in Adults 18-49, +51% in Adults 25-54 While Adding 6.9 Million Viewers Versus Last Season's Premieres, As NBC Declines Across-the-Board

Season Premiere of "CSI: Crime Scene Investigation" Attracts Record Audience of Over 30 Million Viewers, Topping the Premiere of "ER"

"CSI" Dominates Its Hour in Viewers, Households, Adults 18-49 and Adults 25-54

"Without a Trace" Posts CBS's Best Performance in the Time Period Since February 1994 and in Most Competitive Position To "ER" Since Premiere Week 1994

"Survivor" Holds Up Against "Friends" and Has More Viewers Than "Scrubs" At 8:30 PM

Late Local News on CBS Owned Stations Up +24% from Premiere Thursday Last Year

"Late Show with David Letterman" Up +2% and "Late Late Show with Craig Kilborn" Up +13% on CBS Owned Stations

Led by SURVIVOR: THAILAND, the third season premiere of CSI: CRIME SCENE INVESTIGATION and the series debut of WITHOUT A TRACE, CBS's finished in its closest competitive position to NBC on a premiere Thursday since the 1990-91 season in viewers, households and key demographics, according to final National Nielsen ratings for Sept. 26.

For the night, CBS was second in households (13.8/21), viewers (22.88m), adults 25-54 (10.3/22) and adults 18-49 (8.7/21), its closest position on a premiere Thursday to NBC since 1990-1991 when CBS's scheduled included the two-hour premiere of "The Flash" and "Knots Landing" while NBC broadcast "Cosby," "A Different World," "Cheers," "American Dreamer" and the preview of "Law & Order."

Versus premiere Thursday last year, CBS posted gains of +61% in adults 18-49 (from 5.4/13), +51% in adults 25-54 (from 6.8/15), +31% in households (from 10.5/16) while adding 6.9 million viewers (from 15.96m). NBC posted across-the-board declines: -5% in both adults 18-49 and adults 25-54 and -1% in households.

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CBS Television...2

From 8:00-9:00 PM, SURVIVOR: THAILAND, up against the premiere of "Friends" and "Scrubs," placed a strong second in households (12.3/19), viewers (21.73m), adults 18-34 (7.8/19), adults 18-49 (8.6/21) and adults 25-54 (9.8/22). ???
At 8:30 PM, SURVIVOR: THAILAND leaped +24% in households (13.6/20 from 11.0/17), +44% in adults 18-34 (9.2/22 from 6.4/16), +40% in adults 18-49 (10.1/24 from 7.2/18), +35% in adults 25-54 (11.2/24 from 8.3/19) and added 5.21m viewers (24.33m from 19.12m). ?
SURVIVOR: THAILAND (24.33m viewers) topped the premiere of "Scrubs" (22.31m) in viewers at 8:30 PM. ?
The third season premiere of CSI: CRIME SCENE INVESTIGATION (9:00 - 10:01 PM) dominated its time period in households (18.2/27), viewers (30.47m), adults 18-49 (11.5/26) and adults 25-54 (13.9/29). This is CSI's best ever performance in households, adults 18-34 (8.9/22), adults 18-49, adults 25-54 and the most watched episode of CSI ever. CSI also had 3.75m more viewers than "ER" (30.47m vs. 26.72m). ?
Compared to the season premiere of CSI last year (9/27/01), CSI was up +28% in households (from 14.2/21), +68% in adults 18-34 (from 5.3/14), +47% in adults 18-49 (from 7.8/19), +42% in adults 25-54 (13.6/28) and added 8.20m viewers (from 22.27m). ?
The series premiere of WITHOUT A TRACE (10:01 - 11:00 PM) was second in households (10.7/17), viewers (16.21m), adults 25-54 (7.1/16) and adults 18-49 (5.8/14).

This is the time period's best performance with regularly scheduled first run programming in viewers, adults 18-49 and adults 25-54 since 2/10/94 ("Eye To Eye With Connie Chung"- Tonya Harding interview) and the closest a CBS 10:00 PM series has been to "ER" since premiere week 1994 ("Chicago Hope"). ?
Compared to the premiere of "The Agency" last year, WITHOUT A TRACE was up +35% in both households (from 7.9/13) and adults 18-49 (from 4.3/11), +31% in adults 25-54 (from 5.4/12) and added 4.23m viewers (from 11.98m). ?
? Last night's late local news on the 15 CBS Owned Stations delivered a 6.8/13, which was up +24% (6.8/13 vs. 5.5/10) compared to premiere Thursday a year ago. In the 52 CBS metered market affiliates delivered a 7.5/14, which was up +21% (7.5/14 vs. 6.2/11) compared to premiere Thursday a year ago.

Among the 15 CBS Owned Stations, LATE SHOW with DAVID LETTERMAN delivered a 3.9/10, which was up +2% (3.9/10 vs. 3.8/10) compared to premiere Thursday a year ago.

LATE LATE SHOW with CRAIG KILBORN delivered a 1.8/7 among the 15 CBS Owned Stations, which was up +13% (1.8/7 vs. 1.6/6) compared to premiere Thursday last year.

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Press contacts:         Michael G. Silver       212/975-3161            mgsilver@cbs.com
                        Ed Harrison             323/575-4254            ed.harrison@tvc.cbs.com