‘Idol’ scores ratings gold over Olympics

NBC's primetime coverage is no match for Simon and the gang

Kevin Frayer / AP

U.S. skier Ted Ligety, center, celebrates after winning the gold medal with silver medalist Ivica Kostelic of Croatia, left, and bronze medalist Rainer Schoenfelder of Austria, right, after the Men's Combined. For American viewers on Tuesday, it was a tough call between gold-medal events and "Idol," but Simon Cowell won out.

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updated 9:39 a.m. ET Feb. 26, 2006

NEW YORK - The winter Olympics proved no match for television’s gold medal winner, “American Idol.”

Fox’s phenomenally successful contest crushed the Olympics in head-to-head competition on Tuesday night, 27 million viewers to 16.1 million, according to Nielsen Media Research.

The Olympics recovered a bit after “Idol” went off the air, but its overall audience of 18.6 million was the least-watched winter Olympics telecast since Nagano’s closing ceremonies in 1998, Nielsen said.

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Since its opening on Friday, the Turin Games have been running well below the 2002 Salt Lake City games in viewership interest. Much of that was expected, but Tuesday’s ratings was the first alarming sign for NBC that increased TV competition had taken a toll.

“The competition from ‘Idol’ is heavier than the Olympics has ever seen,” said NBC Sports spokeswoman Alana Russo.

(MSNBC.com is a Microsoft-NBC joint venture.)

It doesn’t figure to get any easier, with “Idol” and ABC’s “Lost” on the air Wednesday. CBS’ “Survivor” and “CSI: Crime Scene Investigation” offer more competition on Thursday.

Even figure skating, the most popular winter Olympics sport for viewers, didn’t help much on Tuesday. NBC filled about two-thirds of the hour during which it competed with “American Idol” with tape of the men’s figure skating competition.

Through five nights of Olympics coverage, NBC’s average prime-time rating is 12.7. NBC said before the games started that it had promised its advertisers a rating of between 12 and 14. If it slips below that, NBC will have to make it up to advertisers with free commercial time.

“’American Idol’ is clearly a phenomenon,” said Randy Falco, president of the NBC Universal Television Group. “But we expected it and are tracking right where we planned to be at this point.”

Between NBC and its affiliated cable networks, an estimated 65 percent of the nation’s television homes have tuned in at least some of the games, Falco said.