Survivor TV Ratings Down

Racially Divided Survivor Slips from Past Debuts
(Reuters Fri. Sep 15, 2006)

(Los Angeles) The controversial new format of the CBS reality show Survivor -- dividing teams of contestants by race -- proved the series' least-watched debut episode since its first season, Nielsen Media Research reported on Friday.

Thursday's launch of Survivor: Cook Islands, featuring four racially based "tribes" of whites, blacks, Asian-Americans and Latinos, averaged 18 million viewers, easily ranking as the night's biggest broadcast in U.S. prime time.

But it also was the least-watched Survivor season opener -- and the lowest-rated in terms of advertisers' favorite audience, viewers aged 18 to 49 -- since the very first installment in the summer of 2000 (15.5 million).
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