Ratings Archives: Week of June 15, 1998

The third week of June, 1998, was back to normal, after the NBA FINALS had been completed. NBC and CBS battled for the top spot, with NBC edging for the win, by four tenths of a ratings point. ABC was a full point behind CBS and FOX was nearly a full point behind ABC. The WB had a half point advantage over rival mini-net, UPN.

Newsmagazines rule the summer programming, as six separate shows made up the top 15 spots. DATELINE, on Tuesday night, was not only the top news program, but the #1 over all show, for the week. It drew over 14 million viewers and an 11 rating/19 share at 10 p.m. The Big 3 networks each had two nest programs in that top 15 group.

The top regular series was SEINFELD, in repeats. Over 14.5 million viewers, or one in five viewers watching TV at that time, tuned in to the encore episode. The entire NBC Thursday night line up (5 series) were in the top 11 shows.

How different was TV viewing just 16 years earlier? In 1998, Friday night and Saturday night viewership was around an average of 10-12 percent of the total viewing audience. Most shows drew between seven and nine million viewers, for repeats, and 20/20 drew just short of 13 million viewers, on a Friday night.

The week's five lowest rated programs were:

5) GOOD NEWS (WB) - 1.6 HH rating / 3 share
5) THE PARENT 'HOOD (WB) - 1.6 HH rating / 4 share
3) THE SENTINEL (UPN) - 1.5 HH rating / 3 share
3) ALREADY ALREADY (WB) - 1.5 HH rating / 3 share
1) CLUELESS (UPN) - 1.4 HH rating / 2 share
1) CLUELESS (UPN) - 1.4 HH rating / 2 share

Nielsen Broadcast ratings chart for the week of June 15, 1998.