Free of Presidents' Day and Academy Awards interference, "The Amazing Race 14" surged strongly upward in Nielsen ratings for its third episode airing.
"The Amazing Race 14" hit a preliminary 3.0 Nielsen rating in the key 18-49 age group, well over the comparable 2.6 number from the previous week and easily its highest demo rating of the young season. TAR14's prelim 18-49 rating was also dramatically stronger than both its "60 Minutes" lead-in (2.2) and "Jesse Stone" lead-out (also 2.2) for CBS network.
TAR14 hit an average 10.8 million overall viewership, a season high again and well over last week's lethargic 7+ million mark. It should be granted that the overall number is something of an aberration in this case as "60 Minutes" (14.1 mill) and "Jesse Stone" (15.1 mill) both scored both higher overall viewership levels surrounding the program. (Ratings courtesy PIFeedback.com.)
Fortunately for TAR and those of us who are its fans, we live in a television universe that rewards key advertiser demographics over broad based appeals. In this TV universe, it was "The Amazing Race" that reemerged as a singed but still shining star.
____________________________Labels: cbs, ratings, tar 14.3, the amazing race, the amazing race 14
