| Survivor II Reigns in Philadelphia | |
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Philadelphia may only be the fourth largest TV Market ranking behind New York, Los Angeles and Chicago, but when it comes to Survivor II: The Australian Outback, we're number 1.
In the ratings for the first two weeks of the all important February "sweeps" period, the popular sequel to last summers hit series Survivor II was viewed by 22.7% of all TV households in the Philadelphia market, performing significantly better than in the other nine of the nations top TV markets.
This news should be no surprise to anyone who lives in the Greater Philadelphia area. In almost every workplace the major topic of conversation on the morning after each episode is Survivor II and who was voted off the previous evening.
The ratings for Survivor II in Philadelphia continue a trend that began last summer when Philadelphia also ranked first of the top ten markets for the original Survivor outpacing San Francisco, Boston, Washington and Detroit in the top five rankings.
The Philadelphia market also led the way for last summer's other big reality hit Big Brother, which had significantly lower ratings both nationwide and locally. Other reality based shows also fare very well in the local market.
Both the original Survivor and Big Brother had contestants from the Philadelphia area. (Willingboro N.J.'s Gervase Peterson on Survivor and Philadelphia's own Will Mega on Big Brother). The current Survivor II has no contestant from the local area, yet the ratings remain equal to those seen with the original series.
One has to wonder what the ratings might be on one of these reality shows if a local contestant were to survive past the first few weeks.
Peter Mucha of the Philadelphia Inquirer wrote an excellent piece printed in the Sunday, February 25, 2001 edition of the paper. Mucha and other local experts have their own thoughts on why Survivor II and other reality based shows play so well in our town.
Marcellus Alexander, general manager of KYW-TV, home of both Survivor and Big Brother has his own theory as quoted in Mucha's article, "This is a no-nonsense market. Philadelphians like plain talk, honest situations."
Peter Mucha's article "We're No. 1 - in Reality TV" is available on-line for your enjoyment.
Survivor: The Australian Outback airs locally every Thursday evening at 8:00 pm on KYW TV 3.
| Market (Rank by size) | Rating for 2/1/01-2/15/01 |
| Philadelphia
(4) Boston (6) San Francisco (5) Los Angeles (2) Detroit (9) Washington (8) Dallas-Fort Worth (7) Atlanta (10) Chicago (3) New York (1) |
22.7 20.8 20.2 16.0 15.6 15.1 14.8 14.1 13.1 12.2 |
Source: Nielsen Media Research
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