The games that stumbled in the ratings also may have come up short on producing high-profile stars that advertisers will be scrambling to sign. The women's figure skating gold medal winner, Tara Lipinski, is seen as having the inside track in the post-Olympic scramble for endorsement gold. But the surprise winner is only 15 and experts say she must show she has the personality to merit the riches that can fall to the Olympic gold medalist in what has become a hugely popular event. Through Wednesday night, CBS said the Nagano Olympics telecasts were averaging a 16.5 primetime rating. That was 15.8 percent below the 19.6 rating that CBS told advertisers they would get.
Ratings represent the percentage of homes tuned in to a telecast and the numbers help set ad prices.
The ratings were nearly 40 percent below those for the 1994 Winter Games in Lillehammer, Norway, and 14 percent below the 1992 Winter Games in Albertville, France. The 1994 ratings were exceptionally strong because of the controversy surrounding figure skaters Tonya Harding and Nancy Kerrigan. But David Poltrack, CBS' top planning and research executive, said CBS felt confident it could beat the Albertville ratings. Poor weather forced delays in the Alpine skiing events that CBS was counting on as the showpiece attractions in the first week of its Olympic coverage. The network had to turn to little-known sports like snowboarding and soft features to fill time.