"Stand Up to Cancer" tops Friday ratings

By Paul J. Gough

NEW YORK (Hollywood Reporter) - The industrywide "Stand Up to Cancer" telethon averaged a modest 10.3 million viewers during its hour-long simulcast on ABC, NBC and CBS Friday.

On a Friday night at 8 p.m. before the new broadcast TV season began, the ratings weren't expected to be blockbuster, but the show was still the night's most-watched show on broadcast TV, according to preliminary data released Sunday by Nielsen Media Research.

The two broadcast networks that didn't run the special, Fox and the CW, had more viewers together than the telethon. Fox's first hour of "Are You Smarter Than a Fifth Grader" averaged 6.6 million viewers while CW's "Smackdown" averaged 4.5 million.

The September 2005 simulcast to benefit Hurricane Katrina victims averaged about 24 million viewers on 29 separate networks.

Final data for "Stand Up to Cancer" will not be publicly released by Nielsen as the special did not run with advertisements.

Reuters/Hollywood Reporter