The Contender Connects in Sunday's Round Two 

THE NEW UNSCRIPTED SERIES SURGES 30 PERCENT VS. LAST SUNDAY'S PREMIERE AND SCORES A 40 PERCENT GAIN OVER NBC'S REGULAR PROGRAM AVERAGE FOR TIME PERIOD

'CONTENDER' POSTS NBC'S HIGHEST 18-49 RATING IN THE SLOT WITH REGULAR PROGRAMMING SINCE JANUARY 2004

BURBANK, Calif. -- March 21, 2005 -- "The Contender" last night displayed impressive ratings muscle, posting a 30 percent gain versus the prior week's premiere and a 40 percent improvement for NBC in the time period, according to "fast affiliate-based" in-home viewing figures from Nielsen Media Research, which will be updated tomorrow and are subject to revision.

At 8 p.m. ET, "The Contender" (3.5 rating, 9 share in adults 18-49, 7.8 million viewers overall) was up 30 percent in the key demographic of adults 18-49 versus last week's night and time period premiere. Nearly doubling its 18-49 lead-in, "The Contender" also posted an impressive 40 percent gain over NBC's pre-"Contender" regular program average for the Sunday slot this season.

"The Contender" delivered NBC's highest 18-49 rating in the time period with regular programming in 14 months (since Jan. 11, 2004).

For the second consecutive week, "Contender" bulked up dramatically from its first half-hour to its second, this week increasing by 33 percent in adults 18-49 in its back-end (to a 4.0 from a 3.0).

At 9 p.m. ET, "Law & Order: Criminal Intent" averaged a 4.3/10 in 18-49 and 12.3 million viewers overall. "CI" increased its 18-49 rating by 21 percent from its first half-hour to its second (to a 4.7 from a 3.9), cutting the lead of ABC's "Desperate housewives" encore from a 33 percent margin (5.2 vs. 3.9 from 8-8:30) to a 6 percent margin (5.0 vs. 4.7 from 8:30-9).

At 10 p.m. ET, "Crossing Jordan" averaged a 3.5/9 in 18-49 and 11.2 million viewers overall.

"Dateline NBC" kicked off NBC's Sunday prime at 7 p.m. ET, averaging a 1.8/5 in 18-49 and 8.3 million viewers overall. "Dateline" built from half-hour to half-hour by 40 percent (to a 2.1 from a 1.5).

Preliminary 18-49 averages for Sunday night are: CBS 4.3/11; ABC, 4.1/10; NBC, 3.3/8; Fox, 2.6/7; WB, 1.0/2. Among total viewers, preliminary March 20 averages are: CBS, 14.6 million; ABC, 11.4 million; NBC, 9.9 million; Fox, 5.7 million; WB, 2.2 million.