In announcing the return of Super Millionaire, ABC went out of its way to make it clear that the program was only coming back as a week-long special edition February Sweeps programming event, however if the initial premiere ratings are any indication, the struggling network might have no choice but to rethink those plans.
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According to preliminary figures issued on Monday from Nielsen Media Research, despite airing versus HBO's Sex In The City series finale, Sunday night's 9 PM ET/PT premiere of Super Millionaire averaged 17.5 million overall viewer, and a 5.7 rating, 13 share among the Adults 18-49 demographic, numbers that ranked it as the top television program of the evening in both metrics as well as ABC's most watched program of the entire week.
In its time period, Super Millionaire topped NBC's Law & Order: C.I. by 3.4 million viewers and by 12% among Adults 18-49 (14.1 million & 5.1/11).
While the performance was still far from the 28 million viewers that the original Who Wants To Be A Millionaire? series averaged during its peak in the year 2000, the performance was still the program's largest audience and highest young adult ratings since early May 2001
According to Reuters, with the exception of the January 4 Sugar Bowl college football game between Oklahoma and Louisiana State University, the broadcast was the biggest Sunday audience for ABC this season.