Local Nielsen ratings snapshot (Fri.-Sun., Oct. 30-Nov. 1) -- Cowboys, Favre, Series give Fox a Sunday sports steamroller
11/02/09 01:23 PM
By ED BARK
Fox flexed with an ultra-potent Sunday pro football doubleheader before Game 4 of the World Series showed enough muscle to carry the night.
That made Fox4 a D-FW ratings Goliath from noon until 10:45 p.m., when the Yankees all but snuffed the life out of the Phillies with a big ninth inning and a commanding 3-1 edge in the Series.
The Dallas Cowboys' rout of the Seahawks led off with an average of 1,096,095 D-FW viewers before Brett Favre's ballyhooed return to Green Bay's Lambeau Field drew another mega-crowd of 830,375. Fans choked on their Brett-wursts as the onetime Packer darling led the Vikings to another high-scoring win over his old team. Wisconsinite Uncle Barky's heart sank like a two-foot putt as Favre made it two for two. Green Bay now wears a shroud in his wake.
Meanwhile, the Cowboys improved to 5-2, presumably muting the "Cows stink" blather from radio host Randy Galloway's "Over-reaction Monday" show on the local ESPN frequency. All seven of this fall's regular season Cowboys games have topped the one million mark in TV attendance, although Sunday's relatively easy win ranked higher only than the season-opening win over Tampa Bay, which drew 1,042,951 locally.
A total of 525,074 viewers of Sunday's Cowboys-Seahawks were 18-to-49-year-olds, the main advertiser target audience for non-news programming.
Game 4 of the Series averaged 372,008 total viewers, with CBS' Cold Case coming closest to beating it with 279,006 viewers in the 9 p.m. hour. Yanks-Phils had a bigger edge among advertiser-craved 18-to-49-year-olds, with ABC's Brothers & Sisters offering the most resistance.
Saturday's Game 3 of the series, saddled with a one hour, 20 minute rain delay, averaged only about one-third as many total viewers as Game 4. It was badly whipped by ABC's competing Texas-Oklahoma State game, which easily led all Saturday programming with 312,221 total viewers.
Friday's Day 2 of the November "sweeps" ratings period saw CBS11 ring up twin wins in the 10 p.m. local news competition. The station won fairly comfortably over runnerup WFAA8 in total viewers and by a razor's edge among 25-to-54-year-olds, the main advertiser target audience for news programming.
CBS11 prevailed in the late night news wars despite virtually identical audiences for the 9 p.m. network lead-in programming, CBS' Numb3rs and ABC's 20/20. On opening night of the sweeps, CBS11 had squandered a significant advantage from The Mentalist.
In 6 a.m. festivities, NBC5 nipped Fox4 in total viewers, but the two stations tied for first among 25-to-54-year-olds.
WFAA8 swept the 6 p.m. competitions and Fox4 did likewise at 5 p.m.
Note to readers: We plan to resume our "Night in the Lives" content analysis of late night sweeps newscasts, starting next Monday. With the World Series still in play, Fox4's 9 and 10 p.m. newscasts have been either preempted or delayed well past their starting times. So we'll wait a bit, which also helps your friendly content provider to conserve his stamina.
Fox flexed with an ultra-potent Sunday pro football doubleheader before Game 4 of the World Series showed enough muscle to carry the night.
That made Fox4 a D-FW ratings Goliath from noon until 10:45 p.m., when the Yankees all but snuffed the life out of the Phillies with a big ninth inning and a commanding 3-1 edge in the Series.
The Dallas Cowboys' rout of the Seahawks led off with an average of 1,096,095 D-FW viewers before Brett Favre's ballyhooed return to Green Bay's Lambeau Field drew another mega-crowd of 830,375. Fans choked on their Brett-wursts as the onetime Packer darling led the Vikings to another high-scoring win over his old team. Wisconsinite Uncle Barky's heart sank like a two-foot putt as Favre made it two for two. Green Bay now wears a shroud in his wake.
Meanwhile, the Cowboys improved to 5-2, presumably muting the "Cows stink" blather from radio host Randy Galloway's "Over-reaction Monday" show on the local ESPN frequency. All seven of this fall's regular season Cowboys games have topped the one million mark in TV attendance, although Sunday's relatively easy win ranked higher only than the season-opening win over Tampa Bay, which drew 1,042,951 locally.
A total of 525,074 viewers of Sunday's Cowboys-Seahawks were 18-to-49-year-olds, the main advertiser target audience for non-news programming.
Game 4 of the Series averaged 372,008 total viewers, with CBS' Cold Case coming closest to beating it with 279,006 viewers in the 9 p.m. hour. Yanks-Phils had a bigger edge among advertiser-craved 18-to-49-year-olds, with ABC's Brothers & Sisters offering the most resistance.
Saturday's Game 3 of the series, saddled with a one hour, 20 minute rain delay, averaged only about one-third as many total viewers as Game 4. It was badly whipped by ABC's competing Texas-Oklahoma State game, which easily led all Saturday programming with 312,221 total viewers.
Friday's Day 2 of the November "sweeps" ratings period saw CBS11 ring up twin wins in the 10 p.m. local news competition. The station won fairly comfortably over runnerup WFAA8 in total viewers and by a razor's edge among 25-to-54-year-olds, the main advertiser target audience for news programming.
CBS11 prevailed in the late night news wars despite virtually identical audiences for the 9 p.m. network lead-in programming, CBS' Numb3rs and ABC's 20/20. On opening night of the sweeps, CBS11 had squandered a significant advantage from The Mentalist.
In 6 a.m. festivities, NBC5 nipped Fox4 in total viewers, but the two stations tied for first among 25-to-54-year-olds.
WFAA8 swept the 6 p.m. competitions and Fox4 did likewise at 5 p.m.
Note to readers: We plan to resume our "Night in the Lives" content analysis of late night sweeps newscasts, starting next Monday. With the World Series still in play, Fox4's 9 and 10 p.m. newscasts have been either preempted or delayed well past their starting times. So we'll wait a bit, which also helps your friendly content provider to conserve his stamina.