Local Nielsen ratings snapshot (Fri.-Sun., March 11-13) -- Mavs still struggling to make an impression
03/14/11 02:17 PM
By ED BARK
The attempt to "freshen up" Dallas Mavericks telecasts, with Derek "No Doubt About It" Harper for home games and the borderline boring Brad Davis on the road, is yet to pay any notable dividends in the D-FW Nielsens.
Saturday's splashy home game against the Lakers, in which the Mavs again came up short in the paint, looked on paper like a boffo attraction on home screens. But it averaged only 159,291 viewers on Fox Sports Southwest. Or to look at it another way, a competing "Crimetime" repeat on CBS had more viewers at 8 p.m. (280,068) while the network's 48 Hours Mystery had almost as many (145,440). Fox4's 9 p.m. local newscast also came up just a bit short of the Mavs with 152,365 viewers. Is it too late to bring back old-timer Bob Ortegel? He's missed, and I'll bet some of the team's younger viewers feel that way, too.
The deflating loss to the Lakers, in which Tyson Chandler was a boy among men inside while Roddy Beaubois looked like a little boy lost, did nothing to stoke viewer fires for the looming post-season. This was a gut-check game and Dallas unfortunately turned it into a punch in the stomach. It also underscored the obvious: Lakers coach Phil Jackson just loves to beat Mavs owner Mark Cuban. And he's almost as old as Ortegel, who was well-matched with the Mavs' play-by-play kid-caster, Mark Followill.
Moving on to Sunday, ABC appears to have a budding hit in Secret Millionaire, whose second telecast again won its 7 p.m. slot with 256,251 viewers opposite CBS' The Amazing Race (180,068 viewers) and NBC's already out to lunch America's Next Great Restaurant (69,257 viewers). Millionaire also easily outdrew Fox's The Simpsons and Bob's Burgers, but the latter narrowly took the top spot from 7:30 to 8 p.m. among advertiser-craved 18-to-49-year-olds.
CBS' 8 p.m. edition of Undercover Boss was Sunday's biggest overall draw, though, with 353,211 total viewers and a No. 1 finish with 18-to-49-year-olds as well.
On Friday, the 12:30 p.m. premiere of Fox4's locally produced Next had 69,257 total viewers to finish third in both that measurement and among 18-to-49-year-olds. The second half-hour of WFAA8's noon newscast ran first in both measurements while Next in both instances drew fewer viewers than Fox4's conventional noon to 12:30 p.m. news.
In prime-time, CBS' Blue Bloods again had the most total viewers of any show (283,954). But it played dead with 18-to-49-year-olds by running a distant fourth at 9 p.m. among the Big Four broadcast networks.
Friday's local news derby results rendered a split decision at 10 p.m., with WFAA8 on top in total viewers while NBC5 took the gold among 25-to-54-year-olds, the main advertiser target audience for news programming.
The Peacock also unaccustomedly swept the 6 a.m. proceedings, knocking usual front-runner Fox4 into second place.
Fox4 ran the table at 5 p.m., though, and added a 6 p.m. victory in the 25-to-54 demographic. WFAA8 finished first at 6 p.m. in total viewers, leaving CBS11 as the only major local news provider without a win somewhere.
The attempt to "freshen up" Dallas Mavericks telecasts, with Derek "No Doubt About It" Harper for home games and the borderline boring Brad Davis on the road, is yet to pay any notable dividends in the D-FW Nielsens.
Saturday's splashy home game against the Lakers, in which the Mavs again came up short in the paint, looked on paper like a boffo attraction on home screens. But it averaged only 159,291 viewers on Fox Sports Southwest. Or to look at it another way, a competing "Crimetime" repeat on CBS had more viewers at 8 p.m. (280,068) while the network's 48 Hours Mystery had almost as many (145,440). Fox4's 9 p.m. local newscast also came up just a bit short of the Mavs with 152,365 viewers. Is it too late to bring back old-timer Bob Ortegel? He's missed, and I'll bet some of the team's younger viewers feel that way, too.
The deflating loss to the Lakers, in which Tyson Chandler was a boy among men inside while Roddy Beaubois looked like a little boy lost, did nothing to stoke viewer fires for the looming post-season. This was a gut-check game and Dallas unfortunately turned it into a punch in the stomach. It also underscored the obvious: Lakers coach Phil Jackson just loves to beat Mavs owner Mark Cuban. And he's almost as old as Ortegel, who was well-matched with the Mavs' play-by-play kid-caster, Mark Followill.
Moving on to Sunday, ABC appears to have a budding hit in Secret Millionaire, whose second telecast again won its 7 p.m. slot with 256,251 viewers opposite CBS' The Amazing Race (180,068 viewers) and NBC's already out to lunch America's Next Great Restaurant (69,257 viewers). Millionaire also easily outdrew Fox's The Simpsons and Bob's Burgers, but the latter narrowly took the top spot from 7:30 to 8 p.m. among advertiser-craved 18-to-49-year-olds.
CBS' 8 p.m. edition of Undercover Boss was Sunday's biggest overall draw, though, with 353,211 total viewers and a No. 1 finish with 18-to-49-year-olds as well.
On Friday, the 12:30 p.m. premiere of Fox4's locally produced Next had 69,257 total viewers to finish third in both that measurement and among 18-to-49-year-olds. The second half-hour of WFAA8's noon newscast ran first in both measurements while Next in both instances drew fewer viewers than Fox4's conventional noon to 12:30 p.m. news.
In prime-time, CBS' Blue Bloods again had the most total viewers of any show (283,954). But it played dead with 18-to-49-year-olds by running a distant fourth at 9 p.m. among the Big Four broadcast networks.
Friday's local news derby results rendered a split decision at 10 p.m., with WFAA8 on top in total viewers while NBC5 took the gold among 25-to-54-year-olds, the main advertiser target audience for news programming.
The Peacock also unaccustomedly swept the 6 a.m. proceedings, knocking usual front-runner Fox4 into second place.
Fox4 ran the table at 5 p.m., though, and added a 6 p.m. victory in the 25-to-54 demographic. WFAA8 finished first at 6 p.m. in total viewers, leaving CBS11 as the only major local news provider without a win somewhere.
|