Local Nielsen ratings snapshot (Thurs.-Sun., Aug. 20-23) -- Comatose Cowboys? Doesn't matter
08/24/15 12:01 PM
By ED BARK
@unclebarkycom on Twitter
The Dallas Cowboys’ flatline performance Sunday night in a 23-6 loss at San Francisco did not dull the ratings for CBS11’s presentation.
In fact, the pretend game did significantly better in D-FW than the Aug. 13th opening pre-season loss at San Diego, which weighed in at 536,998 viewers and 245,996 in the advertiser-prized 18-to-49-year-old demographic.
Cowboys-49ers, which stretched (and yawned) from 7:05 to 9:58 p.m., pulled in 634,634 total viewers and 271,227 in the 18-to-49 age range.
Meanwhile, on Fox Sports Southwest, the streaking Texas Rangers’ Sunday afternoon win at Detroit drew 90,662 total viewers and 34,692 in the 18-to-49 demographic.
Mind you, the Rangers have come roaring back to currently claim the second post-season wild card spot in the American League. And the Cowboys again benched many of their key players, with quarterback Tony Romo making an opening cameo appearance for three downs before somehow staying awake from the team’s bench for the rest of the game. Still, the Cowboys drew seven times as many total viewers as the Rangers and nearly eight times as many 18-to-49-year-olds.
This further solidifies TEGNA8 sports anchor Dale Hansen’s oft-stated pronouncements -- and he loves making them -- that the Cowboys are a ratings Gila monster to the Rangers’ ant hill. Hansen might want to sell station management on a weekly 6:30 p.m. sports special in which various Cowboys alternately are shown walking their dogs, eating ice cream or throwing water balloons at one another. For a big finish, selected players could compete in an Albertson’s grocery cart demolition derby hosted by Jason Witten. The timing couldn’t be better.
Sunday’s big scripted series premiere, AMC’s Fear the Walking Dead prequel, came alive to outdraw everything except the Cowboys from 8 to 9:30 p.m. Fear had 188,292 total viewers and 138,767 in the 18-to-49 motherlode. That’s an extremely impressive percentage of the viewers that many advertisers will pay a premium to reach.
CBS’ regular Sunday prime-time lineup, sent packing to sister station TXA21, was led by a 7 p.m. episode of Big Brother with 111,584 total viewers and 53,615 in the 18-to-49 age range.
Over on Fox, the network probably shouldn’t have bothered with a Rams-Titans pre-season game -- at least not in these parts. It had 34,870 total viewers on Fox4 opposite the Cowboys.
The Rangers’ most-watched games in total viewers were a Thursday loss and a Friday win at Detroit. Each game averaged 125,532 viewers. Saturday night’s Rangers-Tigers game, exiled to Fox Sports 1, dipped to 83,688 total viewers.
Here are the four-way local news derby results for Thursday and Friday.
Thursday -- TEGNA8 had the most total viewers at 10 p.m., but NBC5 led with 25-to-54-year-olds (main advertiser target audience for news programming).
Fox4 and TEGNA8 tied for first at 6 a.m. in both ratings measurements.
There was another tie at 6 p.m., with TEGNA8 and CBS11 sharing the lead in total viewers while NBC5 won a close four-way fight among 25-to-54-year-olds. The 5 p.m. golds went to the Peacock in total viewers and TEGNA8 with 25-to-54-year-olds.
Friday -- TEGNA8 edged CBS11 in total viewers at 10 p.m. but ran slightly behind NBC5 among 25-to-54-year-olds.
Fox4 won by paper-thin margins at 6 a.m. in both ratings measurements, with NBC5, TEGNA8 and CBS11 all bunched up close behind for the last weekday early morning newscasts before Monday’s big back-to-school blowout (in which all four stations likely will shake off the summer doldrums and see some ratings gains).
NBC5 otherwise dominated with doubleheader wins at both 5 and 6 p.m.
Email comments or questions to: unclebarky@verizon.net
@unclebarkycom on Twitter
The Dallas Cowboys’ flatline performance Sunday night in a 23-6 loss at San Francisco did not dull the ratings for CBS11’s presentation.
In fact, the pretend game did significantly better in D-FW than the Aug. 13th opening pre-season loss at San Diego, which weighed in at 536,998 viewers and 245,996 in the advertiser-prized 18-to-49-year-old demographic.
Cowboys-49ers, which stretched (and yawned) from 7:05 to 9:58 p.m., pulled in 634,634 total viewers and 271,227 in the 18-to-49 age range.
Meanwhile, on Fox Sports Southwest, the streaking Texas Rangers’ Sunday afternoon win at Detroit drew 90,662 total viewers and 34,692 in the 18-to-49 demographic.
Mind you, the Rangers have come roaring back to currently claim the second post-season wild card spot in the American League. And the Cowboys again benched many of their key players, with quarterback Tony Romo making an opening cameo appearance for three downs before somehow staying awake from the team’s bench for the rest of the game. Still, the Cowboys drew seven times as many total viewers as the Rangers and nearly eight times as many 18-to-49-year-olds.
This further solidifies TEGNA8 sports anchor Dale Hansen’s oft-stated pronouncements -- and he loves making them -- that the Cowboys are a ratings Gila monster to the Rangers’ ant hill. Hansen might want to sell station management on a weekly 6:30 p.m. sports special in which various Cowboys alternately are shown walking their dogs, eating ice cream or throwing water balloons at one another. For a big finish, selected players could compete in an Albertson’s grocery cart demolition derby hosted by Jason Witten. The timing couldn’t be better.
Sunday’s big scripted series premiere, AMC’s Fear the Walking Dead prequel, came alive to outdraw everything except the Cowboys from 8 to 9:30 p.m. Fear had 188,292 total viewers and 138,767 in the 18-to-49 motherlode. That’s an extremely impressive percentage of the viewers that many advertisers will pay a premium to reach.
CBS’ regular Sunday prime-time lineup, sent packing to sister station TXA21, was led by a 7 p.m. episode of Big Brother with 111,584 total viewers and 53,615 in the 18-to-49 age range.
Over on Fox, the network probably shouldn’t have bothered with a Rams-Titans pre-season game -- at least not in these parts. It had 34,870 total viewers on Fox4 opposite the Cowboys.
The Rangers’ most-watched games in total viewers were a Thursday loss and a Friday win at Detroit. Each game averaged 125,532 viewers. Saturday night’s Rangers-Tigers game, exiled to Fox Sports 1, dipped to 83,688 total viewers.
Here are the four-way local news derby results for Thursday and Friday.
Thursday -- TEGNA8 had the most total viewers at 10 p.m., but NBC5 led with 25-to-54-year-olds (main advertiser target audience for news programming).
Fox4 and TEGNA8 tied for first at 6 a.m. in both ratings measurements.
There was another tie at 6 p.m., with TEGNA8 and CBS11 sharing the lead in total viewers while NBC5 won a close four-way fight among 25-to-54-year-olds. The 5 p.m. golds went to the Peacock in total viewers and TEGNA8 with 25-to-54-year-olds.
Friday -- TEGNA8 edged CBS11 in total viewers at 10 p.m. but ran slightly behind NBC5 among 25-to-54-year-olds.
Fox4 won by paper-thin margins at 6 a.m. in both ratings measurements, with NBC5, TEGNA8 and CBS11 all bunched up close behind for the last weekday early morning newscasts before Monday’s big back-to-school blowout (in which all four stations likely will shake off the summer doldrums and see some ratings gains).
NBC5 otherwise dominated with doubleheader wins at both 5 and 6 p.m.
Email comments or questions to: unclebarky@verizon.net