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Local Nielsen ratings snapshot (Fri.-Sun., Aug. 1-3) -- Cowboys Blue/White scrimmage sacked in Sunday numbers

By ED BARK
@unclebarkycom on Twitter
It used to be the Dallas Cowboys could collectively burp and draw a sizable TV crowd in D-FW. Not so on Sunday.

TXA21’s 5 to 7 p.m. live telecast of the team’s Blue/White scrimmage from training camp ranked as the station’s most-watched program of the day. But that’s not saying much when just 49,709 viewers tune in for the play-by play from Babe Laufenberg and Bill Jones.

It didn’t help when CBS’ Bridgestone Invitational moved into the path of the Cowboys after a storm delay pushed it to a 6:07 p.m. finish time. For its full hour opposite the Cowboys, Bridgestone averaged 85,216 viewers.

But the Cowboys also were outdrawn from 6 to 7 p.m. by ABC’s 6 p.m. edition of America’s Funniest Videos (134,925 viewers) and NBC’s 5 p.m. Wrestlemania 30 (78,114). And in the 5 to 6 p.m. hour, the Cowboys also ran behind Fox4’s local newscast (99,418), ABC’s network newscast (63,912), WFAA8’s local newscast (99,418) and NBC’s 5:30 p.m. newscast (92,317).

Sunday’s biggest sports draw, by a wide margin, was NBC’s prime-time Hall of Fame pre-season game between the New York Giants and Buffalo Bills. It won its time slot from 7 to 10 p.m. with an average of 213,039 viewers.

The Cowboys’ scrimmage also fared poorly among advertiser-prized 18-to-49-year-olds, with just 9,770 viewers in this key demographic. TXA21’s Sunday afternoon movie, Seven Pounds, fared better with 13,029 viewers in this age range. So did the station’s 10 p.m. rerun of King of Queens and 11:30 repeat of Rules of Engagement. Both drew 19,540 viewers in the 18-to-49 measurement.

NBC’s Giants-Bills game led all Sunday programming among 18-to-49-year-olds with 100,958 of ‘em. For those keeping score, that’s more than 10 times the number the Cowboys had.

In Friday’s Nielsens, Cleveland’s blowout of the increasingly inept Texas Rangers averaged 92,317 total viewers on TXA21, with 26,054 in the 18-to-49 demographic.

Here are Friday’s local news derby results.

In an extreme rarity, the 10 p.m. competition in total viewers ended in a four-way tie for first place among Fox4, NBC5, WFAA8 and CBS11. Fox4 nipped NBC5 for the top spot among 25-to-54-year-olds, the main advertiser target audience for news programming.

Fox4 ran the table at both 6 a.m. and 6 p.m. The 5 p.m. golds went to NBC5 in total viewers and WFAA8 with 25-to-54-year-olds.

Email comments or questions to: unclebarky@verizon.net