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Local Nielsen ratings snapshot (Thurs., Aug. 18) -- Olympics get a Bolt bump

By ED BARK
@unclebarkycom on Twitter
NBC’s Summer Olympics from Rio reversed their steady decline Thursday, with Usain Bolt’s record-setting third straight 200 meters gold medal helping to push the D-FW ratings past 2012’s equivalent night from London.

Night 14 of the Games averaged 602,004 viewers, up from the 555,476 who watched the London Olympics four years ago. That reversed a six-night losing streak for Rio. But the London Games still lead Rio 9-5 in night-by-night comparisons. Just three nights remain, with the Olympics torch being snuffed out this Sunday. And Friday’s Olympics telecast will be pitted against the Dallas Cowboys-Miami Dolphins pre-season game on CBS11. That should be a close battle.

Thursday’s most-watched TV attraction opposite the Olympics, a 7 p.m. repeat of CBS’ The Big Bang Theory, drew 191,225 viewers.

Here are Thursday’s local news derby results, with NBC5’s 10 p.m. edition again counted out due to the Olympics’ over-run.

TEGNA8 ran first in total viewers at 10 p.m. but was nipped by Fox4 for the top spot among 25-to-54-year-olds (main advertiser target audience for news programming).

Fox4 swept the 6 a.m. competitions and NBC5 did likewise at 5 p.m. The Peacock also drew the most total viewers at 6 p.m. But for first time during NBC’s Olympics run, NBC5 had to share first place with a rival station (Fox4) in the 25-to-54-year-old demographic.

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