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Local Nielsen ratings snapshot (Fri.-Sun., Oct. 27-29) -- Cowboys rediscover one million mark, World Series routs Sunday Night Football on Fox's mega-sports weekend

By ED BARK
@unclebarkycom on Twitter
A rain-soaked, wind-swept Dallas Cowboys-Washington Redskins game followed by the craziest Game 5 in World Series history gave Fox one of its richest sports feasts ever Sunday.

The Cowboys 33-19 road win re-acquainted the team with one million-plus D-FW viewers after last Sunday’s rout of the hapless San Francisco 49ers punched the ratings below the one mil mark for the second time this season.

Cowboys-Redskins, which ran until 6:36 p.m., averaged 1,289,100 viewers and 514,899 in the advertiser-prized 18-to-49 age range. That’s a big step up from the 997,094 total viewers and 399,437 in the 18-to-49 realm for the previous Sunday’s 40-10 pasting of San Francisco on Fox.

Then, after a little toweling off, Fox presented a home run-fueled Game 5 of the World Series between the Houston Astros and Los Angeles Dodgers. The two teams’ respective aces, Dallas Keuchel and Clayton Kershaw, took early knockout punches before Houston finally won 13-12 in 10 innings in a marathon that ran from 7:21 p.m. to 12:39 a.m. The Astros overcame 4-0 and 7-4 deficits while the Dodgers erased a three-run Houston lead in the top of the ninth.

It all added up to an average of 598,256 total viewers and 237,166 in the 18-to-49 motherlode. Those easily were Fox’s best World Series numbers to date, with 484,303 total viewers still hanging in for the final pitch in various states of consciousness.

Over on NBC, the closely fought Sunday Night Football game between the Pittsburgh Steelers and Detroit Lions ranked a distant second with an average of 334,739 total viewers and 140,427 in the 18-to-49 age range.

Fox offered a much tamer and shorter Game 4 of the World Series Saturday night. Running from 7:21 to 10:27 p.m., the Dodgers’ win pulled in 377,471 total viewers in easily winning the night. Fox’s preceding Big Ten showdown, a 39-38 Ohio State win over Penn State, averaged 135,320 total viewers. ABC’s prime-time Oklahoma-Texas Tech offering outdrew Buckeyes-Nittany Lions with an average of 199,419 total viewers.

Friday night’s Game 3 of the World Series, which the Astros won, carried Fox to another prime-time sweep. Running from 7:22 to 11:07 p.m., it averaged 391,716 total viewers.

Finally, here are Friday’s local news derby results for the second weekday of the November “sweeps” ratings period.

CBS11 edged NBC5 for the most total viewers at 10 p.m. while the Peacock narrowly beat CBS11 among 25-to-54-year-olds (main advertiser target audience for news programming). It was a downsized three-way race, with Fox4’s late nighter pushed past 11 p.m. by the World Series.

Fox4 otherwise collected all of the other spoils, with sweeps at 6 a.m. and 5 and 6 p.m.

Email comments or questions to: unclebarky@verizon.net