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Local Nielsen ratings snapshot (Fri.-Sun., June 17-19) -- Game 7 of NBA Finals in stratosphere

By ED BARK
@unclebarkycom on Twitter
ABC’s lone remaining pro championship series is something the network might want to pay anything it takes to keep.

Sunday night’s Game 7 of the NBA Finals, capped by the Cleveland Cavaliers’ history-making 93-89 win over the defending champion Golden State Warriors, went ballistic in the D-FW Nielsen ratings.

Averaging more than 900,000 viewers with a peak crowd comparable to your typical Dallas Cowboys game, Cavs-Warriors soared past the Game 1 high mark of 517,015 viewers. Running from 7:11 to 9:37 p.m., Game 7 had 906,547 viewers and hit a high mark of 1,288,997 in the closing minutes. The Cavs became the first team to overcome a 3-1 deficit in the Finals while giving Cleveland its first pro championship since the Browns won the NFL title in 1964.

Among advertiser-prized 18-to-49-year-olds, Cavs-Warriors averaged 476,355 viewers to crush the previous Game1 mark of 288,989. Even more astounding, the number of 18-to-49-year-olds for Game 7 was greater than the total audience for either Games 3, 4 or 6. The peak number of 18-to-49-year-olds -- 673,248 -- also came during Game 7’s closing minutes.

Last June’s NBA Finals, which the Warriors won over the Cavs in six games, drew 523,050 viewers and 277,534 in the 18-to-49 age range for the climactic game.

Fox’s Sunday coverage of the U.S. Open’s final round, with Dallasite Jordan Spieth far out of contention, peaked at 325,790 total viewers between 6:15 and 6:45 p.m. Its largest 18-to-49 audience -- 127,028 -- came between 6:30 and 7 p.m.

Over on Fox Sports Southwest, the Texas Rangers completed their sweep at St. Louis and averaged 155,813 total viewers opposite the U.S. Open.

Saturday’s Rangers-Cards game, on Fox Sports 1, had 141,648 total viewers to outdraw the U.S. Open’s average of 92,071, with a small-sized high point of 106,236 viewers.

On Friday, the Rangers’ prime-time game on FSS led all of that day’s programming with 191,225 total viewers.

Here are Friday’s local news derby results.

Two stations split the spoils.

Fox4 ran first at 10 p.m. in both total viewers and 25-to-54-year-olds (main advertiser target audience for news programming). The stations also won at 6 a.m. in total viewers.

NBC5 nipped Fox4 for the most 25-to-54-year-olds at 6 a.m. and swept the 5 and 6 p.m. competitions.

Email comments or questions to: unclebarky@verizon.net