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Local Nielsen ratings snapshot (Fri.-Sun., June 14-16) -- half a mil and counting for NBA Finals

By ED BARK
@unclebarkycom
Game 5 of the NBA Finals, with the Spurs taking a 3-2 lead on the Heat, hit the highest audience level to date in D-FW.

Surpassing the half-million mark for the first time, San Antonio’s 10-point win over Miami on ABC averaged 516,315 viewers with a peak crowd of 715,957 from 9:30 to 9:45 p.m. That beat the previous high of 495,662 viewers for last Thursday’s Game 4.

The game fell off with advertiser-prized 18-to-49-year-olds, though, averaging 232,826 viewers in this age range. That’s the first time that more than half the overall audience wasn’t within this key demographic. Game 4 had the most 18-to-49-year-olds -- 283,857.

The Miss USA pageant on NBC ranked as Sunday’s second most-watched attraction opposite the NBA Finals, luring 117,031 total viewers.

Earlier Sunday on NBC, the final round of the U.S. Open averaged a decent-sized 192,758 viewers, peaking at 275,368 between 6:15 and 6:30 p.m. On Fox Sports Southwest, the cratering Texas Rangers’ latest loss slumped in the ratings as well. The game averaged just 75,726 viewers, one of the lowest turnouts of the season and also one of the few times the actual attendance at the ballpark --- 44,052 -- added up to more than half of the TV audience.

Saturday afternoon’s Ranger loss to Toronto had 89,495 viewers. That night’s overtime Game 2 of the Stanley Cup Finals on NBC Sports Net averaged 55,074 viewers with a high point of 75,726 for the action-packed OT period in which the Boston Bruins evened the series with the Chicago Blackhawks.

TXA21’s weekly Friday night Rangers game, another loss, had the biggest TV audience of the weekend with 165,221 viewers. That tied CBS’ Blue Bloods rerun for prime-time’s most-watched program.

Here are Friday’s local news derby results:

CBS11 won at 10 p.m. in total viewers while Fox4 nipped WFAA8 for the top spot among 25-to-54-year-olds, the main advertiser target audience for news programming.

Fox4 again swept the 6 a.m. competitions and likewise ran the table at 5 p.m. The 6 p.m. wins went to CBS11 in total viewers and Fox4 in the 25-to-54 demographic.

Email comments or questions to: unclebarky@verizon.net