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Local Nielsen ratings snapshot (Fri.-Sun., Sept. 5-7) -- Cowboys again a big draw while shooting selves in foot

By ED BARK
@unclebarkycom on Twitter
A 28-3 halftime deficit en route to a 28-17 opening game loss to San Francisco didn’t send D-FW viewers scurrying elsewhere Sunday.

Running from 3:25 to 6:30 p.m. on Fox, the game pretty much held its ratings punch throughout while averaging 1,278,234 total viewers and 602,490 in the advertiser-prized 18-to-49 demographic. (Note: the 3:25 to 3:30 p.m. segment counts in the final average. Nielsen Media Research measures in 15-minute increments.)

Those numbers pale next to the 1,542,061 total viewers and 803,729 in the 18-to-49 age range for the 2013 opener. But there were extenuating circumstances. That game was played in prime-time on NBC’s big Sunday Night Football stage. And the Cowboys won a 35-31 thriller against the Giants compared to Sunday’s dud versus the 49ers.

Local audiences still hung in with remarkable resiliency, though. In its closing 15-minute segment (6:15 to 6:30 p.m.), Cowboys-49ers was still drawing 1,342,146 total viewers. That’s not far off the peak crowd of 1,384,754 for the 5:45 to 6 p.m. portion.

The Sunday Night Football matchup between the Denver Broncos and Indianapolis Colts, which ended at 10:44 p.m., averaged 596,509 total viewers. (280,076 were in the 18-to-49 demographic.)

Fox’s two-hour premiere of the “reality” series Utopia fared pretty well opposite a big chunk of football. Airing from 7 to 9 p.m., it averaged 241,444 viewers with 117,241 in the 18-to-49 age range. But the audience steadily fell off during the second hour in both ratings measurements.

Saturday’s college football parade was led by ABC’s afternoon USC-Stanford game, which averaged 134,925 total viewers. Fox’s evening attraction, Oregon vs. Michigan State, was the ratings runner-up with 113,621 viewers.

Over on Fox Sports 1, BYU’s drubbing of Texas drew 85,216 viewers. And on Fox Sports Southwest, North Texas State crushed SMU to the tune of 21,304 viewers.

Friday’s 7 p.m. hour offered a Stand Up to Cancer special simulcast on ABC, CBS, NBC and Fox. Here are the respective audiences:

Fox -- 63,912 viewers
ABC/CBS -- 42,608 viewers apiece
NBC -- 28,405 viewers

The competing 7 to 8 p.m. portion of the Texas Rangers-Seattle Mariners game on TXA21 had 53,260 viewers. It was the first Rangers game of the post-Ron Washington era after his stunning resignation Friday afternoon.

In Friday’s local news derby results, Gannett8 and CBS11 tied for the most total viewers at 10 p.m. while Gannett 8 was alone in first among 25-to-54-year-olds (main advertiser target audience for news programming).

Fox4 notched another doubleheader win at 6 a.m. and NBC5 swept the 5 p.m. competitions.

The Peacock also had the most total viewers at 6 p.m., but Fox4 won easily among 25-to-54-year-olds.

Email comments or questions to: unclebarky@verizon.net