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Local Nielsen ratings snapshot (Fri.-Sun., Oct. 30-Nov. 1) -- Cowboys pony up another big number

By ED BARK
@unclebarkycom on Twitter
The results were the same again for the sinking Dallas Cowboys. They chalked up another loss that easily could have been a win and also another big day at the ratings box office.

Dallas’ fifth straight defeat, 13-12 to the visiting Seattle Seahawks, endured until 6:40 p.m. as Fox’s featured national telecast. In D-FW, the game averaged 1,501,469 viewers to become the third of seven games to exceed the one-and-a-half million mark. The crowd peaked at 1,706,858 for the final minutes.

Among advertiser-coveted 18-to-49-year-olds, Cowboys-Seahawks averaged 631,964 viewers.

Fox then turned to Game 5 of the World Series, which for much of the night went against NBC’s marquee Sunday Night Football matchup between the Denver Broncos and Green Bay Packers. Both were unbeaten until Denver thrashed the Pack 29-10 and made vaunted Aaron Rodgers look statistically worse than the Cowboys’ Matt Cassel.

The two premium sports attractions went head-to-head from 7:30 p.m. until the Broncos-Packers game ended at 10:22 p.m. During that period, SNF drew 460,356 total viewers while the Kansas City Royals-New York Mets face-off averaged 524,098. So yes, that’s a big and impressive baseball upset in football country.

Game 5 continued until 11:34 p.m., when the Royals closed out the Mets in extra innings to win their first championship since 1985. The late night portion of the game pulled in 517,015 viewers to dominate all TV attractions and send all those Cowboys post mortems on rival local stations into ratings death spirals.

In the key 18-to-49-year-old demographic, SNF had 215,948 viewers opposite the 7:30 to 10:30 p.m. portion of the World Series, which hung right in there but came up a bit short with 203,245 viewers.

Over on AMC, a 90-minute episode of The Walking Dead had 290,378 total viewers from 8 to 9:30 p.m. As usual, a lion’s share of them (196,893) were within the 18-to-49 motherlode.

Earlier Sunday, the crazy 52-49 win by New Orleans over the New York Giants averaged 524,098 total viewers on Fox as a lead-in to the Cowboys. Fox also won the morning hours with its 8:30 a.m. game in London between the Kansas City Chief and Detroit Lions. It averaged 184,142 total viewers.

OK, let’s move to Saturday, where Fox’s prime-time Game 4 of the World Series easily outdrew all competing programming. Running until 10:37 p.m., the Royals’ comeback win averaged 297,461 total viewers.

On NBC, Triple Crown winner American Pharoah made history by being the first horse to complete racing’s “Grand Slam” by also winning the climactic Breeders Cup Classic. The actual race was from 4:53 to 4:55 p.m. During the 15-minute increment measured by Nielsen Media Research (4:45 to 5 p.m.), only 99,154 total viewers tuned in.

On to Friday and Game 3 of the World Series on Fox. It also led the prime-time ratings from start to stop (at 10:30 p.m.), averaging 325,790 total viewers. ABC’s 9 p.m. edition of 20/20, in which actress Leah Remini talked about her breakaway from Scientology, was a strong runner-up with 262,049 total viewers.

Finally -- pant pant -- here are Friday’s local news derby results for Day 2 of the November “sweeps” ratings period.

TEGNA8 rolled to dominant wins at 10 p.m. in a down-sized three-way competition, topping the field in both total viewers and 25-to-54-year-olds (main advertiser target audience for news programming).

Fox4 ran the table at 6 a.m. and NBC5 did likewise at 6 p.m.

Fox4 had the most total viewers at 5 p.m. while NBC5 and TEGNA8 tied for first place with 25-to-54-year-olds.

Email comments or questions to: unclebarky@verizon.net