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Local Nielsen ratings snapshot (Fri.-Mon., Dec. 23-26) -- Cowboys roll with TEGNA8/ESPN combo

By ED BARK
@unclebarkycom on Twitter
The Dallas Cowboys doubled up on the Detroit Lions Monday night, winning 42-21 in Jerry’s Palace on ESPN’s Monday Night Football and TEGNA8’s over-the-air simulcast.

Starting shortly after 7:30 p.m. and running until 10:36 p.m., the game averaged 1,337,882 D-FW viewers on TEGNA8 and another 436,266 on ESPN. Hand calculator technology says that’s a grand total of 1,774,148 viewers, short of the season high of 1,963,197 for the Dec. 11th 10-7 road loss to the Giants on NBC’s national Sunday Night Football stage.

Among advertiser-treasured 18-to-49-year-olds, Cowboys-Lions had 519,550 viewers on TEGNA8 and another 224,497 on ESPN for a total of 744,047. The season-to-date champ remains the Dec. 11th Cowboys-Giants game with 817,811 viewers in this key demographic.

TEGNA8 also aired a homegrown Dale Hansen sports special from 6:30 to 7:15 p.m. It drew 378,097 total viewers to easily whip ESPN’s national pre-gamer (145,422 viewers).

Opposite the Cowboys game, Fox Sports Southwest’s Dallas Mavericks-New Orleans Pelicans game barely had a pulse with 6,544 total viewers. The first half of Mavs-Pelicans registered “hashmarks” (no measurable audience). Yes, these are tough times for the Mavs.

On Sunday, Christmas Day, NBC’s prime-time Kansas City Chiefs-Denver Broncos game led all TV attractions with 538,061 total viewers. The NFL Network also had strong ratings for its exclusive mid-afternoon face-off between the Pittsburgh Steelers and Baltimore Ravens. It averaged 414,453 viewers. ABC’s afternoon NBA game between last season’s championship finalists, the Cleveland Cavaliers and Golden State Warriors, took the bronze with 247,217 viewers.

The Saturday, Christmas Eve slate of games was led by Fox’s Arizona Cardinals-Seattle Seahawks matchup (567,146 total viewers). Fox’s preceding Green Bay Packers-Minnesota Vikings game averaged 370,826 total viewers.

The NFL Net’s nighttime exclusive between the Houston Texans and Cincinnati Bengals pulled in 283,573 viewers. CBS’ early afternoon New England Patriots-New York Jets game limped in with just 138,151 viewers.

Here are Friday’s local news derby results. (A majority of the stations took holiday exemptions on the day after Christmas.)

TEGNA8 won at 10 p.m. in both total viewers and with 25-to-54-year-olds (main advertiser target audience for news programming).

NBC5 likewise swept the 6 a.m. competitions while also notching twin wins at 6 p.m. The Peacock and TEGNA8 tied for the most total viewers at 5 p.m., but Fox4 was tops with 25-to-54-year-olds.

Email comments or questions to: unclebarky@verizon.net