Phelps-less Olympics still dominate DFW ratings

by Ed Bark of of UncleBarky.com

Michael Phelps-less but hardly helpless, NBC's nighttime Olympics telecasts continued to run rings around the competition Monday.

The Summer Games also are boosting the ratings for NBC5's 5 and 6 p.m. local newscasts, which are strutting to ratings gold as warmup acts.

Monday's Olympics averaged 435,972 D-FW homes from 7 to 11 p.m. In comparison, ABC's poor, pitiful High School Musical: Get In the Picture barely flickered in just 14,614 homes from 7 to 8 p.m. That's the smallest local audience in recent memory -- and perhaps ever -- for a prime-time program on one of the Big Four broadcast networks.

Here are the likewise impressive Friday-Sunday numbers for the nighttime Olympics telecasts:

Friday -- 406,745 homes

Saturday -- 394,567 homes

Sunday -- 457,893 homes

NBC5 in turn has dominated the 5 and 6 p.m. news Nielsens, running the table on Friday and Monday in both total homes and with 25-to-54-year-olds, the main advertiser target audience for news programming. WFAA8 usually flexes at these hours, particularly at 6 p.m. But in a typical Olympics-fueled blowout, the Peacock drew 202,155 homes for Monday's 6 p.m. newscast, with WFAA8 a distant second (119,344)

WFAA8 had a better showing at 10 p.m. in a down-sized three-station field. It won Monday in both ratings measurements and also took Friday's competition in total homes. Fox4 had a gold on that night among 25-to-54-year-olds.

Winning at 10 p.m. is cold comfort, though. On Monday, WFAA8 drew 114,473 homes, which is half the haul it averaged during the May sweeps. Meanwhile, NBC's competing Olympics coverage from 10 to 10:30 p.m. sucked most of the ratings air out of the room with 523,654 total homes.

In the 6 a.m. hour, Fox4 took Monday's gold in total homes and WFAA8 was tops with 25-to-54-year-olds. Friday's 6 a.m. wins went to NBC5 in both measurements.