- Mar 19, 2006
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Sunday's 50th running of the Daytona 500 on FOX scored increased average audience, total audience and household ratings compared to a year ago, according to fast national figures released Monday by Nielsen Media Research.
The race earned a 10.2/20 household rating/share and averaged 17.8 million viewers, and both the rating and average audience are +1 percent better than a year ago (10.1/20, 17.5 million). It also was the second highest-rated and second most-watched 500 ever on FOX, trailing the 2005 race in both stats.
Sunday's audience results gave FOX Sports a Speedweeks 2008 "triple-play." All three NASCAR on FOX events televised during Speedweeks posted improved ratings and viewership as the Daytona 500 (+1 percent), Daytona Pole Qualifying (+4 percent), and Budweiser Shootout (+6 percent) all posted gains over the same events in 2007. This is the first time that all of FOX's Speedweeks programming has boasted a year-to-year increase.
Other highlights:
? 33.5 million Americans watched at least part of the Great American Race, a +2 percent improvement over 2007's 33.0 million.
? Sunday's 10.2/20 is +2 percent better than the 10.0/16 that NBC averaged for Sunday Night Football this year. This marks the first time that the Daytona 500 has earned a higher rating than the primetime NFL package.
? Looking at other top Winter/Spring events, the Daytona 500 also posted a higher rating than the most recent NCAA Final Four on CBS (9.9/18), final round of The Masters (9.1/22 on CBS) and Kentucky Derby (8.8/21 on NBC).
? The Daytona 500 remains far and away the top-rated event in American motorsports. Sunday's race more than doubled the rating of last year's Indianapolis 500 (+137 percent vs. 4.3/12).
? The race also drew ratings comparable to prime time's biggest hits. The 10.2/20 for Daytona would rank No. 9 among all prime time shows, and the 6.5 rating among Adults 18-49 would rank No. 7 among all prime shows in that key demographic.
? Greenville, S.C., led all markets with a 24.1 rating followed by Greensboro, N.C. (22.5), Charlotte (21.1), Orlando (19.7) and Knoxville (19.6).
Pittsburgh came in as FOX's most impressive growth market, up 80 percent (12.8 vs. 7.1) over last year.
Many of the biggest growth markets came from outside NASCAR's traditional southeast footprint, posting year-to-year increases in Chicago (+25 percent 7.1 vs. 5.7), Detroit (+25 percent 10.9 vs. 8.7), Denver (+51 percent 10.1 vs. 6.7), Portland (+37 percent 8.2 vs. 6.0), Cincinnati (+30 percent 14.6 vs. 11.2), and Oklahoma City (+55 percent 10.7 vs. 6.9).
The race earned a 10.2/20 household rating/share and averaged 17.8 million viewers, and both the rating and average audience are +1 percent better than a year ago (10.1/20, 17.5 million). It also was the second highest-rated and second most-watched 500 ever on FOX, trailing the 2005 race in both stats.
Sunday's audience results gave FOX Sports a Speedweeks 2008 "triple-play." All three NASCAR on FOX events televised during Speedweeks posted improved ratings and viewership as the Daytona 500 (+1 percent), Daytona Pole Qualifying (+4 percent), and Budweiser Shootout (+6 percent) all posted gains over the same events in 2007. This is the first time that all of FOX's Speedweeks programming has boasted a year-to-year increase.
Other highlights:
? 33.5 million Americans watched at least part of the Great American Race, a +2 percent improvement over 2007's 33.0 million.
? Sunday's 10.2/20 is +2 percent better than the 10.0/16 that NBC averaged for Sunday Night Football this year. This marks the first time that the Daytona 500 has earned a higher rating than the primetime NFL package.
? Looking at other top Winter/Spring events, the Daytona 500 also posted a higher rating than the most recent NCAA Final Four on CBS (9.9/18), final round of The Masters (9.1/22 on CBS) and Kentucky Derby (8.8/21 on NBC).
? The Daytona 500 remains far and away the top-rated event in American motorsports. Sunday's race more than doubled the rating of last year's Indianapolis 500 (+137 percent vs. 4.3/12).
? The race also drew ratings comparable to prime time's biggest hits. The 10.2/20 for Daytona would rank No. 9 among all prime time shows, and the 6.5 rating among Adults 18-49 would rank No. 7 among all prime shows in that key demographic.
? Greenville, S.C., led all markets with a 24.1 rating followed by Greensboro, N.C. (22.5), Charlotte (21.1), Orlando (19.7) and Knoxville (19.6).
Pittsburgh came in as FOX's most impressive growth market, up 80 percent (12.8 vs. 7.1) over last year.
Many of the biggest growth markets came from outside NASCAR's traditional southeast footprint, posting year-to-year increases in Chicago (+25 percent 7.1 vs. 5.7), Detroit (+25 percent 10.9 vs. 8.7), Denver (+51 percent 10.1 vs. 6.7), Portland (+37 percent 8.2 vs. 6.0), Cincinnati (+30 percent 14.6 vs. 11.2), and Oklahoma City (+55 percent 10.7 vs. 6.9).
