FOX TURNS A “TRIPLE-PLAY” IN DAYTONA
50TH Daytona 500 Notches Audience & Ratings Increases;
First Time Ever, All Three Speedweeks Events on FOX Rise
Daytona Beach, Fla. – Yesterday’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 today by Nielsen Media Research. The 50th Daytona 500 earned a 10.2/20 household rating/share and averaged 17.8 million viewers, and both the rating and average audience are +1% better than a year ago (10.1/20, 17.5 million). It was also the second highest-rated and second most-watched 500 ever on FOX, trailing the 2005 race in both stats. Yesterday’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.
Ratings for the 50th Daytona 500 continue an impressive winning streak for FOX Sports. Over the last two months, FOX wrapped up its most-watched NFL season in twelve years, aired the most-watched NFC Championship Game in 13 years, broadcast the most-watched Super Bowl of all-time, then notched ratings increases for both the NFL Pro Bowl and – for the first time ever – for all Daytona-related programming.
See below for additional Daytona 500 highlights:
n 33.5 million Americans watched at least part of the Great American Race, a +2% improvement over 2007’s 33.0 million.
n The Daytona 500 affirmed its status as one of the premier annual events in sports. Yesterday’s 10.2/20 is +2% 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 prime-time NFL package.
n 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).
n The Daytona 500 remains far and away the top-rated event in American motorsports. Yesterday’s race more than doubled the rating of last year’s Indianapolis 500 (+137% vs. 4.3/12).
n The race also drew ratings comparable to prime time’s biggest hits. The 10.2/20 for Daytona would rank it #9 among all prime time shows, and the 6.5 rating among Adults 18-49 would rank it #7 among all prime shows in that key demographic.
n FOX’s improved Daytona 500 rating completed a Speedweeks “triple play” as the Daytona 500 (+1%), Daytona Pole Qualifying (+4%), and Budweiser Shootout (+6%) 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.
n Greenville, SC led all markets with a 24.1 rating followed by Greensboro, NC (22.5), Charlotte (21.1), Orlando (19.7) and Knoxville (19.6). Pittsburgh came in as FOX’s most impressive growth market, up a huge 80% (12.8 vs. 7.1) over last year. Many of the biggest growth markets came from outside NASCAR’s traditional southeast US footprint, posting giant year-to-year increases. Those markets were Chicago (+25% 7.1 vs. 5.7), Detroit (+25% 10.9 vs. 8.7), Denver (+51% 10.1 vs. 6.7), Portland (+37% 8.2 vs. 6.0), Cincinnati (+30% 14.6 vs. 11.2), and Oklahoma City (+55% 10.7 vs. 6.9).
