Its the same old, same old for NASCAR ratings on FOX.
Saturday night’s Southern 500 drew a 4.0/8 final rating and 6.7 million viewers on FOX Saturday night, down 17% in ratings and 15% in viewership from a 4.8/10 and 7.8 million for the same race last year.
The 4.0 rating is the lowest for the Southern 500 since the 2000 race drew a 3.5 on ESPN, and is tied with last week’s Russ Friedman 400 as the second-lowest rating ever for a non-rained out NASCAR race on FOX.
So far this season, all eleven NASCAR races on FOX have seen declining ratings, with the last eight seeing double-digit declines. Through Saturday’s race, FOX is averaging a 5.2 rating for NASCAR coverage, down 13% from a 6.0 through the same point last year.
Despite the lower rating, the Southern 500 outdrew the Cavaliers/Hawks game airing on ABC at the same time by 25% (4.0 to 3.2), and the race was the eighth highest rated prime time program on FOX last week.
Ratings for NASCAR on FOX during the 2009 season.
| Date | Net | Race | 2009 rtg | 2008 rtg | 2007 rtg | vs. ’08 | vs. ’07 |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Sun., 2/15/09 | FOX | Daytona 500 |
9.2
|
10.2
|
10.1
|
-10%
|
-9%
|
| Sun., 2/22/09 | FOX | Auto Club 500 |
6.0
|
6.2
|
6.7
|
-3%
|
-10%
|
| Sun., 3/1/09 | FOX | Shelby 427 |
6.5
|
7.1
|
6.3
|
-8%
|
3%
|
| Sun., 3/8/09 | FOX | Kobalt Tools 500 |
5.5
|
6.4
|
5.2
|
-14%
|
6%
|
| Sun., 3/22/09 | FOX | Food City 500 |
4.5
|
5.5
|
5.1
|
-18%
|
-12%
|
| Sun., 3/29/09 | FOX | Goody’s Fast Pain Relief 500 |
4.6
|
5.3
|
5.3
|
-13%
|
-13%
|
| Sun., 4/5/09 | FOX | Samsung 500 |
4.7
|
5.4
|
5.6
|
-13%
|
-16%
|
| Sat., 4/18/09 | FOX | Subway Fresh Fit 500 |
3.6
|
4.4
|
4.4
|
-18%
|
-18%
|
| Sun., 4/26/09 | FOX | Aaron’s 499 |
5.0
|
5.7
|
5.4
|
-12%
|
-7%
|
| Sat., 5/2/09 | FOX | Russ Friedman 400 |
4.0
|
4.5
|
4.3
|
-11%
|
-7%
|
| Sat., 5/9/09 | FOX | Southern 500 |
4.0
|
4.8
|
4.2
|
-17%
|
-5%
|
|
Average rating through 11 races
|
5.2
|
6.0
|
5.7
|
-13%
|
-9%
|
||
