None of the major events did particularly well by historical standards, but NASCAR’s Daytona Speedweeks still managed an increase on Fox Sports.
The NASCAR Xfinity Series opener from Daytona scored a 1.4 final rating and 2.3 million viewers on Fox Sports 1 Saturday afternoon, flat in ratings but up 6% in viewership from last year (1.4, 2.1M) but down 18% and 23% respectively from 2015 (1.7, 2.9M).
The 1.4 rating is tied as the lowest for the race since at least 1998. As recently as 2012, it had a 2.9 rating and 4.4 million on ESPN.
Less than 24 hours earlier, the Truck Series race from Daytona pulled a 0.8 and 1.3 million on FS1 — down a tick in ratings and 8% in viewership from last year (0.9, 1.4M) and down 20% and 15% respectively from 2015 (1.0, 1.6M). It was the lowest rated and least-watched Truck Series opener since at least 2010.
Not counting The Clash, which was postponed a day due to rain, ratings for all five Daytona Speedweeks events this year set or tied a multi-year low. Having said that, viewership did increase for the two biggest events, the Xfinity and Cup Series races.
Despite the generally low numbers, the full Daytona Speedweeks coverage averaged 463,000 viewers across the Fox Sports networks — up 14% from last year (405K). That includes an average of 276,000 on FS1 alone, up 28% from last year and the network’s best-ever average for the event (including its days as Speed Channel*).
The averages were helped by double-digit growth for shoulder programming. Daytona 500 pre-race coverage increased 16% on FOX (from 5.3M to 6.1M) and 30% on FS1 (from 841K to 1.1M), the Xfinity Series pre-race increased 8% (from 1.1M to 1.2M) and the post-race 6% (from 2.1M to 2.3M), the Duel at Daytona pre-race increased 15% (from 527K to 604K), and NASCAR Race Hub averaged a 15% bump (from 186K to 214K).
| RATINGS/VIEWERSHIP FOR MAJOR SPEEDWEEKS EVENTS Severely delayed/postponed events in italics |
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|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| YR | DAYTONA 500 | XFINITY | TRUCKS | DUEL | QUAL. | CLASH | ||||||
| RTG | VWRS | RTG | VWRS | RTG | VWRS | RTG | VWRS | RTG | VWRS | RTG | VWRS | |
| 2017 | 6.6 | 11.92M | 1.4 | 2.25M | 0.8 | 1.31M | 1.5 | 2.51M | 1.5 | 2.40M | 1.2 | 1.85M |
| 2016 | 6.6 | 11.36M | 1.4 | 2.12M | 0.9 | 1.44M | 1.6 | 2.55M | 1.7 | 2.83M | 2.8 | 4.84M |
| 2015 | 7.7 | 13.36M | 1.7 | 2.94M | 1.0 | 1.55M | 1.8 | 3.02M | 2.1 | 3.40M | 3.2 | 5.61M |
| 2014 | 5.6 | 9.30M | 1.8 | 2.74M | 0.9 | 1.50M | 1.9 | 3.12M | 1.8 | 2.91M | 2.0 | 3.53M |
| 2013 | 9.9 | 16.65M | 2.2 | 3.36M | 0.9 | 1.40M | 1.3 | 1.97M | 2.0 | 3.10M | 3.5 | 5.72M |
| 2012 | 8.0 | 13.67M | 2.9 | 4.43M | 1.2 | 1.96M | 1.2 | 1.80M | 2.0 | 3.21M | 4.2 | 7.47M |
| 2011 | 8.7 | 15.60M | 2.1 | 3.25M | 1.0 | 1.79M | 1.2 | 1.92M | 2.0 | 3.30M | 4.5 | 7.85M |
* Keep in mind FS1/Speed Channel did not air the Xfinity Series race until 2015.
(Numbers from Fox Sports, ShowBuzz Daily 2.28)
