The postponed Daytona 500 neared an all-time viewership low, but still lapped the field on Monday, February 19.
As previously noted, Monday’s NASCAR Daytona 500 averaged a 3.3 rating and 5.96 million viewers on FOX, topping only 2021 as the least-watched edition of the race. William Byron’s win — just the third 500 to take place entirely or primarily on a Monday — declined 25% in ratings and 27% in viewership from last year’s Sunday race (4.4, 8.17M).
The Xfinity Series race at Daytona followed the 500 with a 0.52 and 933,000 on FS1.
Placing a distant second for the day, ESPN averaged a 0.54 and 1.00 million for an Iowa State-Houston men’s college basketball game — down 29% in ratings and 22% in viewership from Kansas-TCU a year ago (0.76, 1.29M). The game faced competing Big 12 action on ESPN2 as Kansas State-Texas had a 0.19 and 314,000, up sharply from a UCLA-Stanford women’s game in the same window last year (183K).
Earlier in the night, ESPN averaged a 0.36 and 643,000 for Virginia-Virginia Tech — down 36% and 32% respectively from Louisville-Duke a year ago (0.56, 949K).
Thanks to the Presidents Day holiday, there were some rare weekday afternoon sportscasts on Monday. FOX averaged a 0.42 and 658,000 for Indiana-Illinois and a 0.38 and 571,000 for Creighton-UConn in a women’s college basketball doubleheader. ESPN aired a pair of NHL games, scoring a 0.23 and 378,000 for Maple Leafs-Blues and a 0.23 and 414,000 for Red Wings-Kraken. There were no similar windows last year.
Further down the dial, ESPN2 averaged a 0.13 and 191,000 for a Notre Dame-Duke women’s college basketball game, preceded by a Utah-UCLA women’s college gymnastics meet at a 0.08 and 137,000. The ESPN podcast “First Draft” led in with a 0.11 and 141,000, easily the most-watched of the daily ESPN2 podcast airings that began this month.
Monday, February 19 sports ratings
