A rain-drenched weekend at Daytona resulted in unsurprisingly low numbers for NASCAR on TNT.
The NASCAR Sprint Cup Coke Zero 400 from Daytona earned a 2.4 U.S. rating and 4.0 million viewers on TNT Sunday, down 31% in ratings and 30% in viewership from last year (3.5, 5.7M) and down 37% and 36%, respectively, from coverage on TNT and TruTV in 2012 (3.8, 6.2M). Those races were run as scheduled on a Saturday night.
This year’s race was plagued by rain, first postponed from Saturday night to Sunday morning and then shortened from 160 to 112 laps. Considering the postponement, the poor timeslot and the additional delays, the race put up healthy numbers.
Sunday’s race even outdrew coverage from Kentucky a week earlier (2.3, 3.6M), which was mostly unaffected by the weather (the race was moved up eight minutes in anticipation of rain that never came).
Both Daytona races this year were plagued by rain. The season-opening Daytona 500 was postponed to primetime, airing opposite the Closing Ceremony of the Olympics. Not surprisingly, it earned a record-low 5.6 rating and 9.3 million viewers on FOX — down 43% and 44%, respectively, from last year.
(Sun. numbers from Bloomberg/Media Life Magazine)
