Despite hitting a multi-year low, NASCAR held its own opposite the Olympic Games.
NASCAR Sprint Cup racing from Watkins Glen (NY) earned a 2.3 final rating and 3.8 million viewers on USA Network Sunday afternoon, down 8% in ratings and 4% in viewership from last year on NBCSN (2.5, 4.0M) and down 26% and 22%, respectively, from 2014 on ESPN (3.1, 4.9M).
The last time the race aired opposite the Olympics, 2012, it had a 2.8 and 4.5 million.
Denny Hamlin‘s win ranks as the lowest rated edition of the race since at least 1999 and the least-watched since at least 2001. The previous lows were set last year. It was the eleventh race this season to hit a multi-year low in one or both measures.
Excluding rainouts, three of the past four NASCAR races have posted declines in ratings and viewership — though Sunday’s drop comes with an Olympic-sized caveat. Coverage of the Summer Games earned a 7.3 and 12.0 million viewers on NBC alone Sunday afternoon, more than the Daytona 500 in February (6.6, 11.4M). Opposite that level of competition, NASCAR can be satisfied with a single-digit percentage drop.
(Wknd. numbers via ShowBuzz Daily)
