For the second time in a week, Daytona 500 qualifying hit a multi-year low.
NASCAR’s Duel at Daytona scored 2.5 million viewers on Fox Sports 1 Thursday night, down 2% from last year (from 2.55M to 2.51M), down 17% from 2015 (3.0M), and the smallest audience for the event since it last aired in the afternoon four years ago (2.0M). Ratings were not immediately available.
Since hitting 3.1 million viewers for its primetime debut in 2014, the largest audience for the Duel since 2000, viewership has declined in each subsequent year.
Despite the lower numbers, the telecast earned a larger audience than the competing Knicks/Cavaliers NBA game on TNT (2.1M). It did trail the late night Clippers/Warriors matchup (2.6M) and ranked behind both NBA games in adults 18-49 (1.0 and 0.8 for the NBA, 0.6 for NASCAR).
The four-year low for Thursday’s Duel comes on the heels of a decade-plus low for last weekend’s Daytona qualifying coverage.
(Thu. numbers via ShowBuzz Daily 2.24)
