Daytona 500 overnight ratings bounced back from last year’s low, but not by much.
Sunday’s Daytona 500 delivered a 5.5 overnight rating on FOX, up 8% from last year (5.1), but down 15% from 2017 (6.5). The 5.5 is the second-lowest for the race in at least 11 years, and likely the second-lowest all-time.
Denny Hamlin‘s win was the third Daytona 500 in the past six years with less than a 6.0 overnight. The previous two — last year and 2014 (5.6) — aired opposite Winter Olympics coverage.
Daytona 500 overnights have now increased in every-other-year dating back to 2011, but the overall trend remains downward. The race increased 17% to an 8.2 in 2011, 30% to a 10.0 in 2013, 30% to a 7.3 in 2015, and 7% to a 6.5 in 2017.
For the weekend, Daytona was the top sporting event on any network, topping the NBA All-Star Game on TNT and TBS (5.0). Last year, it merely tied the All-Star Game in the metered markets.
Daytona remains the premier auto racing event in U.S. television, its 5.5 overnight well above last year’s 3.4 for the Indianapolis 500. No non-Daytona auto race has had as high an overnight since 2013.
Other than the NHL, it does not compare favorably to the marquee stick and ball sporting events, trailing the all-time lows for the World Series (7.0) and NBA Finals (6.9).
[Numbers from Fox Sports 2.18]
