From Sports Media Watch, a one-stop page for sports ratings news.
NASCAR Cup Series racing from Daytona averaged a 1.7 rating and 3.12 million viewers on NBC a week ago Saturday, per the “Big Data + Panel” methodology that is the official Nielsen currency, and a 1.8 and 3.51 million under the old “panel-only” metric NASCAR now publicizes for its races.
On an official basis — so comparing “Big Data + Panel” this year to “panel only” the prior year, in keeping with Nielsen policy — the race declined a tick in ratings and 5% in viewership from last year (1.8, 3.30M). On a panel-to-panel basis, ratings were flat and viewership increased 6%.
The 11% gap between “Big Data” and panel-only is the widest for a Cup Series race since NASCAR moved away from using the new methodology in May.
Last weekend’s Saturday night NASCAR Cup Series race from Daytona averaged a 1.8 rating and 3.30 million viewers on NBC, down 10% in ratings and 6% in viewership from last year (1.9, 3.5M). The race was delayed a half-hour due to a red flag, during which viewership dipped by 10 percent from the previous half-hour.
Ryan Blaney’s win, which peaked with 3.6 million viewers, was still the most-watched Cup Series race since Talladega in April. Not coincidentally, it was also the first race on broadcast television since Talladega.
The corresponding Xfinity Series race drew a 0.6 and 1.09 million on CW, up 35% and 33% respectively from last year on USA (0.46, 820K) and the largest audience for the race since 2018 on NBCSN.
The previous Saturday night at Richmond, the Cup Series drew a 0.75 and 1.4 million on USA Network — down sharply from last year, when the race was run on a Sunday night (2.22M).
NASCAR Cup Series racing from Iowa averaged a 1.2 rating and 2.17 million viewers on USA, peaking at 2.5 million — down 13% and 19% respectively from last year’s inaugural race at the track, which aired in primetime on Father’s Day (1.4, 2.7M), but still the most-watched sporting event of last weekend.
The previous day, Xfinity Series action averaged a 0.54 and 1.01 million on CW — up 10% and 16% respectively from last year on USA (0.49, 871K) and the most-watched Xfinity race at the venue since 2018, with the caveat that it was not run from 2020-2023.
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