Fox’ broadcast Sunday of the rained-out NASCAR Sprint Cup Daytona 500 led sports telecasts last weekend with a 4.7 rating and 7.7 million viewers despite nearly four hours of coverage without any live racing. Those figures ended up topping Sunday's NBA All-Star Game on TNT, which earned a 4.4 rating and 7.1 million viewers up against the Oscars on ABC. The All-Star Game had originally beaten the Daytona rain coverage when overnights were released on Monday.
CARS & TRUCKS: NASCAR’s lower series also performed well on cable TV. The Nationwide Series Drive4COPD 300 last Saturday afternoon averaged a 2.9 rating and 4.4 million viewers, marking the series’ most-viewed race ever on cable TV. The previous record was a 2.8 rating and 4.3 million viewers for the same race in ’10, which featured Danica Patrick’s NASCAR debut. Last Friday night’s Camping World Truck Series NextEra Energy Resources 250 on Speed earned a 1.2 rating and 2.0 million viewers, up from a 1.0 rating and 1.8 million viewers last year. Speed also earned a 1.2 rating and 1.8 for the Sprint Cup Gatorade Duels on Feb. 23. While the rating was flat compared to last year, viewership was down 6% compared to 1.9 million. Meanwhile, the NASCAR section of FoxSports.com set a single-day traffic record Monday night by attracting two million unique visitors. Contributing to the growth was the traffic on RaceTrax, the live leaderboard, which jumped 159% in uniques over last year. In the two weeks leading up to and including the race, visits to the NASCAR section grew by 71% year-over-year.
STAR LIGHT, STAR BRIGHT: The NBA All-Star Game was not the only event during All-Star Weekend to see a year-over-year decline. All-Star Saturday Night, which featured the Haier Shooting Stars competition, Taco Bell Skills Challenge, Foot Locker Three-Point Contest and Sprite Slam Dunk Contest, earned a 3.6 rating and 6.2 million viewers on TNT, down 18% and 23%, respectively, from last year. Meanwhile, NBA TV averaged 137,000 viewers for the D-League All-Star Game on Saturday afternoon, up from 84,000 viewers last year.
| NBA ALL-STAR SATURDAY NIGHT TREND ON TNT |
| YEAR | RATING | VIEWERS (000) |
| '12 | 3.6 | 6,237 |
| '11 | 4.4 | 8,130 |
| '10 | 3.1 | 5,441 |
| '09 | 3.9 | 6,554 |
| '08 | 3.1 | 5,206 |
| | | |
| | | |
PLAYING WITH MATCHES: NBC earned a 2.3 rating and 3.3 million viewers for Sunday’s final match of the WGC-Accenture Match Play Championship, which saw Hunter Mahan defeat Rory McIlroy. Those mark the highest figures for the event since a 3.0 rating and 4.2 million viewers in ’08, when Tiger Woods beat Stewart Cink.
The charts below list final Nielsen ratings from recent sports telecasts. All ratings listed are U.S. ratings.
| TELECAST | DATE | NET | TIME (ET) | RAT. | VIEWERS (000) |
| NASCAR Sprint Cup: Daytona 500 | 2/27 | Fox | 7:30pm-1:00am | 8.0 | 13,700 |
NASCAR Sprint Cup:
Daytona 500 rain-delay coverage | 2/26 | Fox | 1:30-5:15pm | 4.7 | 7,700 |
WGC-Accenture Match Play
Championship: Finals | 2/26 | NBC | 2:00-6:00pm | 2.3 | 3,335 |
| NCAA Basketball: Missouri-Kansas | 2/25 | CBS | 4:19-6:35pm | 1.9 | 2,939 |
NCAA Basketball:
Wisconsin-Ohio State | 2/26 | CBS | 4:19-6:09pm | 1.8 | 2,895 |
| NCAA Basketball: Vanderbilt-Kentucky | 2/25 | CBS | 12:00-2:14pm | 1.5 | 2,253 |
WGC-Accenture Match Play
Championship: Semifinals | 2/25 | NBC | 2:00-6:00pm | 1.3 | 1,863 |
| NCAA Basketball: Pittsburgh-Louisville | 2/26 | CBS | 2:00-4:16pm | 1.0 | 1,442 |
| NCAA Basketball: (regional) | 2/25 | CBS | 2:14-4:19pm | 1.0 | 1,441 |
| "Ali 70 from Las Vegas" | 2/25 | ABC | 4:00-6:00pm | 0.7 | 922 |
| Epic Poker: Mix-Max Main Event | 2/26 | CBS | 1:00-2:00pm | 0.6 | 905 |
| Supercross Legends special | 2/26 | CBS | 12:00-1:00pm | 0.5 | n/a |
| "Golf Central Live" | 2/26 | NBC | 1:30-2:00pm | 0.5 | n/a |
Mexico Primera Division:
Chivas de Guadalajara-Santos Laguna | 2/26 | Telem. | 4:55-7:04pm | 0.4 | 806 |
Mexico Primera Division:
Atlante-Club America | 2/25 | Telef. | 10:00pm-12:00am | 0.4 | 679 |
| "Laureus Sports Awards" (taped) | 2/26 | NBC | 12:30-1:30pm | 0.4 | 569 |
Mexico Primera Division:
Pachuca-Tigres UANL | 2/25 | Telef. | 7:55-10:00pm | 0.3 | 551 |
Mexico Primera Division:
UNAM-Queretaro | 2/26 | Univ. | 12:55-3:00pm | 0.3 | 494 |
| "Golf Central Live" | 2/25 | NBC | 1:30-2:00pm | 0.3 | n/a |
| | | | | | |
NOTE: Race rained out on Sunday; Monday night's race had nearly two-hour delay after Juan Pablo Montoya crashed into a track dryer full of jet fuel.
| TELECAST | DATE | NET | TIME (ET) | RAT. | VIEWERS (000) |
| NBA All-Star Game | 2/26 | TNT | 7:16-10:33pm | 4.4 | 7,070 |
| NBA All-Star Saturday Night | 2/25 | TNT | 8:30-11:14pm | 3.6 | 6,237 |
| NBA: Knicks-Heat | 2/23 | TNT | 7:07-9:49pm | 3.2 | 5,092 |
NASCAR Nationwide Series:
Drive4COPD 300 | 2/25 | ESPN | 1:15-4:09pm | 2.9 | 4,433 |
| NBA: Lakers-Thunder | 2/23 | TNT | 9:49pm-12:29am | 2.3 | 3,665 |
| NBA: BBVA Rising Stars Challenge | 2/24 | TNT | 9:00-11:05pm | 1.7 | 2,729 |
| NBA: Lakers-Mavericks | 2/22 | ESPN | 9:43pm-12:22am | 1.8 | 2,569 |
| NBA: Sprint Celebrity Game | 2/24 | ESPN | 7:00-9:02pm | 1.5 | 2,360 |
NCAA Basketball:
Kentucky-Mississippi State | 2/21 | ESPN | 9:08-11:15pm | 1.4 | 2,118 |
NASCAR Camping World Truck
Series: NextEra Energy Resources 250 | 2/24 | Speed | 7:30-10:30pm | 1.2 | 1,961 |
