Fox finished its slate of NASCAR Sprint Cup Series races with a 4.8 rating and 7.8 million viewers. While the rating for the net's 13 races was flat compared to ’12, viewership was down slightly from 7.9 million viewers. Fox had a strong start with the Daytona 500 this year, with rating and viewership both up over 20% compared to last year’s race, which was run in primetime on a Monday due to weather and suffered a long delay due to a jet dryer crash. After Daytona, seven of Fox’ 12 races saw a viewership decline. The race at Auto Club Speedway on March 24 saw the biggest year-over-year increase, with the rating up 24% and viewership up 30%. Last year’s race at ACS was shortened by rain and aired against the NCAA Men’s Basketball Regional Finals, whereas this year’s race was up against the first weekend of tourney coverage. Fox also saw a dip for its Memorial Day weekend race, with the rating for the Coca-Cola 600 down 2% and viewership down 4%. The net did finish on a positive note, with the rating for the race from Dover Int'l Speedway up 3% and viewership up 5%. Fox also saw a 5% decline in the male 18-34 demo this year, one season removed from a 20% drop.
| NASCAR SPRINT CUP SERIES AUDIENCE TREND ON FOX |
| YEAR | RACES | RATING | VIEWERS (000) |
| '13 | 13 | 4.8 | 7,800 |
| '12 | 13 | 4.8 | 7,900 |
| '11 | 13 | 5.0 | 8,600 |
| '10 | 11 | 4.8 | 7,836 |
| '09 | 12 | 5.1 | 8,680 |
| '08 | 12 | 5.7 | 9,325 |
| '07 | 12 | 5.6 | 9,307 |
| | | | |
| '13 NASCAR SPRINT CUP RACES ON FOX |
| DATE | TRACK | RATING | % +/- | VIEWERS (000) | % +/- |
| 2/24 | Daytona* | 9.9 | 23.8% | 16,700 | 22.2% |
| 3/3 | Phoenix | 5.6 | 0.0% | 9,100 | -1.4% |
| 3/10 | Las Vegas | 4.7 | -9.6% | 7,500 | -12.1% |
| 3/17 | Bristol | 4.6 | 4.5% | 7,500 | 2.6% |
| 3/24 | Auto Club | 4.7 | 23.7% | 8,000 | 30.0% |
| 4/7 | Martinsville | 4.4 | 2.3% | 6,900 | 1.0% |
| 4/13 | Texas | 3.8 | -5.0% | 6,269 | -7.3% |
| 4/21 | Kansas | 4.2 | -2.3% | 6,500 | -4.8% |
| 4/27 | Richmond | 3.7 | 2.8% | 6,067 | 2.6% |
| 5/5 | Talladega** | 4.6 | -9.8% | 7,300 | -12.0% |
| 5/11 | Darlington | 3.8 | 0.0% | 5,925 | -7.3% |
| 5/26 | Charlotte | 4.3 | -2.3% | 7,134 | -3.7% |
| 6/2 | Dover | 3.8 | 2.7% | 6,000 | 5.3% |
| | | | | | |
CHART NOTES: * = Daytona 500 was run on a Monday night last year due to weather, and then the race suffered a long delay due to a jet dryer crash. ** = Race had a 3.5 hour delay due to weather.
PARTY THEME: TNT earned a 2.8 U.S. rating and 4.358 million viewers for its first Sprint Cup race of the season this past Sunday afternoon at Pocono Raceway. The figures for the Party in the Poconos 400 are down 18% and 17%, respectively, from a 3.4 rating and 5.257 million viewers for the same race last year and marks TNT’s lowest audience for its first race of the NASCAR season under the current TV rights deal that began in ’07. Despite the drop, the race was still the fifth-best audience for any program on cable TV for the week of June 3-9.
| AUDIENCE TREND FOR TNT'S SEASON-OPENING POCONO SPRINT CUP RACE |
| YEAR | RATING | VIEWERS (000) |
| '13 | 2.8 | 4,358 |
| '12 | 3.4 | 5,257 |
| '11 | 3.2 | 5,175 |
| '10 | 3.1 | 5,097 |
| '09 | 3.4 | 5,480 |
| '08 | 3.9 | 6,098 |
| '07 | 3.6 | 4,968 |
