Fox earned 11.4 million viewers Sunday for Denny Hamlin's win over Martin Truex Jr. in the Daytona 500, the closest finish in the history of the race. That number is down 15% from 13.4 million viewers last year for Joey Logano's win, but up from 9.3 million in '14 for Dale Earnhardt Jr.'s win in the rain-delayed event. Sunday's race marked the most-watched sports event of the weekend and also was the most-watched such event since Super Bowl 50. Digitally speaking, Fox Sports Go averaged 17,735 viewers per minute, which is up 51% over last year's event. Meanwhile, FS1 finished with 2.548 million viewers for NASCAR’s Can-Am Duels at Daytona last Thursday night, down 16% from 3.018 million viewers last year and down 18% from 3.122 million viewers in ’14 (Josh Carpenter, Assistant Editor).
|
DAYTONA 500 AUDIENCE TREND
|
|
YEAR
|
NET
|
RAT.
|
VIEWERS (000)
|
WINNER
|
|
'16
|
Fox
|
6.6
|
11,400
|
Denny Hamlin
|
|
'15
|
Fox
|
7.7
|
13,363
|
Joey Logano
|
|
'14*
|
Fox
|
5.6
|
9,300
|
Dale Earnhardt, Jr.
|
|
'13
|
Fox
|
9.9
|
16,700
|
Jimmie Johnson
|
|
'12^
|
Fox
|
8.0
|
13,700
|
Matt Kenseth
|
|
'11
|
Fox
|
8.7
|
15,597
|
Trevor Bayne
|
|
'10#
|
Fox
|
7.7
|
13,294
|
Jamie McMurray
|
|
'09
|
Fox
|
9.2
|
15,958
|
Matt Kenseth
|
|
'08
|
Fox
|
10.2
|
17,800
|
Ryan Newman
|
|
'07
|
Fox
|
10.1
|
17,530
|
Kevin Harvick
|
|
'06
|
NBC
|
11.3
|
19,355
|
Jimmie Johnson
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
CHART NOTES: * = Record-setting six-hour, 22-minute delay. Race ended at 11:23pm ET. ^ = Rained out on Sunday. Monday night telecast had two-hour delay due to exploding track dryer. # = Two-hour delay due to potholes in track.
| TELECAST |
DATE |
NET |
TIME (ET) |
RAT. |
VIEWERS (000) |
| NASCAR Sprint Cup Series: Daytona 500 |
21-Feb |
Fox |
1:30-5:00pm |
6.6 |
11,400 |
| NASCAR RaceDay |
21-Feb |
Fox |
12:00-1:30pm |
3.2 |
5,290 |
| PGA Tour: Northern Trust Open: Final Round |
21-Feb |
CBS |
3:15-6:45pm |
2.3 |
3,614 |
| NBA: Warriors-Clippers |
20-Feb |
ABC |
8:33-11:07pm |
2.2 |
3,472 |
| NBA: Cavaliers-Thunder |
21-Feb |
ABC |
3:30-6:00pm |
2.2 |
2,607 |
| College basketball: Duke-North Carolina |
17-Feb |
ESPN |
9:07-11:06pm |
1.8 |
2,863 |
| NASCAR Sprint Cup Series: Can-Am Duels at Daytona |
18-Feb |
FS1 |
7:00-9:53pm |
1.6 |
2,548 |
| NASCAR Xfinity Series: PowerShares QQQ 300 (Daytona) |
20-Feb |
FS1 |
3:30-5:51pm |
n/a |
2,120 |
| College basketball: Kentucky-Texas A&M |
20-Feb |
ESPN |
6:30-8:58pm |
n/a |
1,995 |
| Bellator 149 |
19-Feb |
Spike |
9:00pm-12:04am |
n/a |
1,964 |
| PGA Tour: Northern Trust Open: Third Round |
20-Feb |
CBS |
3:15-6:00pm |
1.3 |
1,915 |
| NBA: Bulls-Cavaliers |
18-Feb |
TNT |
8:14-10:41pm |
n/a |
1,909 |
| NHL: Blackhawks-Wild (Stadium Series) |
21-Feb |
NBC |
3:30-6:15pm |
1.1 |
1,900 |
| College basketball: Michigan-Maryland |
21-Feb |
CBS |
1:00-3:15pm |
1.2 |
1,800 |
| NBA: Spurs-Clippers |
18-Feb |
TNT |
10:41pm-1:07am |
n/a |
1,729 |
| "NBA Countdown" |
20-Feb |
ABC |
8:00-8:33pm |
1.1 |
1,674 |
| NBA: Lakers-Bulls |
21-Feb |
ESPN |
7:59-10:34pm |
n/a |
1,645 |
| College basketball: Duke-Louisville |
20-Feb |
ESPN |
12:00-2:09pm |
n/a |
1,559 |
| NASCAR Camping World Truck Series: NextEra Energy Resources 250 |
19-Feb |
FS1 |
7:31-10:26pm |
n/a |
1,435 |
| PBR: K.C. Invitational |
21-Feb |
CBS |
12:00-1:00pm |
1 |
1,376 |
| Liga MX: Club America-Cruz Azul |
20-Feb |
Univision |
5:55-8:05pm |
0.7 |
1,322 |
| College basketball: Miami-North Carolina |
20-Feb |
CBS |
1:00-3:15pm |
0.8 |
1,181 |
| "NBA Countdown" |
21-Feb |
ABC |
3:00-3:30pm |
0.8 |
1,128 |
| Four Continents Figure Skating Championships (taped) |
20-Feb |
NBC |
4:00-6:00pm |
0.8 |
1,100 |
| "Jeff Gordon's Daytona Kick-Off Celebration" |
20-Feb |
Fox |
9:00-10:00pm |
0.7 |
1,076 |
| NHL: Penguins-Sabres |
21-Feb |
NBC |
12:45-3:15pm |
0.7 |
1,000 |
| "Hockey Day In America" |
21-Feb |
NBC |
12:00-12:45pm |
0.6 |
863 |
| Skating & Gymnastics Spectacular (taped) |
20-Feb |
ABC |
3:00-5:00pm |
0.6 |
842 |
| College basketball: Butler-Villanova |
20-Feb |
Fox |
2:30-4:45pm |
0.5 |
722 |
| "World of X Games: Real Ski 2016" |
20-Feb |
ABC |
2:00-3:00pm |
0.5 |
680 |
| "Inside College Basketball" |
20-Feb |
CBS |
12:30-1:00pm |
0.4 |
637 |
| FIS World Cup: Women's Downhill (taped) |
20-Feb |
NBC |
3:00-4:00pm |
0.4 |
594 |
| College basketball: Xavier-Georgetown |
20-Feb |
Fox |
12:00-2:15pm |
0.3 |
503 |
| NASCAR special: "18 Rising" |
20-Feb |
NBC |
2:00-3:00pm |
0.3 |
500 |
| "College Hoops Tipoff" |
20-Feb |
Fox |
11:30am-12:00pm |
0.3 |
479 |
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