Richmond Ratings: FX’ live coverage of last Saturday and Sunday’ Pontiac Excitement 400 from Richmond drew the 3rd largest audience of any program in the network’ history, delivering a 4.1 household rating, 3.1 million homes, and 4.9 million viewers. The race marked a 20% increase in households and a 7% jump in total viewers compared to FX’ Richmond Winston Cup race last season. The Pontiac Excitement 400 posted the largest audience of any live sports telecast on cable television for the week ending May 5, topping NBA playoff coverage on TNT and TBS; Major League Baseball on ESPN, TBS, and WGN; the NHL on ESPN and ESPN2; the Kentucky Derby coverage on ESPN; and NHRA drag racing on ESPN2. Saturday’ scheduled coverage started 2 hours and 10 minutes late due to rain in which FX posted a 2.9 HH rating, or 2.2 million homes. Both the 66-lap telecast on Saturday and the completed race on Sunday averaged a 4.1 HH rating and 3.1 millions households. Fueled by the two-day coverage of the Pontiac Excitement 400, FX also set a record for the 2nd highest-rated and 2nd most-watched weekend for total day in the network’ history, averaging a 1.25 HH rating, 1 million homes and 1.4 million viewers for the two days. Additionally, FX was the highest-rated basic cable network in total day for the weekend (5/4/02-5/5/02) among Adults 18-49 (0.8 HH), Men 18-49 (1.0 HH), Adults 25-54 (1.0 HH), and M25-54 (1.2 HH). On Friday, May 3, FX’ telecast of the Busch Series race from Richmond posted a 1.7 HH rating, which is a 45% increase compared to the same race a year ago. Season-to-date, Busch Series races on FX are averaging a 1.7 HH rating, up 21% from the 1.4 HH rating through the equal five Busch races of 2001. (MotorsportsTV.com via an FX Press Release)(5-13-2002)
