The holiday weekend continued to make for less-than-scintillating TV ratings Sunday, as FOX walked away with a win thanks to its NASCAR coverageof the Coca Cola 600 at Lowe’s Motor Speedway. FOX averaged a 6.0 rating/12 share for the night (although, since its race telecast aired live, those numbers will change some in the final nationals) to beat second-place CBS’ 5.6/11. ABC was third at 4.2/8, edging out NBC, 4.0/8. The WB barely registered with a 0.9/2. Coverage of the NASCAR Coca-Cola 600 put FOX on the pole at 7 p.m. with a 6.0/13. FOX held its lead at 8 p.m., even though its rating dipped slightly to 5.7/11. The NASCAR race closed with a 6.3/12 at 9 p.m.(Zap2It.com)
AND The NASCAR race drew a 4.8 rating and 10 share.(Indianapolis Star)
Indy 500: ABC’s Indianapolis 500 broadcast on Sunday drew a 6.6 overnight rating and a 17 share, up 40% from last year and the highest since 1997. Danica Patrick, who became the first woman to hold the lead at the Indy 500, led several of the final laps before settling for fourth. The ratings during the last 15 minutes of the race spiked to 8.8/21. Last year’s race, won by Patrick’s Rahal-Letterman teammate Buddy Rice, drew a 4.7/11. Arie Luyendyk’s victory in the 1997 race, which finished on a Tuesday because of rain, drew a 7.6/19. Each overnight rating point represents about 735,000 TV homes.(Philadelphia Daily News)
Coca-Cola 600: hearing the race pulled in a 5.1/10 overnight for Fox’s coverage of the Coca Cola 600 at Lowe’s Motor Speedway, that’s up +13% over last year’s 4.5/9.(5-31-2005)
AND more: Overnight ratings for Fox’s broadcast of Sunday night’s Coca-Cola 600 at Lowe’s Motor Speedway were up more than reported yesterday. The actual Nielsen Media Research overnight rating was a 5.1, with a 10 market share, a 13.3% increase from the 4.5 overnight figure in 2004.(NASCAR Scene Daily Newsletter)(6-1-2005)
