Fox’s broadcast of Sunday’s Dodge/Save Mart 350 Nextel Cup race at Infineon Raceway earned a 4.6 overnight rating from Nielsen Media Research and a 10 market share, Street & Smith’s Sports Business Daily reports. The rating is 4.2% lower than the 4.8 the race drew overnight in 2004, when it went on to earn a final 4.7/11.(NASCAR Scene Daily Newsletter)(6-27-2005)
UPDATE: Fox announced record-setting ratings for Cup events this year. Fox reported a 7% increase in ratings to a 6.0 from last season. Fox averaged 9.6 million viewers per race, about 600,000 more than last year. Seven races had record ratings this season: Daytona, California, Bristol, Talladega, Charlotte, Pocono and Sonoma.(News Record)(6-29-2005)
UPDATE 2: NASCAR concluded its first half of the season on Fox on June 26, with its race from Sonoma, Calif., producing a 5.7 national household rating, up 21% over the same race last year. The figure assures a new record household rating –a 6.0– for this year’s 13 races on Fox and a record average number of viewers, at 9.6 million. In announcing the Nielsen Media Research data results, Fox crowed that its broadcast of NASCAR is the first major professional sports TV package to post a regular season household ratings record since Monday Night Football on ABC in 1981.
During the Fox portion of this season (NBC/Turner begin airing Nascar second-half races this coming weekend), there were seven races that recorded record-high household ratings. Ratings in the Top 10 markets were up 9% over 2004 (3.8 vs. 3.5). Among the markets showing the biggest ratings increases were Dallas (up 27% to a 6.1), San Francisco (up 24% to a 2.6), Boston (up 23% to a 3.7), Atlanta (up 14% to an 11.2), and Chicago (up 13% to a 3.5). Fox also said that its regular-season Nascar races topped the complete NBA postseason telecasts on ABC, besting the NBA Finals in average viewership (9.6 million to 8.3 million) and in household rating (6.0 vs. 5.5). The ratings gains were not perfect, however, with some of the younger demos on the NASCAR telecasts down in the single-digits.(Mediaweek)(6-30-2005)
