Fox’s impromptu primetime coverage of a rain-delayed Daytona 500 rained on everyone else’s parade, driving almost every rival down in viewership. What’s more, by averaging 14.24 million total viewers and a 4.5 demo rating, Fox’s NASCAR coverage about doubled its typical House/Alcatraz numbers and thus led the network to a rare Monday win on both counts (tvline.com)
AND Fox earned a 7.7 overnight Nielsen rating for the NASCAR Sprint Cup Daytona 500’s debut in primetime, which saw Matt Kenseth take the checkered flag. That figure is down 6% from an 8.2 overnight for Trevor Bayne’s win last year, which aired on a Sunday afternoon (Sports Business Daily).
AND II: Fox carried special coverage of the Daytona 500, which was delayed from Sunday by rain, and it averaged a 4.5 adults 18-49 rating and 11 share from 8 to 11 p.m., according to Nielsen overnights, just ahead of NBC’s 4.4/11. But the Daytona 500 was not the night’s top show. That honor once again went to NBC’s ‘The Voice,’ which averaged a 5.4 from 8 to 10 p.m., down 7 percent from the previous week but once again dominating its timeslot. Ratings for Fox’s NASCAR coverage are approximate as fast nationals measure timeslot and not actual program data. Fox also finished first for the night among households with an 8.1 average overnight rating and a 12 share. NBC was second at 7.3/11, CBS third at 6.3/10, ABC fourth at 5.6/9, Univision fifth at 1.8/3, CW sixth at 0.9/1 and Telemundo seventh at 0.7/1.(Media Life Magazine)
UPDATE The 54th DAYTONA 500, a race with fire, rain, and everything but the brimstone, earned a 7.7/13 in the metered markets last night on FOX. The race was interrupted for roughly two hours by a bizarre incident in which Juan Pablo Montoya crashed into a jet dryer under caution, causing an on-track explosion and fire. In keeping with Nielsen policy FOX is able to exclude most of the delay from the race rating, just as we would for a baseball rain delay. Last night’s 7.7/13 is an average of the 7.8/12 FOX averaged from 7:15-10:30pm and the 7.3/17 that was earned from Midnight to 1am. The excluded portion averaged a 7.3/13 from 10:30pm-Midnight.
– Last night’s 7.7/13 is off -6% compared to last year’s 8.2/18, which ran without interruption on a Sunday afternoon. It’s also +10% better than 2010’s 7.0/14 for the infamous ‘pothole 500’ which was delayed twice for track repair. Prior to last night’s red-flag delay the primetime race was actually pacing very slightly ahead of last year. Last night’s race averaged a 7.8/12 from 7:15-10:30pm compared to a 7.7/17 for the comparable duration last year.
A total audience of over 36.5 million Americans watched last night’s race, according to fast national ratings issued today by Nielsen Media Research, making 2012 Daytona 500 the most-watched in FOX history. The 36.5 million total viewers, a measure of the audience that saw at least a portion of the race, is +22% higher than last year’s total audience of 30 million and +22% better than 2010’s 29.8 million. Yesterday’s total audience is the second best ever for a Daytona 500 on any network behind 37.0 million viewers in 2006 on NBC.(Fox)(2-28-2012)
