NASCAR Sprint Cup racing from Phoenix drew a 3.6 overnight rating on FOX Sunday afternoon, down 5% from last year (3.8), and down 25% from 2014, when the race was the second of the season (4.8). The 3.6 overnight is the lowest for NASCAR from Phoenix since 2010, the last time it aired on a Saturday night (3.4). The six-year low continued a season-long trend for NASCAR. Las Vegas tied its lowest overnight since moving to FOX in 2001, Atlanta earned the lowest overnight since 2000 for the second race of the season, and the Daytona 500 had its second-lowest overnight since live start-to-finish coverage began in 1979. After overnights dropped by double-digits at Daytona (-16%) and Atlanta (-27%), Sunday’s race was the second straight to drop by only five percent. While a decline is still a decline, the single-digit slide marks a noticeable improvement. For the weekend, NASCAR on FOX trailed only the NCAA Selection Show (3.7) among sports programs. It will almost certainly come out ahead when the final numbers are released.(Sports Media Watch / ShowBuzz Daily)(3-15-2016)
UPDATE: NASCAR Sprint Cup racing from Phoenix drew a 4.0 final rating and 6.6 million viewers on FOX Sunday afternoon, down a tick in ratings and 5% in viewership from last year (4.1, 7.0M) and down 25% in both measures from 2014, when it was the second race of the season (5.3, 8.8M). Kevin Harvick’s win ranks as the lowest rated and least-watched Sprint Cup race from Phoenix since 2010 – the last time the race took place on a Saturday night (3.7, 6.0M).(Sports Media Watch / Sports Business Daily), see race-by-race TV Ratings for 2016 and a comparison chart on the 2016 TV Ratings page.
