UPDATE: 2-23-2018 With today’s inclusion of Nielsen Media Research out-of-home viewing data, Sunday’s Daytona 500 on FOX averaged 9,781,000 across all platforms, peaking at more than 11.5 million viewers. According to Nielsen, more than 18.1 million viewers watched all or part of the Great American Race.
The Daytona 500, with Austin Dillon scoring a dramatic victory in the iconic No. 3 and newcomer Darrell “Bubba” Wallace Jr. crossing the line second in Richard Petty’s celebrated No. 43, was the highest rated and most-viewed FOX telecast of any kind since the NFC Championship Game in January, and remains the most-watched motor sports event on television.
Out-of-home data inclusion provided a 7.4% lift in the coveted 18-34 demo, the highest percentage increase of any demo.
Race coverage garnered an average-minute audience of 51,004 for the livestream telecast on FOX Sports GO and FOX Now, up 28% over last year’s 39,832, making it the best-performing NASCAR event in FOX Sports GO history.
With more than 700,000 total interactions across Facebook, Twitter and Instagram for the week of Feb. 13-19, FOX Sports enjoyed 44% year-to year social media growth from 2017’s 499,000.
Finishing with a Nielsen Rating of 5.3/12, top television markets for the race included Greensboro (15.1/27), Greenville (14.3/24), Indianapolis (12.2/22), Charlotte (10.7/21) and Knoxville (10.2/18).
— Fox Sports —
Original posts: 2-19-2018:
.@FOXTV's rating from yesterday's #Daytona500 ticked up from a 5.1 overnight to a 5.3 fast national.
— Fox earned 9.3M viewers; 9.355M if including digital streams. That should tie '14 viewership when Sochi @Olympics were on.
— @NBA All-Star Game got 7.65M between TNT and TBS.
— Adam Stern (@A_S12) February 19, 2018
.@FOXTV earned a 5.1 overnight rating for yesterday's #Daytona500, won by @austindillon3. That's off from a 6.5 for last year's race, which ran a week later and not during the @Olympics.
[📸: Sean Gardner & @tiltoncreative/@GettyImages] pic.twitter.com/s4sNNhix6P
— Adam Stern (@A_S12) February 19, 2018