Saturday’s Cup race in Daytona was presented in a way that some fans have been clamoring for: the racing portion of the broadcast not being interrupted with traditional commercials, but instead with side-by-side commercials. (This did not apply to times during cautions, such as in-between stages; just when the cars were on track racing during green flags.) Executed this way, NBC managed to squeeze in a few more commercials than usual for a broadcast of three-and-a-half hours; but the on-track action was not stopped to go to commercials. It is up to the fans whether this was a successful endeavor. For those who like to know precisely how many ads of both types were shown and when, and how much time they took during the broadcast, here is this week’s breakdown.
Race and Commercial Breakdown of the 2024 Coke Zero Sugar 400
Start time to record race/commercial periods: 7:32 PM
End time to record race/commercial periods: 11:02 PM
Total minutes of complete race broadcast: 210
Minutes of race broadcast: 179
Minutes of traditional commercials: 31
Minutes of side-by-side commercials: 23
Total number of commercials: 135
Total number of companies or entities advertised: 64
Total number of traditional commercials (not split-screen): 82
Total number of companies or entities advertised: 47
Total number of ‘Side-by-Side’ commercials during the broadcast (split-screen): 53
Total number of companies or entities advertised: 40
Number of times NBC utilized ‘Side-by-Side’ commercials during the broadcast: 8
Companies seen the most in commercials during this broadcast: Toyota (7 times); WPXI – local PA news (6 times); Xfinity (5 times)