or


[02/24/14 - 01:58 PM]
Longest Weather Delay in Daytona 500 History Can't Dampen FOX Sports & FOX Sports 1's Speedweeks Coverage
FOX Sports spins the numbers for Sunday, February 23.

[via press release from FOX Sports]

LONGEST WEATHER DELAY IN DAYTONA 500 HISTORY CAN'T DAMPEN FOX SPORTS & FOX SPORTS 1'S SPEEDWEEKS COVERAGE

SPRINT UNLIMITED and BUDWEISER DUEL AT DAYTONA Now Rank No. 1 & No. 2 on FOX Sports 1 Viewership List

FOX SPORTS LIVE Also Reaches New High Water Mark

Daytona 500 Race Day is Most Mobile & Most Social Ever

Daytona Beach, FL - Speedweeks at Daytona International Speedway annually marks the beginning of a new NASCAR season, and what a beginning it was for FOX Sports' coverage of America's most-watched motorsport.

NASCAR's SPRINT UNLIMITED in prime time on Saturday Feb. 15 averaged 3,526,000 viewers, making it the most-watched program on FOX Sports 1 since launch, easily surpassing FOX Sports 1's previous audience record of 2,179,000 for the Oregon State-Oregon college football game on 11/29/13. The event helped drive FOX Sports 1 to a record-setting day, according to audience information issued by Nielsen. On a total day, 6:00 AM-6:00 AM basis, the channel averaged 964,000 viewers, smashing the previous total day record (522,000 on 10/19/13) by 85%.

On Thursday, Feb. 20, the BUDWEISER DUEL AT DAYTONA, the twin races that determine most of the starting order for the DAYTONA 500, averaged 3.122 million viewers, making it the second most-watched program on FOX Sports 1 since launch behind Saturday's SPRINT UNLIMITED, and it is the most-watched NASCAR "Duel" event since 2000 (4.296 million on CBS).

Directly following the BUDWEISER DUEL AT DAYTONA, FOX SPORTS LIVE, FOX Sports 1's nightly news, highlights and analysis program, set a new audience mark, attracting 2.272 million viewers, obliterating by 335% its previous record of 522,000 viewers set following the Oregon-Oregon State football game on 11/29/13. In so doing, it is now the third most-watched telecast in FOX Sports 1 history. Powered by the channel's second and third most-watched programs ever, Thursday brought about FOX Sports 1's second highest total day on a 6:00 AM-3:00 AM basis, with 626,000 viewers, behind only the new record set on Saturday, Feb. 15 (964,000).

Yesterday's 56th running of the DAYTONA 500, the second won by Dale Earnhardt Jr., annually voted by fans as NASCAR'S most popular driver, was clearly impacted by an historic weather delay that included torrential rain and tornado warnings for local areas. Despite starting on time, the race experienced an unprecedented six hour, 22-minute weather delay with only 38 laps run at 2:17 PM ET that pushed it well out of its normal running window. The race resumed at 8:25, finding itself in direct competition with the Closing Ceremony of the Olympic Winter Games, which seems to have also been impacted by the competition.

Remarkably, NASCAR's famously loyal fans stayed tuned to FOX throughout the marathon rain delay. The network's nearly five hours of rain-delay coverage averaged a 4.0/8 in the metered markets, which easily beat head-to-head competition from a live NBA doubleheader on ABC (+54% vs. 2.6/6) and was competitive with Winter Olympics afternoon coverage on NBC (4.4/9 from 2-6 PM). Just as impressive, FOX was able to hold 69% of its pre-rain delay audience throughout the long interruption.

As a result, the 2014 DAYTONA 500 posted a 5.6/10 fast national household rating/share, averaging 9.3 million viewers. The last Daytona 500 to face Olympics' competition came in 2010, and that race posted a 7.7/16, with 13.3 million viewers. Due to the extensive rain delay, yesterday's race was broken out into two parts: from 1:30-2:17 PM ET the race averaged a 6.3/15 with 10.1 million viewers and 5.5/9 with 9.1 million viewers from 8:25-11:23 PM ET. Last night's prime time portion of the race opened with a 4.6/7 with 7.7 million viewers. It grew steadily throughout the evening and peaked at a 6.7/12 with 10.9 million viewers from 11-11:23 PM ET as Earnhardt Jr. took the checkered flag. In total, 23.7 million viewers watched all or part of the race.

The top five ranked markets are: Greensboro (17.5/26), Orlando (13.2/21), Greenville (13.0/20), Richmond (12.0/18) and Jacksonville (11.8/18).

NBC's coverage of the Closing Ceremony of the Sochi Olympic Winter Games, which aired directly opposite FOX's prime time portion of the Daytona 500, averaged a 9.6/14 among the metered markets, down 32% from 2010 (14.1/21).

For the first time ever, the Daytona 500 was live-streamed on digital platforms and brought in significant traffic from social media, making it the most mobile and most social of all time.

Yesterday, the NASCAR area on FOXSports.com was the No. 1 section on FOXSports.com based on total minutes spent with any sport, and was No. 1 in unique visitors among its organic (Non-MSN) audience. Putting football content aside, the 2014 Daytona 500 was the best authenticated live stream event ever on FOX Sports GO. Fans spent an average of one hour and five minutes watching the race on digital platforms. Mobile visits to the NASCAR section on FOXSports.com increased 24% versus last year, accounting for 30% of total NASCAR traffic. Last year, mobile made up less than 14% of total visits.

On the social media front, NASCAR referrals from social media sources increased 431% versus race day last year, making this the most social Daytona 500 of all time for FOXSports.com. Total Tweets about the Daytona 500 from 10:00 AM ET to 2:00 AM ET exceeded 623,000, up 26% versus last year.





  [february 2014]  
S
M
T
W
T
F
S
      


· SHOWATCH
(series past and present)
· DEVWATCH
(series in development)
· MOVIEWATCH
(tv movies and mini-series)





most recent ratings | view all posts
[07/08/25 - 12:01 PM]
Netflix Top 10 Week of June 30: "Squid Game" Season 3 Leads Top 10 Globally, Climbs to No. 3 on Most Popular
Plus: "The Waterfront" maintained its Top 10 empire as the No. 1 English show in its third week with 5.6 million views.

[07/03/25 - 02:33 PM]
ABC News Same-Day Primetime Special "Verdict: The Diddy Trial" Is No. 1 in Adults 18-49 and Adults 25-54
Versus the competition in the time period, "Verdict: The Diddy Trial" outperformed NBC by +40% in Adults 18-49 (212,000 vs. 151,000) and +22% in Adults 25-54.

[07/02/25 - 06:44 PM]
Tyler Perry's "Divorced Sistas" Quickly Rises to Become BET+'s Most Watched Original Series in Platform History
Just halfway through the eight-episode season, existing subscribers and new fans of the show have boosted the drama series to the most-watched series premiere on BET+ in just three weeks.

[07/02/25 - 02:38 PM]
Hallmark Channel Earns #1 Most-Watched Network on Weekends Throughout June with "Passport to Love" Programming Event
"Passport to Love" helped elevate Hallmark Channel to be the #1 most-watched network on weekends throughout the month of June.

[07/01/25 - 12:01 PM]
Top 10 Week of June 23: "Squid Game" Season 3 Takes Over with Record-Breaking Global Debut at No. 1
"The Waterfront" was a Top 10 hit once more as the No. 1 series on the English TV list (11.6 million views).

[07/01/25 - 10:26 AM]
ESPN Formula 1 Viewership Notes After Austrian Grand Prix
ESPN's live telecast on Sunday, June 29, averaged 1.1 million viewers, a two percent gain over last year's race and the largest audience ever for the event on U.S. television.

[07/01/25 - 09:16 AM]
ESPN's "Sunday Night Baseball" Featuring the Minnesota Twins vs. Detroit Tigers Averaged 2 Million Viewers - Up 66% from Last Year's Comparable Game
The audience peaked with 2,304,000 viewers in the 9:15 p.m. ET quarter hour.

[06/27/25 - 02:29 PM]
"Live with Kelly and Mark" Gears Up for Summer Rising Week to Week in All Key Measures
Wednesday, June 11, was the most-viewed day of the week among Total Viewers (2.164 million).

[06/27/25 - 10:31 AM]
"Jimmy Kimmel Live" Tops Late-Night in Adults 18-49 for Third Week in a Row
Winning three of five nights in Kimmel's final week before summer guest hosts, Thursday, June 19, was the show's strongest night among Adults 18-49 (0.35 rating).

[06/25/25 - 11:55 AM]
Prime Video Finishes Groundbreaking First Season of Exclusive NASCAR Coverage
According to Nielsen, NASCAR on Prime posted a season average of 2.16 million viewers (AMA P2+) across five events, and attracted droves of younger viewers to its live coverage.

[06/25/25 - 07:58 AM]
ABC News Primetime Special "Karen Read: The Verdict - A Special Edition of 20/20" Ranks #1 Across All of Broadcast and Cable in Adults 18-49
Plus: "Karen Read: The Verdict" placed No. 1 based on views among all titles on Hulu on Thursday (6/19), Friday (6/20) and Saturday (6/21).

[06/24/25 - 03:03 PM]
ABC News' "Nightline" Ranks No. 1 in All Key Target Demos 18-49 vs. CBS' "After Midnight" and NBC's "Late Night with Seth Meyers" for 2nd Consecutive Week, and Claims Top Spot in Total Viewers for the 5th Straight Week
On Monday (6/16/25), "Nightline" scored its most-watched telecast (1.112 million) in 5 months.

[06/24/25 - 12:01 PM]
Netflix Top 10 Week of June 16: "Tyler Perry's Straw" Leads Top 10 for Third Week, "The Waterfront" Swims to No. 1
Plus: "Ginny & Georgia" Season 3 racked up another 8.1 million views and felt peachy keen at No. 2, while Season 2 landed at No. 8 and Season 1 at No. 10, with an additional 2.7 million views each.

[06/24/25 - 08:42 AM]
Third Most-Watched WNBA Game Ever on ESPN: Indiana Fever vs Las Vegas Aces Averaged 1.7 Million Viewers, Up 52% from Last Year's ESPN Average
Said coverage peaked at 2.2 million viewers.

[06/23/25 - 12:09 PM]
Indiana Pacers vs. Oklahoma City Thunder Game 7 on ABC and ESPN+ Is Most-Watched NBA Finals Game in Six Years
The seven-game series averaged 10,266,000 viewers and delivered the seven most-watched broadcasts on all of television since the first week of May.