Sports Media Watch
New lows for the NASCAR race formerly known as the Firecracker 400, but numbers pretty good by modern-day standards. NASCAR topped a weekend full of playoff games:
https://t.co/o8NZlRk9u0NASCAR's second Daytona event in three weeks did well in the ratings despite hitting a record-low.
Last Saturday's NASCAR Cup Series race at Daytona averaged a 2.4 rating and 3.87 million viewers on NBC, marking the lowest rated edition of the race formerly known as the Firecracker 400 since at least 1997 and the least-watched since at least 2000 (excluding rainouts). Across all Daytona races, only the road race there two weeks earlier averaged a smaller audience (3.24M).
Ratings fell 11% and viewership 13% from 2018, the last time the race was run as scheduled (2.7, 4.44M). Last year's summer Daytona race was postponed from Saturday night to Sunday afternoon due to rain and averaged a 2.1 and 3.29 million.
The record low is no real surprise. Beyond a date change from July 4 weekend to late August set long before world events uprooted the sporting calendar the race had to contend with an unusually high level of competition.
William Byron's win aired opposite an NBA playoff game involving LeBron James (Blazers-Lakers: 1.8, 2.92M), a Stanley Cup playoff game (Flyers-Islanders: 0.51, 848K) and college football's season opener (Austin Peay-Central Arkansas: 0.33, 501K). It not only won the head-to-head, but finished as the weekend's most-watched sportscast on any network (albeit not in the key adults 18-49 demographic, where the NBA took the top five spots).
Notably, Daytona averaged a larger audience than every NBA and NHL game since those seasons restarted and all-but-one game of the shortened Major League Baseball season. The Yankees-Nationals season opener averaged 4.01 million.
Daytona ranks as the highest rated and most-watched auto race since the Brickyard 400 on July 4 weekend (2.7, 4.34M), topping the previous weekend's IndyCar Indianapolis 500 (2.3, 3.67M). For the season, it ranks ninth among NASCAR races, clocking in two spots ahead of the Daytona road race two weeks earlier (2.0, 3.24M).
