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Daytona 500 on FOX scores more than 23 million total viewers

by Mike Haag | Posted on Monday, February 27th, 2017

The Air Force Thunderbirds perform a flyover prior to the 59th Annual DAYTONA 500 at Daytona International Speedway on February 26, 2017 in Daytona Beach, Florida. (Photo by Jonathan Ferrey/Getty Images)

 

Charlotte, N.C. – With a thrilling, last-lap pass in the first MONSTER ENERGY NASCAR CUP SERIES race to feature the new stage format, 2004 NASCAR premier series champion Kurt Busch won Sunday’s season-opening DAYTONA 500 on FOX, with 23.3 million viewers tuning in for all or part of the event. An average audience of 12 million watched the race across the FOX broadcast network, FOX Deportes and FOX Sports GO, including 11.92 million on FOX alone.

Key 2017 DAYTONA 500 highlights are below:

  • The race averaged 11.922 million viewers on FOX, up +5% over 2016’s average audience of 11.357 million, peaking at 14.031 million viewers from 6:15-6:30 PM ET
  • The DAYTONA 500 scored a 6.6/15 HH rating, which is flat overall compared to the 2016 edition but delivers positive gains across key male and adult demographics:
Demographic Year-Over-Year HH Rating vs 2016
Men 18-34 +10% 2.2 vs 2.0 (ties a four-year high)
Men 18-49 +9% 3.7 vs 3.4
Men 25-54 +4% 5.2 vs 5.0
Adults 18-34 +13% 1.8 vs 1.6 (ties a four-year high)
Adults 18-49 +4% 2.8 vs 2.7
Adults 25-54 +3% 3.9 vs 3.8

 

  • The race projects to rank as the highest-rated and most-watched sports event of the weekend and the highest-rated and most-watched sports event since the Feb. 5 Super Bowl on FOX
  • The DAYTONA 500 projects to rank as FOX’s highest-rated and most-watched telecast of any kind since Super Bowl Sunday
  • The race continues to remain the No. 1 motor sports event in television
  • Top-Five Markets: Core NASCAR markets led the way with Greensboro, N.C., finishing first with a 17.5/31, followed by Greenville, S.C. (16.5/28), Indianapolis (14.4/26), Knoxville, Tenn. (12.7/22) and Jacksonville, Fla. (12.4/22). Markets that experienced the largest year-over-year increases include Austin, Texas (+111%), San Diego (+74%), Oklahoma City (+49%) and Norfolk, Va. (+47%). Yesterday’s race also saw significant gains in America’s biggest markets, including Chicago (+18%), Philadelphia (+32%), Washington, D.C. (+18%) and Atlanta (+20%).

FOX SPORTS GO: FOX Sports GO delivered an average minute audience of 39,832, up +99% over last year’s 20,008, marking the best performance ever for a NASCAR event on FOX Sports GO.

SOCIAL: The DAYTONA 500 was the second-most talked-about event on social media Sunday, trailing only the Academy Awards, with 443,000 people posting about the race on Twitter or Facebook.  Two million people posted or engaged socially regarding the DAYTONA 500.

FOXSPORTS.COM: NASCAR was the most popular section on FOXSports.com on Sunday, with 450,000 people visiting the section.  One in three visitors to FOXSports.com consumed NASCAR content on Sunday, while users averaged 9.2 minutes on the site.

FOX Sports’ coverage of the 2017 MONSTER ENERGY NASCAR CUP SERIES continues this weekend at Atlanta Motor Speedway, with live race coverage on FOX at 2:30 PM ET and pre-race coverage beginning at 2:00 PM ET on FOX NASCAR SUNDAY.  For more FOX NASCAR information, please visit FOX SPORTS PRESS PASS.

Courtesy of FOX Sports

About the Author

Mike Haag has covered motorsports in San Antonio and South Texas for more than 35 years. In addition to covering motorsports for the San Antonio Express-News for nearly 28 years, Mike also has co-hosted TrackSmack with Dawn Murphy for 18 race seasons. In addition to being a writer, Mike taught high school English and Journalism for 30 years before retiring in May, 2020.