Fox NASCAR

Fox Finishes NASCAR Sprint Cup Telecasts With Avg. Rating Down 4% From '11

By Austin Karp, Assistant Managing Editor

Published June 12, 2012

Fox averaged a 4.8 final Nielsen rating and 7.9 million viewers for its 13 NASCAR Sprint Cup Series telecasts this season, down 4% and 8%, respectively, from a 5.0 rating and 8.6 million viewers last season. The rating for the telecasts this season is also flat with ’10, while viewership was up slightly from 7.8 million viewers. The net averaged a 1.4 rating among males 18-34, down from a 1.8 last year and a 1.5 rating in ’10. Fox got off to an unusual start, when the Daytona 500 was rained out on its scheduled Sunday for the first time ever. The race moved to primetime the following Monday, which saw the series’ signature race suffer a two-hour delay after a jet dryer accident on the track. The rating for the telecast was off 8% from the ’11 figure. Only two of Fox’ races -- Bristol on March 18 and Kansas on April 22 -- saw year-over-year gains compared to the same race last year. While Fox’ Coca-Cola 600 on Memorial Day weekend was down from last year, it topped the Indianapolis 500 for the third straight year. The last time the Indy 500 out-rated the Coca-Cola 600 when rain was not a factor was in ’05. Listed below are race-by-race ratings and viewership for Fox’ slate of Sprint Cup races this season, with comparisons to how the respective tracks did last season.

NASCAR SPRINT CUP SERIES AUDIENCE TREND ON FOX
SEASON	TELECASTS	RATING	VIEWERS (000)
'12	13	4.8	7,900
'11	13	5.0	8,600
'10	11	4.8	7,836
'09	12	5.1	8,680
'08	12	5.7	9,325
'07	12	5.6	9,307

'12 NASCAR SPRINT CUP SERIES ON FOX
DATE	DAY	TRACK	RAT.	% +/-	VIEWERS (000)	% +/-
2/27	Mon.	Daytona*	8.0	-8.0%	13,669	-12.4%
3/4	Sun.	Phoenix	5.6	-5.1%	9,230	-10.8%
3/11	Sun.	Las Vegas	5.2	-11.9%	8,528	-15.4%
3/18	Sun.	Bristol	4.4	2.3%	7,307	0.9%
3/25	Sun.	Auto Club	3.8	-17.4%	6,153	-23.8%
4/1	Sun.	Martinsville	4.3	-2.3%	6,835	-5.5%
4/14	Sat.	Texas	4.0	0.0%	6,766	-3.8%
4/22	Sun.	Kansas	4.3	10.3%	6,830	8.4%
4/28	Sat.	Richmond	3.6	-2.7%	5,914	-3.6%
5/6	Sun.	Talladega	5.1	-1.9%	8,300	-8.2%
5/12	Sat.	Darlington	3.8	-7.3%	6,393	-8.4%
5/27	Sun.	Charlotte	4.4	-2.2%	7,405	-8.9%
6/3	Sun.	Dover	3.7	-15.9%	5,700	-22.9%

NOTE: * = Race run on Monday in primetime for first time.