NASCAR Daytona 500 ratings not only came in at a three-year high, but they also beat the NBA’s vaunted All-Star Game and the Olympics closing ceremonies for the number of viewers.
Sunday’s NASCAR Daytona 500 netted a 4.7 average rating with 8.87 million viewers on FOX, making it the most-watched Daytona 500 since 2019 (5.3, 9.17M), according to Sports Media Watch.
“Ratings jumped 68% and viewership 81% from last year’s all-time lows of 2.8 and 4.91 million and 7% and 21% respectively from two years ago (4.4, 7.33M). Keep in mind both of those races were severely affected by rain, the former finishing after Midnight ET (the latest ending in 500 history) and the latter primarily run on a Monday,” the site added.
Still, that is an 11 percent drop over the ratings from 2019.
However, the Daytona 500 has been seeing relative declines in viewership for the last five years, this year’s numbers still eclipsed the NBA’s once-popular All-Star Game.
According to Austin Karp, the All-Star Game averaged 6.28 million viewers. That is over 2 million fewer viewers than the 8.87 million the Daytona 500 earned.
NBA All-Star Game averaged 6.28 million viewers across TNT and TBS. This year had competiton from Beijing Closing Ceremony.
That figure is +6% from last year's all-time low, which had to go head-to-head with Oprah's interview with Meghan Markle and Prince Harry. pic.twitter.com/nem8dWhX2X
— Austin Karp (@AustinKarp) February 23, 2022
The race also swamped the Olympics closing ceremonies. According to analyst Michael Mulvihill, the Daytona 500 beat the Olympics by about 35 percent.
The Daytona 500 (8.9m viewers) beat same day coverage of the Olympic closing ceremonies (6.6m) by 35%.
The last time the two went head to head in 2018 the closing ceremonies outrated Daytona by 59%.
— Michael Mulvihill (@mulvihill79) February 23, 2022
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