Dover TV Ratings drop

UPDATE NASCAR on FOX delivered a 3.7/10 (5.8 million viewers) on Sunday afternoon for racing from DOVER. Sunday's 3.7/10 is down -8% compared to last year's 4.0/10 when the race did not face an NBA Playoff game. That -8% decline is the steepest for a NASCAR race since February's Las Vegas race, and reverses a fairly positive recent trend in which three of FOX's four Sprint Cup races prior to Dover had posted modest year-to-year gains. For the season-to-date, NASCAR On FOX is now averaging a 4.9/10 nationally. That's down -4% compared to last season's 5.1/11 and excludes races that were rained out and made-up on Mondays.

05/17/10 NASCAR on FOX earned a 3.6/9 Sunday for racing from Dover International Speedway. That's flat with last year's overnight, although this year's race faced markedly tougher competition. This year's Dover race aired two weeks earlier than last year's and the final hour of the race faced the NBA Playoffs, NHL Playoffs, and PGA golf, three events that combined for 6.7 rating points worth of competition from 3:30-4:30pm. Last year's race aired on the last Sunday of May and faced just 3.7 points of competition. With just one race remaining on FOX, NASCAR is averaging a 4.4/9 in the metered markets, off -4% compared to last year's 4.6/9.