NASCAR TV Rating analysis

In looking at the overnight TV ratings for Sunday's Daytona 500 in the 50 largest USA TV markets it becomes clear very quickly why the NFL Super Bowl's TV ratings are five times greater than the 500. The largest markets (NY, LA, Chicago, Philadelphia and San Francisco) are at the bottom of the chart indicating that NASCAR remains largely popular in tertiary markets and especially popular in the smaller Southeast USA markets. This explains why the 500 saw about 17 million viewers tuned in while the Super Bowl was around 100 million.

It should also be noted below that the Indy market is third highest and the ratings above what the Indy 500 gets in Indy….further proof that Indy is now a NASCAR town and the creation of the IRL is destroying open wheel racing's crown jewel, the Indy 500, which is Americas oldest big race and for decades had the highest TV ratings. And as long as there remains a split in open wheel racing between the IRL and Champ Car, one can expect further erosion of the Indy 500.

RANK MARKET (SIZE) ’07 RAT/SH ‘06 RAT/SH % +/-
1 Greenville-Spartanburg-Asheville (36) 22.1/35 24.7/39 -10.5%
2 Greensboro (47) 22.0/36 23.0/37 -4.3%
3 Indianapolis (25) 21.6/37 21.2/34 1.9%
4 Charlotte (26) 20.6/36 21.0/36 -1.9%
5 Orlando-Daytona Beach-Melbourne (19) 20.1/33 22.7/39 -11.5%
6 Knoxville (60) 19.8/33 19.2/31 3.1%
7 Birmingham (40) 19.3/31 16.0/26 20.6%
8 Jacksonville (50) 19.2/32 18.7/29 2.7%
9 Richmond-Petersburg (61) 17.9/28 16.5/29 8.5%
10 Nashville (30) 16.8/30 17.8/30 -5.6%
11 Tampa-St. Pete, Sarasota (12) 15.1/26 12.3/23 22.8%
12 Louisville (48) 15.0/26 17.3/28 -13.3%
13 Columbus (32) 14.6/25 15.2/28 -3.9%
14 Dayton (58) 14.0/25 17.7/30 -20.9%
15 Cleveland-Akron (17) 13.9/25 13.2/25 5.3%
16t Ft. Myers-Naples (64) 13.6/25 15.6/28 -12.8%
16t Atlanta (9) 13.6/25 14.5/24 -6.2%
18 Milwaukee (34) 13.3/24 14.3/27 -7.0%
19 Norfolk (42) 13.0/21 11.9/19 9.2%
20 Kansas City (31) 12.6/24 9.0/17 40.0%
20 Tulsa (62) 12.6/22 13.2/20 -4.5%
22 West Palm Beach (38) 12.5/23 13.7/27 -8.8%
23 Raleigh-Durham (29) 12.1/21 13.6/24 -11.0%
24 St. Louis (21) 11.5/20 11.5/20 0.0%
25 Minneapolis-St. Paul (15) 11.2/26 12.9/29 -13.2%
25 Cincinnati (33) 11.2/20 14.1/27 -20.6%
27 Las Vegas (43) 11.1/21 11.9/21 -6.7%
28 Buffalo (49) 10.4/19 11.7/22 -11.1%
28 Memphis (44) 10.4/17 13.3/19 -21.8%
30 Washington, DC (8) 10.1/20 7.7/17 31.2%
31 Hartford & New Haven (28) 9.5/18 10.2/19 -6.9%
32 Philadelphia (4) 8.9/16 7.8/15 14.1%
32 Phoenix (13) 8.9/18 9.6/21 -7.3%
34 Detroit (11) 8.7/17 9.5/18 -8.4%
35 Austin (52) 8.1/17 9.2/17 -12.0%
35 Sacramento-Stockton-Modesto (20) 8.1/19 10.3/23 -21.4%
37 Albuquerque-Santa Fe (45) 7.9/17 8.1/18 -2.5%
38 Seattle-Tacoma (14) 7.5/19 8.2/21 -8.5%
39 Baltimore (24) 7.3/13 7.3/15 0.0%
40t Dallas-Ft. Worth (6) 7.2/15 9.8/17 -26.5%
40t Houston (10) 7.2/15 6.1/11 18.0%
42 Pittsburgh (22) 7.1/12 12.0/22 -40.8%
43 Boston (7) 7.0/14 7.2/16 -2.8%
44 Oklahoma City (45) 6.9/14 10.3/15 -33.0%
45 Denver (18) 6.7/15 9.8/22 -31.6%
46 Salt Lake City (35) 6.1/18 6.7/17 -9.0%
46 Providence-New Bedford (51) 6.1/12 6.9/13 -11.6%
48 Portland, OR (23) 6.0/15 9.4/22 -36.1%
49 Miami-Ft. Lauderdale (16) 5.9/11 5.7/12 3.5%
50 Chicago (3) 5.7/12 6.5/13 -12.3%
51 San Diego (27) 5.6/14 6.4/15 -12.5%
52 San Antonio (37) 5.4/11 8.4/14 -35.7%
53t New York (1) 4.1/8 4.5/9 -8.9%
53t Los Angeles (2) 4.1/11 4.5/11 -8.9%
55 San Francisco-Oakland-San Jose (5) 3.9/13 4.4/13 -11.4%Nielsen ratings stats compiled by Sports Business Daily