Driven by NASCAR fare, Fox Sports 1 notched the second-most-watched day in its history with the opening of the“10 Days Of Thunder” programming block.
The national sports network, gauged on a total-day basis, averaged 745,000 viewers on May 17, according to Nielsen data. The performance was lifted by 3.48 million viewers for its coverage of the NASCAR Sprint All-Star Race, the network’s second-largest audience since its bow last Aug. 17.
The NASCAR Sprint All-Star Race was also the most-watched sports event, and most-watched ad-supported cable telecast of the weekend, with viewership peaking at 4.03 million viewers in the 10:30 p.m. quarter hour Preceding the race, All-Star Race Qualifying scored 2.01 million viewers, almost trebling last year’s average of 690,000.
The post-race edition of news/analysis program, Fox Sports Live, set a new audience record with 2.58 million viewers, surpassing the previous mark of 2.27 million recorded on Feb. 20.
Earlier on Saturday the Pittsburgh Pirates-New York Yankees contest posted 481,000 viewers making it Fox Sports 1’s most-watched non-exclusive MLB game to-date.
Opening “10 Days of Thunder” on Friday, May 16 with 12 consecutive hours live from Charlotte Motor Speedway, FS1 was the most-watched network among ad-supported cable sports networks from 7 p.m.-11 p.m., averaging 1,08 million viewers. Running on Friday night for the first time, the NASCAR All-Star Showdown, the last-qualifier for the All-Star event, scored 1.22 million viewers.
Following the Showdown, the NASCAR Camping World Series race from Charlotte posted 1.08 million viewers, up 7% from last year’s 1 million, with the circuit's pre-race show, NCWTS Setup, parking 715,000 viewers, a 15% gain from 2013.
10 Days Of Thunder programming continues through the week, highlighted by NASCAR Hall Of Fame Vote Day on May 21; the premiere of 100,000 Cameras: NASCAR Sprint All-Star Race on May 22; the MLB game between the Texas Rangers and Detroit Tigers on May 24; followed by Baseball Night In America on Fox; and the Big East and Big 12 College Baseball Championships on May 25.
The flag also drops on NASCAR Sprint Cup Series’ COCA-COLA 600 on Fox on Sunday, May 25 at 6 p.m. (ET).
On Memorial Day, the FS1 goes military with B.R.C. 2014: Best Ranger and Golden Boy Live! Boxing at 8 p.m. and 9 p.m.,respectively.
