NBA All-Star and Daytona 500 Viewership Surges

- The NBA All-Star Game's viewership surged 87% year-over-year, averaging 8.8 million viewers across NBC, Peacock, and Telemundo, its largest audience since 2011. The Daytona 500 attracted an average of 7.49 million viewers on Fox, an 11% increase from the previous year and the most for the race since 2023. - A significant factor in the NBA's growth was its return to broadcast television on NBC for the first time since 2002, after airing on cable network TNT from 2003 to 2025. The game's lead-in from Winter Olympics coverage on the same network also likely boosted its audience. - The NBA also benefited from a revamped "USA vs. World" tournament-style format, which was praised for increasing the game's competitiveness compared to prior years. Viewership peaked at 9.8 million during the closing minutes of the USA Stripes' victory over the World team. - The Daytona 500's viewership rebound was aided by the absence of a major weather delay for the first time in three years; the 2025 race was delayed, and the 2024 race was postponed to a Monday. The 2026 race peaked at 9.15 million viewers during the final laps. - From a business perspective, Fox sold out all 80 of its television ad spots for the Daytona 500, with the average 30-second commercial costing around $400,000. - While both events succeeded against the Winter Olympics, the NBA All-Star Game's total viewership (8.8 million) surpassed the Daytona 500's average viewership (7.49 million), the first time this has occurred when the two events were held on the same day. - The 2026 All-Star Game was the first event under the NBA's new 11-year, $76 billion media rights deal with NBCUniversal, Disney, and Amazon. - In its head-to-head window, the Daytona 500 broadcast on FOX drew more viewers than any of the non-prime-time Winter Olympics coverage on broadcast or cable.