Daytona 500 and NBA All-Star Game Viewership Soars Amid Winter Olympics Rivalry
Via AP news wire Friday 20 February 2026 00:48 GMT
The Daytona 500 and the NBA All-Star Game posted substantial audience gains on Sunday, successfully competing against the Winter Olympics for viewer attention.
Daytona 500 Achieves Strong Ratings Boost
Tyler Reddick’s victory in the Daytona 500 attracted an average of 7.49 million viewers on Fox, marking an 11% increase from the previous year. This made it the most-watched NASCAR season opener since 2023, when 8.17 million viewers tuned in.
According to Nielsen, it was also the most-watched non-Olympic sporting event of the week. The audience peaked at 9.15 million during the race's finish.
A key factor in the higher viewership was the absence of a rain delay for the first time in three years. In contrast, last year's race was delayed by over three hours, and the 2024 event was rescheduled to Monday.
NBA All-Star Game Hits Multi-Year High
The NBA All-Star Game on NBC averaged 6.73 million viewers, but the total audience across NBC, Peacock, and Telemundo reached 8.8 million, as reported by Nielsen and Adobe Analytics.
This represented the most-watched NBA All-Star Game since 2011, which also took place in Los Angeles and averaged 9.1 million viewers. It was the first time since 2002 that the game aired on network television, having been broadcast on TNT from 2003 to 2025.
Total viewership saw an 87% surge compared to last year's 4.7 million. The audience peaked at 9.8 million viewers from 7-7:15 p.m. Eastern during the closing minutes of the USA Stripes' 48-45 win over the World team. The All-Star Game was strategically scheduled between NBC's afternoon and prime time Olympics coverage.
