Fox Press Release on Daytona 500 Ratings

FOX TURNS A “TRIPLE-PLAY” IN DAYTONA

50^TH Daytona 500 Notches Audience & Ratings Increases;

First Time Ever, All Three Speedweeks Events on FOX Rise

Daytona Beach, Fla. – Yesterday’s 50^th running of the Daytona 500 on FOX scored increased average audience, total audience and household ratings compared to a year ago, according to fast national figures released today by Nielsen Media Research. The 50th Daytona 500 earned a 10.2/20 household rating/share and averaged 17.8 million viewers, and both the rating and average audience are +1% better than a year ago (10.1/20, 17.5 million). It was also the second highest-rated and second most-watched 500 ever on FOX, trailing the 2005 race in both stats. Yesterday’s audience results gave FOX Sports a Speedweeks 2008 “triple-play.” All three NASCAR on FOX events televised during Speedweeks posted improved ratings and viewership.

Ratings for the 50^th Daytona 500 continue an impressive winning streak for FOX Sports. Over the last two months, FOX wrapped up its most-watched NFL season in twelve years, aired the most-watched NFC Championship Game in 13 years, broadcast the most-watched Super Bowl of all-time, then notched ratings increases for both the NFL Pro Bowl and – for the first time ever – for all Daytona-related programming.

See below for additional Daytona 500 highlights:

n 33.5 million Americans watched at least part of the Great American Race, a +2% improvement over 2007’s 33.0 million.

n The Daytona 500 affirmed its status as one of the premier annual events in sports. Yesterday’s 10.2/20 is +2% better than the 10.0/16 that NBC averaged for Sunday Night Football this year. This marks the first time that the Daytona 500 has earned a higher rating than the prime-time NFL package.

n Looking at other top Winter/Spring events, the Daytona 500 also posted a higher rating than the most recent NCAA Final Four on CBS (9.9/18), final round of The Masters (9.1/22 on CBS), and Kentucky Derby (8.8/21 on NBC).

n The Daytona 500 remains far and away the top-rated event in American motorsports. Yesterday’s race more than doubled the rating of last year’s Indianapolis 500 (+137% vs. 4.3/12).

n The race also drew ratings comparable to prime time’s biggest hits. The 10.2/20 for Daytona would rank it #9 among all prime time shows, and the 6.5 rating among Adults 18-49 would rank it #7 among all prime shows in that key demographic.

n FOX’s improved Daytona 500 rating completed a Speedweeks “triple play” as the Daytona 500 (+1%), Daytona Pole Qualifying (+4%), and Budweiser Shootout (+6%) all posted gains over the same events in 2007. This is the first time that all of FOX’s Speedweeks programming has boasted a year-to-year increase.

n Greenville, SC led all markets with a 24.1 rating followed by Greensboro, NC (22.5), Charlotte (21.1), Orlando (19.7) and Knoxville (19.6). Pittsburgh came in as FOX’s most impressive growth market, up a huge 80% (12.8 vs. 7.1) over last year. Many of the biggest growth markets came from outside NASCAR’s traditional southeast US footprint, posting giant year-to-year increases. Those markets were Chicago (+25% 7.1 vs. 5.7), Detroit (+25% 10.9 vs. 8.7), Denver (+51% 10.1 vs. 6.7), Portland (+37% 8.2 vs. 6.0), Cincinnati (+30% 14.6 vs. 11.2), and Oklahoma City (+55% 10.7 vs. 6.9).