The Daytona 500 and NBA All-Star Game both recorded significant increases in viewership on Sunday, despite competing directly with the Winter Olympics. According to Nielsen, the Daytona 500 was the most-watched non-Olympic sporting event of the week.
Tyler Reddick's victory in the Daytona 500 attracted an average audience of 7.49 million viewers on Fox, an 11% rise compared to last year. This marks the highest viewership for the NASCAR season opener since 2023, when 8.17 million tuned in. The race benefited from the absence of a rain delay for the first time in three years; last year's event was delayed by over three hours, while the 2024 race was postponed to Monday.
The NBA All-Star Game, broadcast on NBC for the first time since 2002, averaged 6.73 million viewers on the network. However, the total audience across NBC, Peacock, and Telemundo reached 8.8 million, according to Nielsen and Adobe Analytics. This represents an 87% increase from last year's 4.7 million viewers and is the highest viewership for the All-Star Game since 2011, which also took place in Los Angeles and averaged 9.1 million. The game peaked at 9.8 million viewers between 7:00 and 7:15 p.m. Eastern during the closing minutes of the USA Stripes' 48-45 victory over the World team.
The All-Star Game was scheduled between NBC's afternoon and prime-time Olympic coverage, which may have contributed to its strong performance. From 2003 to 2025, the event was shown on cable network TNT.
