Coming off a record-setting Super Bowl, Fox is keeping the good times rolling.
After setting a new high watermark for Super Bowl ad revenue, with some 30-second spots selling for north of $8 million, Fox is once again capitalizing on a strong demand from advertisers. According to a report from Adam Stern in Sports Business Journal, Fox Sports is completely sold out of ad inventory for Sunday’s Daytona 500.
Fox sold 30-second spots to several advertisers for over $500,000, while many ads were purchased in the $400,000 to $450,000 range. The network sold out of inventory in December, the earliest they’ve ever sold out of Daytona 500 ads, according to NASCAR’s chief media & revenue officer Brian Herbst.
Luckily for NASCAR fans, this doesn’t mean the broadcast will be dominated by commercials. Per Stern, “Fox has asked all partners to run ads in the double-box format that allows the network to show the race and a commercial at the same time, something that NASCAR fans are typically far more receptive to than full-screen ads.” While not ideal, the double-box is certainly preferable to a full-screen commercial break.
The scarcity in broadcast windows under NASCAR’s new media rights deals likely drove demand higher for Fox. Under the new agreements, Fox’s broadcast channel will only air five races this season, while NBC will air just four. Last year, a total of 21 races aired on a broadcast network. That newfound scarcity limits opportunities for exposure for brands that want to be associated with NASCAR.
With its new television deals, the circuit has made a conscious decision to trade reach for revenue; upping its media rights fees by adding TNT and Amazon as partners, but limiting the viewership potential by airing races on less-accessible platforms.
NASCAR’s opening event, the Cook Out Clash at Bowman Gray, averaged 3.08 million viewers on Fox earlier this month, down from the 2022 and 2023 editions but up from 2024 which aired on FS1.
