2016 NASCAR Season - Television Ratings Thread

Charlie Spencer said:
Hey, welcome aboard. It's always good to get an insider's view.

I think advertisers have long preferred targeting the younger market, whatever it may be called at the time. Not to insult any of our Gen X / Y / Millennial members, but we older folks are just tighter fisted and less easily swayed.
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I still try new and different things but in general if I have found a product or service that work well for me I stick with it. I am on my 1 man anti Shrub campaign so I had to give up M&M's and other products associated with the 18 car.
 
Skoalbandit33 said:
I appreciate the info and hope you stick around and continue to contribute. I looked around the site but only saw the 18-49 demo posted so if you have time and are inclined to post a direct link to the info that would be great.
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Look at the Sunday cable originals that get posted every week. That is where the info comes from. Unfortunately I culled from a number of different articles so don't have time to share all of them right now, but the info is readily available. I may have some time later to track them all down.
 
Skoalbandit33 said:
I still try new and different things but in general if I have found a product or service that work well for me I stick with it. I am on my 1 man anti Shrub campaign so I had to give up M&M's and other products associated with the 18 car.
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It's not like NASCAR is the only way Mars promotes its products. They don't know (or care) how you heard of their empty calories. If anybody asks, I'll swear you only watch Nickelodeon and Cartoon Network.
 
Matt Stallknecht said:
Hi, Matt Stallknecht here.

Let me give you some context to my credibility. PAN is a tech PR firm that also has a small presence in sports marketing/PR, so I am not a sales rep or anything like that. I do sports marketing analytics as part of my job to help stay fresh for clients that want to pursue sports verticals, and since NASCAR is my passion I heavily analyze all of the sport's key performance metrics including ratings.

All of the numbers I reported are based on publicly available data that can be found on ShowBuzzDaily.com, which is a site that provides weekly television ratings info. If you dig, you can find all of the demographic information that I referenced on Twitter.

To offer some perspective as to why 18-49 is down and why 18-34 is up, NASCAR has had big losses in the 35+ demo that are negatively affecting the total numbers.

However, that does not prevent the sport from achieving gains in the younger demo obviously, so despite the "overall" losses, NASCAR is in fact gaining ground with millennials. This is noteworthy because advertisers value 18-34 more so than 35+ by roughly 3-1 to 5-1 depending on the advertiser. In other words, a millennial in today's crazy media environment is worth almost 3-5x as much as a Gen Xer or Baby Boomer. So an advertiser will likely look at the recent ratings as a "win."

Hopefully this provides some color to the numbers and gives you all a sense of my credibility.
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Wow thank you for joining and clarifying everything.
 
Skoalbandit33 said:
I am on my 1 man anti Shrub campaign so I had to give up M&M's and other products associated with the 18 car.
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Charlie Spencer said:
It's not like NASCAR is the only way Mars promotes its products. They don't know (or care) how you heard of their empty calories. If anybody asks, I'll swear you only watch Nickelodeon and Cartoon Network.
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No, no, no ... this is a tremendous hit to Mars' market share.

Candy guy eat a lotta' candy.
 
Charlie Spencer said:
It's not like NASCAR is the only way Mars promotes its products. They don't know (or care) how you heard of their empty calories. If anybody asks, I'll swear you only watch Nickelodeon and Cartoon Network.
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I was happily munching M&M's until Shrub called a competitor a moron for hitting the 18 that was blocking the track. It is a personal protest for me like skipping the last race of the year.
 
aunty dive said:
No, no, no ... this is a tremendous hit to Mars' market share.

Candy guy eat a lotta' candy.
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I like Smarties a lot more than M&M's and I stocked up on them plus tea, crumpets, licorice all sorts and bread on my last visit. I also have to make quick runs to Windsor for Harvey's and Swiss Chalet too.
 
Matt Stallknecht said:
Hi, Matt Stallknecht here.

Let me give you some context to my credibility. PAN is a tech PR firm that also has a small presence in sports marketing/PR, so I am not a sales rep or anything like that. I do sports marketing analytics as part of my job to help stay fresh for clients that want to pursue sports verticals, and since NASCAR is my passion I heavily analyze all of the sport's key performance metrics including ratings.

All of the numbers I reported are based on publicly available data that can be found on ShowBuzzDaily.com, which is a site that provides weekly television ratings info. If you dig, you can find all of the demographic information that I referenced on Twitter.

To offer some perspective as to why 18-49 is down and why 18-34 is up, NASCAR has had big losses in the 35+ demo that are negatively affecting the total numbers.

However, that does not prevent the sport from achieving gains in the younger demo obviously, so despite the "overall" losses, NASCAR is in fact gaining ground with millennials. This is noteworthy because advertisers value 18-34 more so than 35+ by roughly 3-1 to 5-1 depending on the advertiser. In other words, a millennial in today's crazy media environment is worth almost 3-5x as much as a Gen Xer or Baby Boomer. So an advertiser will likely look at the recent ratings as a "win."

Hopefully this provides some color to the numbers and gives you all a sense of my credibility.
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:XXROFL: I love it. Come back often and debunk the spinners to your hearts content. Have a good one. :cheers:
 
Matt Stallknecht said:
Advertisers would not consider this statistically insignificant. I know this because I have worked with many of them. Any consistent gain in a young demo is prized like gold.
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I agree the correct demo is prized but looking for that demo in MLB, Nascar and Golf is like looking for needles in haystacks when other sports like MLS, NHL, NFL, NBA and NCAA have that demo. The most consistent stats I have read show that half of Nascar's audience is over 55 and about 35% is between 35-54 and roughly 9% fit within the 18-34 group.

When you look at another niche sport like the NHL roughly 29% are over 55, those aged 35-54 make up 35% and the prized demo of 18-34 is 28%. Nascar will always be around in some form but if you wish to see what it will look like in 10 years or less just look at Indy Car today. No amount of spin, optimism or unbridled enthusiasm can change that unfortunately.
 
Skoalbandit33 said:
I agree the correct demo is prized but looking for that demo in MLB, Nascar and Golf is like looking for needles in haystacks when other sports like MLS, NHL, NFL, NBA and NCAA have that demo. The most consistent stats I have read show that half of Nascar's audience is over 55 and about 35% is between 35-54 and roughly 9% fit within the 18-34 group.

When you look at another niche sport like the NHL roughly 29% are over 55, those aged 35-54 make up 35% and the prized demo of 18-34 is 28%. Nascar will always be around in some form but if you wish to see what it will look like in 10 years or less just look at Indy Car today. No amount of spin, optimism or unbridled enthusiasm can change that unfortunately.
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Measurable growth in a prized demographic drives advert sales.

No amount of spin, negativity or petulant pessimism can change that, fortunately.
 
aunty dive said:
Measurable growth in a prized demographic drives advert sales.

No amount of spin, negativity or petulant pessimism can change that, fortunately.
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These are the increases in the 18-34 demo that were posted for 5 races YOY. Maybe these are the only YOY stats available or maybe they were cherry picked but you can't draw any conclusions up or down from such a small sampling size. If Nascar shows a meaningful overall increase in the 18-34 demo over the first 25 races of the year then a strong case can be made that the correct demo is engaging. Hopefully that is the case and Nascar is finally trending in the right area but if so I am sure stats that bore that out would have been included. Around 9% of Nascar fans are between 18-34 and I have not seen any stats that refute this. Feel free to post 'em if ya got 'em as I would rather be proven wrong and be corrected then believe something untrue.


Chi 2015: 0.25 2016: 0.29
NH 2015: 0.22 2016: 0.30
Dov 2015: 0.23 2016: 0.29
Rich 2015: 0.27 2016 :0.38
Indy 2015: 0.38 2016 :0.72
 
Skoalbandit33 said:
These are the increases in the 18-34 demo that were posted for 5 races YOY. Maybe these are the only YOY stats available or maybe they were cherry picked but you can't draw any conclusions up or down from such a small sampling size. If Nascar shows a meaningful overall increase in the 18-34 demo over the first 25 races of the year then a strong case can be made that the correct demo is engaging. Hopefully that is the case and Nascar is finally trending in the right area but if so I am sure stats that bore that out would have been included. Around 9% of Nascar fans are between 18-34 and I have not seen any stats that refute this. Feel free to post 'em if ya got 'em as I would rather be proven wrong and be corrected then believe something untrue.


Chi 2015: 0.25 2016: 0.29
NH 2015: 0.22 2016: 0.30
Dov 2015: 0.23 2016: 0.29
Rich 2015: 0.27 2016 :0.38
Indy 2015: 0.38 2016 :0.72
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They are small, but they seem to be consistent. If the trend for the whole season is similar, it could be taken as a positive sign for NASCAR.
 
Skoalbandit33 said:
These are the increases in the 18-34 demo that were posted for 5 races YOY. Maybe these are the only YOY stats available or maybe they were cherry picked but you can't draw any conclusions up or down from such a small sampling size. If Nascar shows a meaningful overall increase in the 18-34 demo over the first 25 races of the year then a strong case can be made that the correct demo is engaging. Hopefully that is the case and Nascar is finally trending in the right area but if so I am sure stats that bore that out would have been included. Around 9% of Nascar fans are between 18-34 and I have not seen any stats that refute this. Feel free to post 'em if ya got 'em as I would rather be proven wrong and be corrected then believe something untrue.


Chi 2015: 0.25 2016: 0.29
NH 2015: 0.22 2016: 0.30
Dov 2015: 0.23 2016: 0.29
Rich 2015: 0.27 2016 :0.38
Indy 2015: 0.38 2016 :0.72
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If I get some time later this week I'll try to compile all of the numbers, but I can absolutely confirm that the trend has been ongoing throughout the entire year and not just the 5 races I mentioned.

Also, to say NASCAR is going to look like IndyCar in 10 years is silly. Is the sport declining? Perhaps. But people forget just how large NASCAR still is and just how deep the sport's reach still goes. It may trend closer to the golfs/tennis's of the world if certain declines continue, but it will still be a large and influential property for many years to come.
 
29-4 said:
They are small, but they seem to be consistent. If the trend for the whole season is similar, it could be taken as a positive sign for NASCAR.
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I agree as it would be great news for the series which is in dire need of all the good news it can get.

Charlie Spencer said:
Smarties suck. Skittles suck chunks with corn in them.
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Smarties are a better version of M&M's sold in Canada. The coating is slightly thicker and the chocolate is better. Skittles are awful and candy corn should be outlawed.

Matt Stallknecht said:
If I get some time later this week I'll try to compile all of the numbers, but I can absolutely confirm that the trend has been ongoing throughout the entire year and not just the 5 races I mentioned.

Also, to say NASCAR is going to look like IndyCar in 10 years is silly. Is the sport declining? Perhaps. But people forget just how large NASCAR still is and just how deep the sport's reach still goes. It may trend closer to the golfs/tennis's of the world if certain declines continue, but it will still be a large and influential property for many years to come.
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It would be really helpful if you get the time to see how the 18-34 demo has increased over the bulk of a season and also to find out what percentage of Nascar fans fit into that demo. As I have said multiple times I have read from multiple sources that the 18-34 demo for Nascar is 9% which is beyond terrble as Charles Barkley would say. Any stats that show a different or updated 18-34- demo would be really appreciated.

Evidently we have a markedly different view of the meaning of the word decline as the tracks have ripped out hundreds of thousands of seats in the last few years and even the venerable Superbowl of auto racing reduced seating from 160K down to near 100K. Year over year overall viewership has been atrocious in terms of decline as the recently concluded Dover was off 21%, Loudon -14%, Chicago -17%, Richmond -12%, Darlington -22%, Michigan -21%, Bristol N/A, and Watkins Glen -4%.

In 2014 compared to 2016 Watkins Glen as lost over 1 million viewers, Bristol N/A, Michigan 1.8 million, Darlington 1.3 million, Richmond 2.2 million, Chicago 1 million, Loudon 1.3 million and Dover 1.3 million.

I am going to stick by my statement of Nascar being like Indy Car in 10 years as it is highly likely I will have departed Terra Firma by that point so I won't know if I was incorrect!!!
 
I'm still having trouble finding the 18-34 (as opposed to 18-49) data for recent NASCAR races on the site that Matt mentioned, showbuzzdaily.com. Feel like an idiot. Is it there? Has anyone else found it?

Even if NASCAR's young audience is quite small, a considerable increase in the face of large overall decreases is very interesting if it's real and lasting. I really want to be able to look at these numbers myself to better understand them.
 
gnomesayin said:
I'm still having trouble finding the 18-34 (as opposed to 18-49) data for recent NASCAR races on the site that Matt mentioned, showbuzzdaily.com. Feel like an idiot. Is it there? Has anyone else found it?

Even if NASCAR's young audience is quite small, a considerable increase in the face of large overall decreases is very interesting if it's real and lasting. I really want to be able to look at these numbers myself to better understand them.
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Check out the "Sunday cable originals". Mitch (site owner) posts them every Tuesday afternoon, and they have 18-34 demo info in them.
 
Skoalbandit33 said:
It would be really helpful if you get the time to see how the 18-34 demo has increased over the bulk of a season and also to find out what percentage of Nascar fans fit into that demo. As I have said multiple times I have read from multiple sources that the 18-34 demo for Nascar is 9% which is beyond terrble as Charles Barkley would say. Any stats that show a different or updated 18-34- demo would be really appreciated.

Evidently we have a markedly different view of the meaning of the word decline as the tracks have ripped out hundreds of thousands of seats in the last few years and even the venerable Superbowl of auto racing reduced seating from 160K down to near 100K. Year over year overall viewership has been atrocious in terms of decline as the recently concluded Dover was off 21%, Loudon -14%, Chicago -17%, Richmond -12%, Darlington -22%, Michigan -21%, Bristol N/A, and Watkins Glen -4%.

In 2014 compared to 2016 Watkins Glen as lost over 1 million viewers, Bristol N/A, Michigan 1.8 million, Darlington 1.3 million, Richmond 2.2 million, Chicago 1 million, Loudon 1.3 million and Dover 1.3 million.

I am going to stick by my statement of Nascar being like Indy Car in 10 years as it is highly likely I will have departed Terra Firma by that point so I won't know if I was incorrect!!!
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This is simply not realistic. I understand your pessimism given the overall declines this season, but we have hard data based on Google trends which shows that even at NASCAR's lowest point of overall interest (the year 2010), IndyCar was still only 4% as popular as NASCAR. Let that sink in. Even at NASCAR's lowest point, there were almost 25 NASCAR fans for every 1 IndyCar fan.

Much like stocks, past performance is not necessarily a guarantee on future performance. NASCAR's least successful year in the past decade (2010) was immediately followed by its most successful (2011) for reasons that still aren't clear to analysts. 2016 is trending to be a very similar year to 2010, so who knows what will happen 1, 2, 5 and 10 years from now. But I can tell you that NASCAR, even at its current rate of decline, will not be at IndyCar level in 10 years, not even 20. Tennis maybe? But not IndyCar, and I am not of the belief that these declines are going to be indefinite based on our research and familiarity with the sport.
 
Matt Stallknecht said:
This is simply not realistic. I understand your pessimism given the overall declines this season, but we have hard data based on Google trends which shows that even at NASCAR's lowest point of overall interest (the year 2010), IndyCar was still only 4% as popular as NASCAR. Let that sink in. Even at NASCAR's lowest point, there were almost 25 NASCAR fans for every 1 IndyCar fan.

Much like stocks, past performance is not necessarily a guarantee on future performance. NASCAR's least successful year in the past decade (2010) was immediately followed by its most successful (2011) for reasons that still aren't clear to analysts. 2016 is trending to be a very similar year to 2010, so who knows what will happen 1, 2, 5 and 10 years from now. But I can tell you that NASCAR, even at its current rate of decline, will not be at IndyCar level in 10 years, not even 20. Tennis maybe? But not IndyCar, and I am not of the belief that these declines are going to be indefinite based on our research and familiarity with the sport.
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You may be 100% correct and Nascar could be very, very popular in 5-10-20 years but that would mean adding fans of all groups not just the preferred demo and we have not seen an influx of new fans that outpaces those that are leaving. Do you know what percentage of Nascar fans make up the 18-34 age group?
 
Skoalbandit33 said:
You may be 100% correct and Nascar could be very, very popular in 5-10-20 years but that would mean adding fans of all groups not just the preferred demo and we have not seen an influx of new fans that outpaces those that are leaving. Do you know what percentage of Nascar fans make up the 18-34 age group?
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Its really really tough to say. I wouldn't trust any of those studies of the fan base that often get thrown around, as they are usually dated and not very accurate. My best estimate would be that maybe 15-20% of all fans are millennials, and I'd estimate the total fan base to be somewhere in the range 30-40 million or so. That number may seem high, but when we measure total fan base we look at "all people interested in sport X", not necessarily the average of who is watching every week. So I'd say there's maybe 5-7 million fans in the 18-34 bracket, and I'm probably low balling it.
 
Postponed NASCAR Sprint Cup racing from Charlotte, the fourth race in the Chase For the Cup, had a 1.2 overnight rating on NBC Sunday afternoon - down 14% from the same race last year, which was also postponed to Sunday but aired on NBCSN (1.4). Figures do not include simulcast coverage on NBCSN, which could make up the difference. The last time the race was run as scheduled in its Saturday night timeslot, coverage on ABC scored a 2.9.

from jayski
 
i think 100 lap races would help. attention span is poor. the millions of online racers do 100 laps.
 
Chicago and Loudon lost about a half million viewers over last year and Dover about 700,000 so if the trend holds up it would make sense that Charlotte would come in with somewhere around 2.2 to 2.3 million viewers as opposed to last year's 2.75. I completely understand that most people are about as interested in TV ratings as they are in getting a tooth extracted but it makes me wonder what did all the people who watched last year do this year instead? This race had 6 million viewers in 2008, 5.4 million in 2010 and 5.1 million in 2012 and 5.1 million in 2014 and all races were broadcast on ABC.

Is losing half or more of your viewership in a 2 year period a cause for concern or is it just a sign of the times and no big deal? A potentially scary thing to consider is that both this year's and last year's race may have got higher ratings due to being run on Sunday instead of the graveyard of Saturday night.
 
ESPN's 6.5 overnight for Buccaneers-Panthers last night is network's lowest Week 5 "MNF" rating since acquiring rights prior to 2006 season

Edit: Oops, wrong forum. ;)
 
dpkimmel2001 said:
ESPN's 6.5 overnight for Buccaneers-Panthers last night is network's lowest Week 5 "MNF" rating since acquiring rights prior to 2006 season

Edit: Oops, wrong forum. ;)
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I passed on that game faster than a waitress picks up a hundred dollar tip and don't know what the outcome was.
 
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