2017 NASCAR Season - Television Ratings Thread

I remember last year's lower ratings were blamed in large part because of the Olympics but it seems that was not the case at all seeing this year's were lower. For the sake of context in 2014 WG was on ESPN and had just under 5 million viewers and in 2015 on NBCS had just under 4 million and last year on USA was down to about 3.8 million and I would guess this year's race would be 3% or so off from that.
 
I didn't think the race would be off 15% in viewership from last year since it was competing against the Olympics in 2016. The Cliffs Notes version (Coles Notes for those north of the 39th) is that 600,000 less people watched the race from home this year over last and about 65% of the audience was over 50.

For those that prefer to have their ears tickled these numbers don't include the millions and millions and millions who streamed the race illegally, I am sure Nascar was the most watch sports even on cable for the week and don't forget that for a nano second 23 million people watched the Daytona 500 this year...........:D
 
Skoalbandit33 said:
For those that prefer to have their ears tickled these numbers don't include the millions and millions and millions who streamed the race illegally, I am sure Nascar was the most watch sports even on cable for the week and don't forget that for a nano second 23 million people watched the Daytona 500 this year...........:D
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Why the snark? I don't get it. What I saw was Nascar had the largest sports audience, as well as the largest sports audience among the younger viewers. Isn't that sorta the idea of putting stuff on TV? :idunno:

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LewTheShoe said:
Why the snark? I don't get it. What I saw was Nascar had the largest sports audience, as well as the largest sports audience among the younger viewers. Isn't that sorta the idea of putting stuff on TV? :idunno:

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I was just having fun as some folks come up with some very creative and amusing excuses and reasons and I am hoping more are forthcoming. I am not quibbling at all with Nascar being the most watched sports show of the week although some golf fan could say that Saturday and Sunday's golf coverage had more viewers than the Sat and Sun Nascar programming.

Nascar lost 15% of its audience from last year at the Glen and 65% of the people that tuned in were over 50. I have no comment on that as people can come to their own conclusion if that is good, bad or indifferent.
 
Skoalbandit33 said:
I was just having fun as some folks come up with some very creative and amusing excuses and reasons and I am hoping more are forthcoming. I am not quibbling at all with Nascar being the most watched sports show of the week although some golf fan could say that Saturday and Sunday's golf coverage had more viewers than the Sat and Sun Nascar programming.

Nascar lost 15% of its audience from last year at the Glen and 65% of the people that tuned in were over 50. I have no comment on that as people can come to their own conclusion if that is good, bad or indifferent.
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You keep repeating that age thing, but the data shows that the other 35% that are younger made Nascar the top sports show of the weekend among younger viewers. Once you win that, why is it a negative to also attract a lot of older viewers? The answer: it's not a negative, it's a positive. I'd have to agree that there are "creative and amusing excuses and reasons" going on, as your post demonstrates.
 
LewTheShoe said:
You keep repeating that age thing, but the data shows that the other 35% that are younger made Nascar the top sports show of the weekend among younger viewers. Once you win that, why is it a negative to also attract a lot of older viewers? The answer: it's not a negative, it's a positive. I'd have to agree that there are "creative and amusing excuses and reasons" going on, as your post demonstrates.
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How you interpret the ratings, viewership and demographics is up to you and if you think they are good more power to you. Maybe someone who knows about marketing could enlighten all of as to what Nascar's demo means to advertisers. I have always heard the preferred demo was between 18-34 but perhaps that has changed.

I believe that about 11% of the audience for the WG race between 18-34 and maybe that is an incredibly good number or maybe not. Unless people magically become Nascar fans at 50 would it be fair to say they could use an influx of youth amongst the ranks of fans?
 
Skoalbandit33 said:
How you interpret the ratings, viewership and demographics is up to you and if you think they are good more power to you. Maybe someone who knows about marketing could enlighten all of as to what Nascar's demo means to advertisers. I have always heard the preferred demo was between 18-34 but perhaps that has changed.

I believe that about 11% of the audience for the WG race between 18-34 and maybe that is an incredibly good number or maybe not. Unless people magically become Nascar fans at 50 would it be fair to say they could use an influx of youth amongst the ranks of fans?
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It's pretty straightforward. Sort the rating by age group. Nielsen goes more granular than this, but in general these are the age groups that advertisers talk about

How advertisers view the groups:
Age 18 to 34 - These are the people that advertisers desperately want to reach. Their buying habits are considered to still be malleable
Age 35 to 49 - Not as good as the 18 to 34 group, but still worth reaching
50+ - This group is to be ignored unless you are selling geriatric products. They have money, but are very set in their purchasing habits.
 
sloggie said:
It's pretty straightforward. Sort the rating by age group. Nielsen goes more granular than this, but in general these are the age groups that advertisers talk about

How advertisers view the groups:
Age 18 to 34 - These are the people that advertisers desperately want to reach. Their buying habits are considered to still be malleable
Age 35 to 49 - Not as good as the 18 to 34 group, but still worth reaching
50+ - This group is to be ignored unless you are selling geriatric products. They have money, but are very set in their purchasing habits.
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I appreciate you setting me straight on this and based on what you have said Nascar has a ton of viewers that advertisers aren't really trying to reach unless it was for "I've fallen and I can't get up" kind of stuff. Thanks again.
 
LewTheShoe said:
You keep repeating that age thing, but the data shows that the other 35% that are younger made Nascar the top sports show of the weekend among younger viewers. Once you win that, why is it a negative to also attract a lot of older viewers? The answer: it's not a negative, it's a positive. I'd have to agree that there are "creative and amusing excuses and reasons" going on, as your post demonstrates.
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Sloggie has posted some interesting info and I am eager to hear your thoughts on it and how it pertains to Nascar overall.
 
Skoalbandit33 said:
Sloggie has posted some interesting info and I am eager to hear your thoughts on it and how it pertains to Nascar overall.
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I've said all I intend to say... (a) Nascar led all sports shows in the younger demographic viewers and the total viewers, and (b) you certainly seem to be using "creative and amusing excuses and reasons" to deny that fact. And I'll add one more item... (c) subscribers aged 50+ are valuable to cable networks even if less value to advertisers. Do you offer to pay my cable bill?

Nascar ratings suck, but this was a good week...

Weekend-Sports-Sat-Sun-2017-08-05.png
 
LewTheShoe said:
I've said all I intend to say... (a) Nascar led all sports shows in the younger demographic viewers and the total viewers, and (b) you certainly seem to be using "creative and amusing excuses and reasons" to deny that fact. And I'll add one more item... (c) subscribers aged 50+ are valuable to cable networks even if less value to advertisers. Do you offer to pay my cable bill?

Nascar ratings suck, but this was a good week...

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No need to be so defensive, Lew, as you can interpret these numbers in any manner you wish. We know that it is a fact that Nascar was the highest rated sports program of the week and if that is where you are comfortable stopping that is oakly doakly fine.

It is my opinion that Nascar could use an influx of younger viewers but I respect your opinion that the current makeup of Nascar's audience is fine the way it is. I agree that sports properties are valuable to all broadcasters but the value is predicated on the demo of the audience just like a drama or comedy program is.

It makes no sense to me why 50-60-70 year old viewers would be more valuable to cable networks so if you could expound on that I would appreciate it and N-O NO! I am not going to pay your cable bill!

I don't think Nascar ratings suck but I do think they are trending in the wrong direction and have been in free fall for over a decade. If you think Nascar ratings suck or think they are good that is OK with me.

None of this is life or death stuff, Lew, and the world will continue spinning away whether Nascar lasts for many more years or were to vaporize at midnight.
 
dpkimmel2001 said:
I'm not so surprised seeing NASCAR down on that list behind the NFL and major market MLB franchises. What surprises me is seeing MLS on that list at all, especially at #4.
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One thing I have noticed in my area is that in the last 10 years soccer fields have been popping up and there are many traveling teams. It started out with young boys and girls but now that they are older and still playing so that may account for a good portion of the overall interest and social interaction. I always found soccer extremely boring to play and to watch but the younger generations seem to see things differently.
 
Wow. Single baseball games are beating NASCAR cup races...

I'm sure the playoffs will bring the fans back, when those start everyone will forget all about football... gotta see if truex jr can advance himself to homestead.
 
dpkimmel2001 said:
I'm not so surprised seeing NASCAR down on that list behind the NFL and major market MLB franchises. What surprises me is seeing MLS on that list at all, especially at #4.
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Very young audience in general, probably way more in tune with social media. A few weeks now I've seen soccer matches up in the top five.
 
FLRacingFan said:
Very young audience in general, probably way more in tune with social media. A few weeks now I've seen soccer matches up in the top five.
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Youngsters are playing soccer with organized teams in my area today and others are playing pick up games in the parks. I am really surprised at the number of dedicated soccer fields that have popped up in the last 10 years as well as indoor facilities for winter use. What you say about the use of social media makes sense as these kids will all be plugged into it. Advertisers must love the demo.
 
JohnHill said:
Yeah I heard this on local sports radio recently... Soccer is absolutely huge with young people right now for many reasons I guess.
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It is popular with both girls and boys and it is not uncommon to see teams lined up at an ice cream shop after the game and hearing about how this person should have got a yellow card and this person should not have. IDK anything about the game other than I was bored playing it and fall asleep watching it.
 
I don't understand why baseball is talked about so much on social media when their TV ratings suck, but baseball has a ton writers that will tweet about the game...again people aren't viewing it though and nobody talks about the death of baseball
 

BradBlaney said:
I don't understand why baseball is talked about so much on social media when their TV ratings suck, but baseball has a ton writers that will tweet about the game...again people aren't viewing it though and nobody talks about the death of baseball
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73,159,044 attended an MLB game last year alone. That's why that is important.
 
BradBlaney said:
I don't understand why baseball is talked about so much on social media when their TV ratings suck, but baseball has a ton writers that will tweet about the game...again people aren't viewing it though and nobody talks about the death of baseball
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2,430 baseball games in a season. I don't know what your expectations for TV ratings of regular season baseball games are, but they should be different from other sports.
 
BradBlaney said:
Right there's 36 standalone races, baseball has 36 games in two days
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Understood. Obviously, there is tremendous interest in 73 million people purchasing tickets, taking the drive out to the ballpark and sitting through a game whilst spending money on concessions and souvenirs. Since there are no official numbers anymore, let's estimate NASCAR attracts about 2 million fans a year who do the same.

NFL:

Over 30 million last year (I don't feel like tallying up the numbers but you are welcome to the data.)

http://www.espn.com/nfl/attendance/_/year/2016
 
NJJammer said:
Understood. Obviously, there is tremendous interest in 73 million people purchasing tickets, taking the drive out to the ballpark and sitting through a game whilst spending money on concessions and souvenirs. Since there are no official numbers anymore, let's estimate NASCAR attracts about 2 million fans a year who do the same.

NFL:

Over 30 million last year (I don't feel like tallying up the numbers but you are welcome to the data.)

http://www.espn.com/nfl/attendance/_/year/2016
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One think that always makes me chuckle is when people come on this thread and talk about how Nascar is the most watched sports program each week. While technically true it is often false when you add up the number of viewers for stick and ball over the course of the week or weekend.
 
NJJammer said:
Understood. Obviously, there is tremendous interest in 73 million people purchasing tickets, taking the drive out to the ballpark and sitting through a game whilst spending money on concessions and souvenirs. Since there are no official numbers anymore, let's estimate NASCAR attracts about 2 million fans a year who do the same.

NFL:

Over 30 million last year (I don't feel like tallying up the numbers but you are welcome to the data.)

http://www.espn.com/nfl/attendance/_/year/2016
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I get your point but there's 81 home games for baseball teams, compare individual games. The Dodgers get 46,000 a game on average, I was just at a sold out Watkins Glen with at least that many people including campers

http://www.espn.com/mlb/attendance
 
Skoalbandit33 said:
One think that always makes me chuckle is when people come on this thread and talk about how Nascar is the most watched sports program each week. While technically true it is often false when you add up the number of viewers for stick and ball over the course of the week or weekend.
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What I'm saying is you can't compare one single race to 30 teams/2*3= 45 games over a baseball weekend
 
BradBlaney said:
What I'm saying is you can't compare one single race to 30 teams/2*3= 45 games over a baseball weekend
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Understood. We are, in a sense, comparing apples to oranges. NASCAR is currently my favorite sport but my point is that, in the general public's consciousness, NASCAR ranks pretty low. I support the sport and attend races (so do you.) We just have to admit that NASCAR is a niche sport and based on the numbers attending and watching, may be in decline. That's all I'm trying to say.
I'm glad to hear Watkins Glen was sold out (or nearly so.) That race is one of my favorites and is on my "bucket list." How was your experience there and would you be willing to share any tips?
 
NJJammer said:
Understood. We are, in a sense, comparing apples to oranges. NASCAR is currently my favorite sport but my point is that, in the general public's consciousness, NASCAR ranks pretty low. I support the sport and attend races (so do you.) We just have to admit that NASCAR is a niche sport and based on the numbers attending and watching, may be in decline. That's all I'm trying to say.
I'm glad to hear Watkins Glen was sold out (or nearly so.) That race is one of my favorites and is on my "bucket list." How was your experience there and would you be willing to share any tips?
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It was Brian France that claimed Nascar's popularity rivaled the NFL but he hasn't said much about it lately.
 
I am waiting with bated breath for the kerfuffle that this week's edition of Nascar's ratings will bring. We know that the cup race from MIS will be the highest rated sports program for the week and we know that MIS was a sell out yesterday. There may have been the odd empty seat but that was due to people going on walkabout so there is no concern. Is a 2.5 rating for the race a lot to ask for? The ratings were 100% at my domicile.
 
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