Chase ratings continue to fall

JustMe said:
What I got from that link is that no matter which station, ABC, ESPN or FOX, all the ratings have been going down from 2008. So it doesn't matter which station has the most viewers available, their ratings are still down.
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JustMe, the way you laid out that "Down from 2008" stat brought to mind a psychological theory I remember from a psych class I once took; the "Seven Year Itch" theory.

Basically it theorizes that in the majority of deep, committed relationship at the point of about seven years, the relationship will suffer stress and one of the involved will stray. This often leads to a complete dissolvement of the relationship.

The networks, and the accompanying hype surrounding Dale's death in 2001, was the start of the current massive shift to NA__AR. Things looked rosy for the sport. But, in 2008 (seven years later) a noticeable shift in loyalty was noted and the ratings began to drop drastically. Now we see many former loyal and rabid fans figuratively divorcing themselves from the sport?

Could the "Seven Year Itch" syndrome be a factor?
 
Maybe if they put the stock back in NASCAR, people will tune in again.
 
dpkimmel2001 said:
OK, I give up. I think the numbers speak for themselves. The same race held on ABC has far more viewers than when shown on ESPN. That's the only point that I am trying to make. I guess I will agree to disagree. :beerbang:
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It also didn't help that last weeks pre-race show aired on one ESPN channel then they switched the race to another ESPN channel. Other than all the annoying animation FOX has ABC-ESPN's race coverage beet all to hell. JMO btw.

Also Nascar needs to get back to racing cars that you can see on the showroom floor. Nascar has moved away from the thought that a new car buyer can take the new car they just bought and turn it into a race car, this is what the heads of Nascar have forgotten. We all know they probably can't but that is the reason Nascar was big in the past.
 
Also Nascar needs to get back to racing cars that you can see on the showroom floor. Nascar has moved away from the thought that a new car buyer can take the new car they just bought and turn it into a race car, this is what the heads of Nascar have forgotten. We all know they probably can't but that is the reason Nascar was big in the past.[/QUOTE]

Yeah, they're basically " NHRA funnycars" designed to go around corners.
MoMike
 
blue92 said:
It also didn't help that last weeks pre-race show aired on one ESPN channel then they switched the race to another ESPN channel. Other than all the annoying animation FOX has ABC-ESPN's race coverage beet all to hell. JMO btw.

Also Nascar needs to get back to racing cars that you can see on the showroom floor. Nascar has moved away from the thought that a new car buyer can take the new car they just bought and turn it into a race car, this is what the heads of Nascar have forgotten. We all know they probably can't but that is the reason Nascar was big in the past.
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I agree. I think NASCAR execs need to go visit some short tracks across the country and watch stock classes and see what racing should be like.
 
SpeedPagan said:
I agree. I think NASCAR execs need to go visit some short tracks across the country and watch stock classes and see what racing should be like.
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The Street Stock class at my track is the most boring class of racing on the circuit. I go to Old Dominion for the Legends and Modifieds.:beerbang:
 
Ratings are falling because people are tired of the Chase, they know who is going to win the championship, no rivalries, and cookie cutter cars on cookie cutter tracks.

NASCAR wanted to go to the big cities where the sponsors were and did not create any new fans in doing so. The sponsors are leaving because they're broke. All the fans from the 90's and before have felt betrayed and have slowly lost their patience with how things have gone the last 3-5 years.

I don't think things are going to change until Brian France leaves (forced out) and someone new brings back some of the things that people loved about the sport.
 
The sport is in desperate need of some rivalries like there have been in the not so distant past. Part of the problem is that drivers and owners, understandably in today's economy, are so afraid to say or do what's on their minds that the sport has become somewhat boring.

Plus, the new car sucks, it is a failure. Almost every race, the couple or so teams that have the car figured out just leave the pack once they get out front. It takes about 20 laps or so for another car to even get on pace to catch up, even if the car in second is the faster car in clean air. Anyone else notice that or am I too drunk on Sundays?
 
My observation is simply this.Nascar has done a great job of attracting new fans over the past twenty years.Using the "star system" they have made new Jeff Gordon fans ,new Junior fans, new Kasey Kane fans, new Smoke fans,new Jimmy Johnson fans ,etc. . Mostly they are women and kids. None are "racing fans". When their driver ain't winnin , they lose interest quickly.Nascar , by introducing the "chase system" has left out many of these fans. When people say that Junior needs to be in the chase. They are right.Now they are trying to make Danica the next star. She will be an idol to many ladies and young girls. If she is not in the chase,why would they watch?
 
chromehorn said:
The sport is in desperate need of some rivalries like there have been in the not so distant past. Part of the problem is that drivers and owners, understandably in today's economy, are so afraid to say or do what's on their minds that the sport has become somewhat boring.

Plus, the new car sucks, it is a failure. Almost every race, the couple or so teams that have the car figured out just leave the pack once they get out front. It takes about 20 laps or so for another car to even get on pace to catch up, even if the car in second is the faster car in clean air. Anyone else notice that or am I too drunk on Sundays?
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It's the Chase, not the COT. What used to be really good races (Bristol Night Race, Richmond) are now races building up to the Chase. So everyone's being conservative trying to make the Chase and the end result is a horrible bore. There hasn't been a good Bristol Night Race since 2003 (before the sorry ass Chase).
 
MoMike said:
Yeah, they're basically " NHRA funnycars" designed to go around corners.
MoMike
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The exact same "NHRA funnycars" that is.

Nascar also doesn't understand in this day and age of everything coming to people instantly like ipods, iphones, ipads that expecting someone to watch a car race that lasts 3 hours sometimes 3 hours plus with everyone virtually driving the exact same car just isn't going to fly in these days and times. Nascar needs to figure out how to make it exciting again. The Truck and Nationwide races I've seen this year were far more entertaining to watch because of 2 things. The races are shorter and the drivers race every lap. Cup races are too long 350 mile races are just as long as they need to be. Again JMO.

Also how about the driver that wins the most races wins the championship like it used to be and is in every other race series.
 
ESPN's live telecast of the NASCAR Sprint Cup race at Kansas Speedway on Sunday, Oct. 3, earned a final national household coverage rating of 2.7 (U.S. rating 2.3), averaging 3,741,683 viewers, according to the Nielsen Company. Last year's race aired on ABC and earned a 3.2 rating.
 
I wonder if nascar and the drivers have figured out yet that if the races were worth watching people might watch.:confused: Instead they blame it on everything except the product itself, the race.
 
ted@economy said:
My observation is simply this.Nascar has done a great job of attracting new fans over the past twenty years.Using the "star system" they have made new Jeff Gordon fans ,new Junior fans, new Kasey Kane fans, new Smoke fans,new Jimmy Johnson fans ,etc. . Mostly they are women and kids. None are "racing fans". When their driver ain't winnin , they lose interest quickly.Nascar , by introducing the "chase system" has left out many of these fans. When people say that Junior needs to be in the chase. They are right.Now they are trying to make Danica the next star. She will be an idol to many ladies and young girls. If she is not in the chase,why would they watch?
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Very good point!:beerbang:
 
ted@economy said:
My observation is simply this.Nascar has done a great job of attracting new fans over the past twenty years.Using the "star system" they have made new Jeff Gordon fans ,new Junior fans, new Kasey Kane fans, new Smoke fans,new Jimmy Johnson fans ,etc. . Mostly they are women and kids. None are "racing fans". When their driver ain't winnin , they lose interest quickly.Nascar , by introducing the "chase system" has left out many of these fans. When people say that Junior needs to be in the chase. They are right.Now they are trying to make Danica the next star. She will be an idol to many ladies and young girls. If she is not in the chase,why would they watch?
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As a Kasey Kahne fan and a Bill Elliott fan before that I don't lose intrest when my drivers not winning, i was a fan for 6 years before I saw my driver win. But I'm glad so many people always like to turn me into a none race fan thanks:sarcasm:
 
kkfan91 said:
As a Kasey Kahne fan and a Bill Elliott fan before that I don't lose intrest when my drivers not winning, i was a fan for 6 years before I saw my driver win. But I'm glad so many people always like to turn me into a none race fan thanks:sarcasm:
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I don't want to turn you into a none anything.If it makes you feel any better,I will take out the Kasey Kane and put in Kyle Busch.Then if you will re read it ,you might understand it better.
 
Saw this on Daly's blog

ESPN's live telecast of the NASCAR Sprint Cup race at Kansas Speedway on Sunday, Oct. 3, earned a final national household coverage rating of 2.3, averaging 3.7 million viewers, according to the Nielsen Company. Last year's race aired on ABC and earned a 3.2 rating

To put these numbers in yet another perspective, last week's Jersey Shore on MTV attracted 6.7 million viewers on cable while Sunday Night Football boasted 15.9 million on broadcast TV.
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Ouch. 3 million more people watched Jersey Shore over the race. Not to mention those are the viewers that sponsors want the most (age 35 and under crowd)
 
Where has NASCAR's TV audience gone?

Heck, by the time the season gets to Homestead, I may be the only one watching! :rolleyes:

From THATSRACIN.COM

What’s going on with NASCAR’s TV audience?

Over the past three weeks, according to weekly Nielsen Media Research numbers, NASCAR has lost an average of a fourth of its viewing audience from one year ago at the start of the Chase.

Ratings for the Chase for the Sprint Cup opener at New Hampshire were off 28 percent. Dover was off 23 percent and figures from Sunday’s race at Kansas show a 28 percent drop from one year ago.

Folks, those are huge numbers. Even worse is the fact it’s developing into a very disturbing pattern.

Don’t get me wrong, it’s no secret TV ratings have been flat or down slightly most of this season, but there’s something more going on here when such a precipitous drop coincides with what is supposed to be the biggest part of your season – the crowning of the Cup series champion.

I don’t for one minute believe the big drops beginning with the Chase is mere coincidence. So what is it?

Everyone has theories. Here are the most common:

– It’s because the races are on ESPN this year instead of ABC. That seems plausible to me except that an ESPN executive dismissed that reason in an interview last week discussing the ratings drop.

– It’s because the races are running up against the NFL. Well, maybe if that was new. But races and football have run side-by-side for nearly 60 years now.

– It’s the new 1 p.m. start time for most races. Well, that might make sense, except that NASCAR and its networks made the change to the earlier start times because “fans asked for it.” Did they all suddenly change their mind?

Or could it be the elephant in the room – the Chase. Perhaps fans who took a look at it when it debuted in 2004 have soured on it. Perhaps those who didn’t like it to begin with, simply aren’t watching or not caring.

I don’t know the answer.

But I can tell you this: Everyone in NASCAR – not just executives – but everyone who has a stake in stock car racing had best hope someone can find out why this is going on and attempt to fix it fast.

It’s not a trend that is going to help, especially if it gets any worse.
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I'm going with the elephant in the room and the move from network to 'cable only' for the Chase. I don't care what any ESPN executive says. What else would he say? He works for the network in question. As more recent years have gone by there has been a steady decline in viewers for all of the races from one year to the next. That continued throughout this season right up to the Chase. The Chase ratings have dropped significantly this year. A much higher percentage than the reset of the races. I think a big test for this will be when the Charlotte race is televised. It's the only Chase race on network television as it has been in previous years so the ESPN factor will be out of the equation and a fair comparison can be made. While the ratings will surely be lower than previous years, I don't think that there will be the 20% + drop that we've been seeing on the last three Chase races. We'll know in a couple weeks.

I can't really come up with an answer to fix it because I still watch it. I'm not part of that number that's dropping off every week/year. I'm still a fan of the sport. While I don't like the Chase format and can certainly understand how that could have driven many from the sport it hasn't me, yet. I still watch all of the races. I still go to about as many as I always have and the only thing that keeps me away from more are obligations on the home front. It's far to late to eliminate the Chase without admitting that it was a complete failure of an experiment. I think that they'll continue to try to tinker with this thing for some time to come and the sport will continue to suffer because of it.
 
It has to be the chase it self and the fact that JJ is leading again.
 
Mopardh9 said:
It has to be the chase it self and the fact that JJ is leading again.
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JJ leading can't be the reason the previous ratings were down, he just got the lead last weekend.
I don't really blame the races being on ESPN for it either. I blame Nascar. It doesn't matter what station the races are on, as long as you have the drivers outside the chase scared to race a chase driver for position, you're going to have a boring race. From what I've watched, even ABC couldn't have made some of these races better to watch. As long as they just concentrate on the chase drivers and where they are running at and not actual racing on the track, you're going to have a boring race. As long as all they can talk about is 12 drivers out of 43, people will lose interest. And it gets way old to hear 50 times during a race, "if the race were to end now here's what the points would look like", even though there is over 200 more laps to go.(I really hate that one)
 
The elephant isn't the move from ABC to ESPN. Monday Night Football has done just fine, and they did the same move a few years ago.

The REAL elephant is something that no one in NASCAR seems to want to admit: The product stinks. Why does the product stink?

  • Generic cars that the audience doesn't care about
  • Corporate Sponsors have turned the sport into one long commercial
  • NASCAR hasn't been able to adapt to changing American habits


This is all about leadership. Unfortunately, NASCAR doesn't have any.
 
sloggie said:
The elephant isn't the move from ABC to ESPN. Monday Night Football has done just fine, and they did the same move a few years ago.

The REAL elephant is something that no one in NASCAR seems to want to admit: The product stinks. Why does the product stink?

  • Generic cars that the audience doesn't care about
  • Corporate Sponsors have turned the sport into one long commercial
  • NASCAR hasn't been able to adapt to changing American habits


This is all about leadership. Unfortunately, NASCAR doesn't have any.
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No, the elephant in the room is the Chase, not the switch to ESPN. Read the article that I posted. Also, ESPN did see a decline in the ratings as compared to ABC. They had a 36% decrease in their audience when they first moved to ESPN. That's far more than what is currently the case with NASCAR. However, that was also at a time that far fewer homes had ESPN than today and I realize that. But to think for a second that the transition from ABC to ESPN isn't part of the reason for the ratings decline is foolish IMO.

Generic cars..... I agree. There's no doubt that has bother some people, big time.

One long commercial..... It's pretty much always been that. Sponsors drive the sport and there's no getting around that with the system that's been in place for a long, long time.

Changing habits..... That's pretty open ended. I'm not sure exactly what habits you're talking about.

Flashback to the NFL transition from ABC to ESPN.....

Monday Night Football ratings good, but not as good as ABC's

The game broadcast of Monday Night Football on ESPN didn't have the ratings heft of Monday Night Football on ABC, but it did produce the largest viewing audience in ESPN's history, and ESPN's day-long celebration of the event on television and on the Internet drew sufficient viewers to win praise as a "clear winner" from network president George Bodenheimer.

The Vikings-Redskins game had an average audience of 9.177 million households, marking the first time ESPN has delivered an average audience of more than nine million. It ranks second in cable television history behind CNN's NAFTA debate in 1993 between Vice President Al Gore and Ross Perot, which delivered an average audience of 11.1 million households.

"Monday Night Football is a clear winner for ESPN," Bodenheimer said. "We're thrilled that fans enjoyed our new day-long, multimedia approach to this storied franchise."

But while Monday Night Football brought unprecedented success to ESPN, it drew only about two-thirds the number of eyeballs that Monday Night Football drew to ABC.

Bear with me while I crunch the numbers.

ESPN is seen in 92.285 million homes, which represents about 83 percent of U.S. television households. ABC, of course, is available in 100 percent of households.

ESPN announced that it had a 9.9 rating for the Vikings and Redskins. But when you multiply that by .83, for its share of total households, you come up with a national household rating of 8.2. That compares to a 13.0 rating for last year's Monday Night Football opener on ABC.

ESPN also reported a total audience of 12.57 million viewers for the game. ABC had 19.598 million for last year's opener.

ESPN's audience, therefore, is down 36 percent from ABC's audience a year ago.

As we said earlier, ESPN is available in 83 percent of households and theoretically should have just a drop of 17 percentage points from ABC's audience. In reality, it lost 36 percentage points - about double what should have been expected.

The second game between the Chargers and Raiders had an 8.5 cable rating and an average audience of 7.8 million households, for an equivalent household Nielsen rating of 7.1.

However, keep this in mind: ESPN is laying off the annual $1.1 billion price of Monday Night Football over its 11 assorted media properties, including ESPN Radio, ESPN.com and ESPN Deportes. For that matter, I wouldn't be surprised if people are paying a buck each extra for burgers at ESPN Zone restaurants to help pay the freight.

So, in that regard, it is helpful to note that ESPN.com registered 36 million page views Monday night (up from 24.68 million for last year's MNF opener), and that ESPN registered 24.6 total Nielsen ratings points for its universe (20.4 points in household terms) for pre-game shows from noon to 6 p.m. I don't have a figure for what ESPN's ratings are on a normal Monday, but I'll try to get that later for comparison purposes.
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I still think it is the fans.Nascar has grown too big, too fast. I challange you to go down to the local mall and stop the first fan you see in a Danica jacket. Ask her who Harry Gant is or David Pearson . They don't know and don't care. They are one driver fans.If he (or she) ain't winnin , they ain't watchin. Heck,most of the folks posting on this forum can't find a single good thing to say about Nascar racing, the tracks, or the coverage . I don't know if we can call them "fans" ...how can you be a fan of something that you don't like?
 
dpkimmel2001 said:
No, the elephant in the room is the Chase, not the switch to ESPN. Read the article that I posted. Also, ESPN did see a decline in the ratings as compared to ABC. They had a 36% decrease in their audience when they first moved to ESPN. That's far more than what is currently the case with NASCAR. However, that was also at a time that far fewer homes had ESPN than today and I realize that. But to think for a second that the transition from ABC to ESPN isn't part of the reason for the ratings decline is foolish IMO.

Generic cars..... I agree. There's no doubt that has bother some people, big time.

One long commercial..... It's pretty much always been that. Sponsors drive the sport and there's no getting around that with the system that's been in place for a long, long time.

Changing habits..... That's pretty open ended. I'm not sure exactly what habits you're talking about.

Flashback to the NFL transition from ABC to ESPN.....
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Here is why I say it's not just the chase
http://www.jayski.com/pages/tvratings2010.htm

Compare the 2007 ratings to the 2010 ratings. They are mostly down across all races.

Side note: The habits I'm talking about is stuff like not having 4+ hours to sit and watch a race on TV anymore.
 
The real real elephant is the people who won't stop whining and complaining and think that not watching is better. Get over it and watch.
 
sloggie said:
Here is why I say it's not just the chase
http://www.jayski.com/pages/tvratings2010.htm

Compare the 2007 ratings to the 2010 ratings. They are mostly down across all races.

Side note: The habits I'm talking about is stuff like not having 4+ hours to sit and watch a race on TV anymore.
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I posted the same link back on post #29 of this thread. I based my opinion on the same thing that you are looking at. And, yes they are down across the board but no where as significantly as they have been between the transition from ABC to ESPN. That's the point that I was trying to make.
 
kkfan91 said:
The real real elephant is the people who won't stop whining and complaining and think that not watching is better. Get over it and watch.
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If they didn't think it was good why would they watch, that is in essence the point. Bad product=declining viewers, pretty simple really.
 
To me the products not declining
 
I think it's very popular to bash NASCAR, the drivers, and the fans. In turn, it has caused some people not to turn in any more. That's just one part of it.

On another note, the NFL's ratings are up over last year. Attendance isn't as good as last year, but ratings are up.
 
MRM said:
I think it's very popular to bash NASCAR, the drivers, and the fans. In turn, it has caused some people not to turn in any more. That's just one part of it.

On another note, the NFL's ratings are up over last year. Attendance isn't as good as last year, but ratings are up.
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Exactly I can count several people from a different forum who are driven away by the constant state of negativity
 
kkfan91 said:
Exactly I can count several people from a different forum who are driven away by the constant state of negativity
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People let the negativity of other people drive them away from watching nascar? If they did, they wasn't really fans.
 
JustMe said:
People let the negativity of other people drive them away from watching nascar? If they did, they wasn't really fans.
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Wait wait wait but the old fans who leave cause they are annoyed by the sport are....
 
kkfan91 said:
Wait wait wait but the old fans who leave cause they are annoyed by the sport are....
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They're showing up at their local short tracks, something these new fans won't do.

You know how many "die-hard NASCAR fans" around DC/Baltimore don't even know Old Dominion Speedway exists. When I tell them about it, they won't show up because their favorite NASCAR driver doesn't race there.

Just like these race fans who promised Andy Hillenburg they'd show up at The Rock when that track reopened and have yet to show up because Spitcup doesn't race there.

Or a certain writer who has never been to a short track in their life yet comments on how NASCAR handles things exactly like short tracks do.
 
AndyMarquisLive said:
Where do you live? How often have you been to your local short track?
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For the love of God drop the "support your local short track" junk. It's getting old. My local short tracks racing sucks and I hate toothless uneducated rednecks with a passion, that's why I don't go. Why don't you become a promoter and try to change that instead of posting your ignorant complaining all the time.
 
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