NASCAR - Television Ratings Thread

AtomicPunk55 said:
According to the ratings mavens here it doesn't matter how low they go. The conventional wisdom is that as long as Nascar is the number 1 rated auto series in the nation it doesn't matter if 500,000 people watch and 10,000 show up at the track as it will always business as usual. I am not saying this group is right or wrong as all I know about ratings is the actual number and how the group is broken down demographically. To the best of my knowledge the most desired group falls between 18-34 but that may have changed as I don't follow that sort of thing closely.

I have not seen "the ratings don't matter" idea validated by any experts and in most respects it is not surprising as normally the more popular the more you are rewarded and vice versa.
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I'm one of those people that doesn't think the ratings matter. I should clarify, and say that the rating don't matter to me as a fan. Lower ratings means cheaper tickets, less crowds, etc. If I was a Billionaire owner it would be different, but I think those guys can handle themselves.;)
 
dpkimmel2001 said:
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To give everyone a snapshot of the ratings for Talladega:
2018 - 2.8 overnight
2017 - Lowest rated Talladega race since 1998. It pulled a 3.4

The rainout in 2006 had a 3.8 overnight.

One has to wonder when the (cough, cough) NASCAR press is ever going to address the elephant in the room and ask the questions about when and how NASCAR is going to right the ship.
 
Could be just me but I'm hard pressed to see how this whole decline in ratings is going to affect me. As an attending fan is it going to be the cheaper ticket prices, shorter concession lines, quicker bathroom trips during the designated yellows? Maybe the easier egress from the parking lot at the conclusion of the event? As a home viewer am I going to have to search for the other obscure network that it's on a given week? Maybe I'll even have to watch an extra dozen commercials or endure yet another stage?

This sports got a helluva long way to go before it ever gets banished from television. If the network executives are nearly alarmed to the extent of racing-forums.com's Joe Fan, they haven's shown it. Maybe they'll do that by negotiating a cheaper contract next time around? Maybe the current networks pull out completely? In any event, it'll be available to watch and chances are I'm already paying for whatever network it happens to be broadcast on. Chances are you are too.
 
dpkimmel2001 said:
Could be just me but I'm hard pressed to see how this whole decline in ratings is going to affect me. As an attending fan is it going to be the cheaper ticket prices, shorter concession lines, quicker bathroom trips during the designated yellows? Maybe the easier egress from the parking lot at the conclusion of the event? As a home viewer am I going to have to search for the other obscure network that it's on a given week? Maybe I'll even have to watch an extra dozen commercials or endure yet another stage?

This sports got a helluva long way to go before it ever gets banished from television. If the network executives are nearly alarmed to the extent of racing-forums.com's Joe Fan, they haven's shown it. Maybe they'll do that by negotiating a cheaper contract next time around? Maybe the current networks pull out completely? In any event, it'll be available to watch and chances are I'm already paying for whatever network it happens to be broadcast on. Chances are you are too.
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in the face of everything else motorsports coverage is increasing.

IMSA (affiliated with Nascar) 6 years worth.
This enhanced media rights partnership includes a significant increase in network coverage of the WeatherTech Championship over 2018. Three races will broadcast on NBC and there will be more than 45 hours of WeatherTech Championship action televised on the NBC Sports Network (NBCSN) throughout the season.

https://www.imsa.com/news/042018/imsa-nbc-sports-group-announce-six-year-partnership-begin-2019
 
dpkimmel2001 said:
Could be just me but I'm hard pressed to see how this whole decline in ratings is going to affect me. As an attending fan is it going to be the cheaper ticket prices, shorter concession lines, quicker bathroom trips during the designated yellows? Maybe the easier egress from the parking lot at the conclusion of the event? As a home viewer am I going to have to search for the other obscure network that it's on a given week? Maybe I'll even have to watch an extra dozen commercials or endure yet another stage?

This sports got a helluva long way to go before it ever gets banished from television. If the network executives are nearly alarmed to the extent of racing-forums.com's Joe Fan, they haven's shown it. Maybe they'll do that by negotiating a cheaper contract next time around? Maybe the current networks pull out completely? In any event, it'll be available to watch and chances are I'm already paying for whatever network it happens to be broadcast on. Chances are you are too.
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I must have missed where anyone stated that the sport would be bannished from TV. Could you provide a link to that?
 
StandOnIt said:
in the face of everything else motorsports coverage is increasing.

IMSA (affiliated with Nascar) 6 years worth.
This enhanced media rights partnership includes a significant increase in network coverage of the WeatherTech Championship over 2018. Three races will broadcast on NBC and there will be more than 45 hours of WeatherTech Championship action televised on the NBC Sports Network (NBCSN) throughout the season.

https://www.imsa.com/news/042018/imsa-nbc-sports-group-announce-six-year-partnership-begin-2019
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For a sport that is in such drastic decline, there sure is a whole helluva lot of it on television.

Personally, I spend little time being concerned if the networks are getting a return on their investment. I am not and never have been affiliated with any broadcast network of any type. Well, other than paying their high demands monthly..... until recently, but I digress. I don't sell advertising for networks carrying NASCAR related content so this whole ratings thing has little to no impact on me whatsoever.

I post the numbers occasionally but I don't really get too caught up in them.
 
TexasRaceLady said:
You can, of course, continue the fight in Private.

I think he was posting his opinion --- no harm in that. And I, too, sincerely doubt that NASCAR will ever disappear from TV.
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I didn't start the fight. The same guy who you edited last time did. I hope you realize that. My edit due to edits comment was about me pulling my own edit to my post so you didn't have to do it.

I've never implied that it won't be on TV. If Indy is on TV then NASCAR will be somewhere, on some channel, at some hour. I don't see how me providing a comparison of the overnights gets us to NASCAR not being on TV though.
 
Towmater said:
I've never implied that it won't be on TV. If Indy is on TV then NASCAR will be somewhere, on some channel, at some hour. I don't see how me providing a comparison of the overnights gets us to NASCAR not being on TV though.
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I was the one that said NASCAR wouldn't be banished from television. I was commenting to the thread. If it were in response to you, I would have quoted you.
 
dpkimmel2001 said:
I was the one that said NASCAR wouldn't be banished from television. I was commenting to the thread. If it were in response to you, I would have quoted you.
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I wasn't posting in response to you. I quoted who I was chatting with.
 
StandOnIt said:
I encouraged you to make a list for the press to address the elephant in the room. It is always interesting to see what some think and make out of a TV rating.
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Why? They wouldn't address it. They might loose their credentials. Hard to be a cheerleader when you aren't allowed to go to the game.
 
Towmater said:
One has to wonder when the (cough, cough) NASCAR press is ever going to address the elephant in the room and ask the questions about when and how NASCAR is going to right the ship.
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Perhaps you haven't seen the constant stream of articles and round table discussions about trends in the business of Nascar? They are everywhere, and many are linked here in the plethora of threads announcing and celebrating Nascar's demise. I'm really not sure what more the Nascar press could do to address that "elephant." What do you think they should do?
StandOnIt said:
in the face of everything else motorsports coverage is increasing.

IMSA (affiliated with Nascar) 6 years worth.
This enhanced media rights partnership includes a significant increase in network coverage of the WeatherTech Championship over 2018. Three races will broadcast on NBC and there will be more than 45 hours of WeatherTech Championship action televised on the NBC Sports Network (NBCSN) throughout the season.

https://www.imsa.com/news/042018/imsa-nbc-sports-group-announce-six-year-partnership-begin-2019
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Hopefully this means the end forever of Justin Bell on TV. That clown makes Michael Waltrip look like a bona fide journalist in comparison..:mad:

BTW, I understand the Discovery network is also stepping up their racing coverage... WEC sports cars I think. And the CBS sports network is also adding more hours of racing coverge. And so is BeIN Sports.
 
Paying attention to NASCAR's TV ratings is a valid interest. They have relevance and impact on various aspects of the sport. For those who have no interest in TV ratings, it would probably be advisable to not hang out in the "Television Ratings Thread". When the crowing about declining ratings invades many other threads, that is overkill and an obstacle to discussing other subjects. I have no interest in fantasy racing games, and you'll never see me in the threads for them telling others their interest is harshing my buzz. In truth I'm glad that they allow others another avenue to be invested in watching the races.

I'm no longer interested in parsing ratings race to race. They have all been down double digits in 2018. This is another severe correction that won't be 'fixed' in the near term by anyone's pet preferences. I was interested in pointing out that some exaggerate the incredible popularity of plate racing, and this week's numbers bear that out. The race had the same overnight rating as Las Vegas, 0.1 higher than Phoenix, and 0.4 higher than Auto Club. In truth Daytona and Talladega are popular historic venues, and the current plate races there aside from the Daytona 500 are slightly more popular than other large speedway races. Plate racing is not a panacea. That's all I'll say for this week.
 
gnomesayin said:
Paying attention to NASCAR's TV ratings is a valid interest. They have relevance and impact on various aspects of the sport. For those who have no interest in TV ratings, it would probably be advisable to not hang out in the "Television Ratings Thread". When the crowing about declining ratings invades many other threads, that is overkill and an obstacle to discussing other subjects. I have no interest in fantasy racing games, and you'll never see me in the threads for them telling others their interest is harshing my buzz. In truth I'm glad that they allow others another avenue to be invested in watching the races.

I'm no longer interested in parsing ratings race to race. They have all been down double digits in 2018. This is another severe correction that won't be 'fixed' in the near term by anyone's pet preferences. I was interested in pointing out that some exaggerate the incredible popularity of plate racing, and this week's numbers bear that out. The race had the same overnight rating as Las Vegas, 0.1 higher than Phoenix, and 0.4 higher than Auto Club. In truth Daytona and Talladega are popular historic venues, and the current plate races there aside from the Daytona 500 are slightly more popular than other large speedway races. Plate racing is not a panacea. That's all I'll say for this week.
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nobody said they were a panacea. They get good numbers, Daytona gets higher numbers than Indy 500 for the Indycars.
 
Make of this what you will. Seems of interest given last week's discussion about the amount of ad time during races.



 
They covered up more than that when they didn't have stages tragically. Not that the newest commercial fest is ideal.

 
StandOnIt said:
another pretty worthless piece of information without any figures. It sure would be interesting if he took the effort to illustrate some of his claims.
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The figures are in the images.

79% of race broadcast shown this year. 81% last year.

That FOX would actually think we're dumb enough to take "Uhhhhh we aired fewer commercial spots than last year" at face value without thinking we would recognize this year's race was over half an hour shorter is insulting.
 
FWIW - I do care about ratings, not because I have any personal reason to give a **** or feel popular or anything, but I don't think anyone can deny that it plays a large role in the commercial aspect of the sport, and I do care about that.
 
FLRacingFan said:
The figures are in the images.

79% of race broadcast shown this year. 81% last year.

That FOX would actually think we're dumb enough to take "Uhhhhh we aired fewer commercial spots than last year" at face value without thinking we would recognize this year's race was over half an hour shorter is insulting.
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I see what he is talking about, I blew up his tweet so I could make sense out of it. yeah they laid them on us.
 
These stats that hover around 20% of the race being commercials are actually lower than the current averages for both network TV (about 24% ads) and cable TV (about 27%). Some of that gap is surely made up in the blitz of ads that air pre- and post-race, but that's where you'd want the ads to be loaded.

https://www.mediapost.com/publicati...rter-duration-tv-commercials-on-the-rise.html

That is probably the better defense of current practices, though I don't know about stats for average commercial time in sports broadcasting specifically.
 
I wish they kept track of commercials shown during racing and during cautions. Gluck had a guy and that is fine, but it would be better if Jayski, or ESPN did it. I have no doubt now that they crammed more commercials into the Dega broadcast, but when and where is pretty vague. I agree there are too many, but I also know somebody has to get paid and it is a live event.
 
On the TV broadcast, the grandstands at Talladega looked full.

Was glad to see them full, especially after the amazingly awful attendance (or lack thereof) at Bristol a few weeks ago.
 
Some of the numbers in detail. Talladega went from about 5.9 million last year down to about 4.75 this year. Even though that's down 1.15 million, this was the most viewed Cup race since Atlanta (it ranks 3rd for the season). Cup is down an average of 1.4 million from this point a year ago.

When I first saw the Xfinity numbers for Talladega, I thought they might be better than a year ago, but they came up just short. Down from around 2.0 million last year to 1.9 million this year....so only a drop of 100,000. Right now, Xfinity is down an average of 342,000 from this point a year ago. Worth mentioning that this race at Talladega has been the most-viewed so far this season, eclipsing the season-opening race at Daytona by about 50,000 viewers (essentially the same audience).
 
PeopleAreStrange said:
On the TV broadcast, the grandstands at Talladega looked full.

Was glad to see them full, especially after the amazingly awful attendance (or lack thereof) at Bristol a few weeks ago.
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Not me...I am enjoying this lack of attendance at NASCAR races. Gives you plenty of room in the grandstands to spread out and be comfortable. Now with the tracks removing 1,000s of seats they are starting to pack you back in. When that happens I will stop going again.
 
DIDIT said:
Not me...I am enjoying this lack of attendance at NASCAR races. Gives you plenty of room in the grandstands to spread out and be comfortable. Now with the tracks removing 1,000s of seats they are starting to pack you back in. When that happens I will stop going again.
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I like it because I can wait and see what the weather is going to do before going, and show up the day of the race and get a halfway decent seat. 10 years ago you had to buy weeks in advance. That's exactly what I'm doing with Dover this weekend.
 
DIDIT said:
Not me...I am enjoying this lack of attendance at NASCAR races. Gives you plenty of room in the grandstands to spread out and be comfortable. Now with the tracks removing 1,000s of seats they are starting to pack you back in. When that happens I will stop going again.
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Sounds like what the stands were like at the Indy 500 during the 100th running. Glad we bought tickets that were under cover. It was hot and there was a ton of people. Biggest crowd I've ever been in.
 
I think my original prediction will hold true, once we get out of May sweeps, the drops will continue to get worse. We nearly hit a 20% drop for what is traditionally the 2nd most watched race of the season, once we get into the summer months the drops will be well over 20%, with a few races flirting with going below a million viewers once the nfl season starts.

For me anyways, this was sort of the make or break race, and it failed. My driver is retired, and the product has been lackluster at best. I’m less than a casual at this point.
 
joe h said:
I think my original prediction will hold true, once we get out of May sweeps, the drops will continue to get worse. We nearly hit a 20% drop for what is traditionally the 2nd most watched race of the season, once we get into the summer months the drops will be well over 20%, with a few races flirting with going below a million viewers once the nfl season starts.

For me anyways, this was sort of the make or break race, and it failed. My driver is retired, and the product has been lackluster at best. I’m less than a casual at this point.
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There's too much of a core fan base to keep a Cup race from dropping below a million. The average Xfinity race this year is drawing 1.25 million viewers, and I always consider people who take the time to watch the Xfinity races as being the core.

4 of the top 5 races in viewership last year have already taken place (only 1 left is the Brickyard). What I'm getting at is I look for last year's numbers to catch up with this year's numbers, and that some of this year's numbers could end up being better.

I've said it before and I'll say it again, the racing itself doesn't seem to be the problem. The problem I see is what you said in your last paragraph, and that's the sport doesn't have enough name drivers for the casual person to be attracted to at the moment. With the loss of Dale Jr., Danica, Gordon, Stewart, and Edwards (and I'm sure I'm leaving some names out), that's a big hit to take in a short amount of time. It's just a matter of whether or not that void gets filled in the next several years.
 
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