NASCAR - Television Ratings Thread

FLRacingFan said:
SMW never reported on the overnight. The final dropped from a 2.1 to a 2.0, whereas last year it increased from a 2.1 overnight to a 2.2 final. One is reporting on what comes out Monday and the other on what comes out Tuesday.
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The fall in ratings and those amounts seem to cause a great deal of discomfort to some. The crater in viewership lost is HUGE. Sports Media Watch really provides an impressive picture of how many have left and in what time period.
 
The numbers are the numbers and shouldn't make anyone happy, sad or especially defensive.
 
"NBC earned a 2.5 overnight rating... off from a 2.7 for last year's race."
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I don't know if the ratings this year suffered from the retirement of Dale Jr., but next year is gonna be brutal now that Cole Whitt is hanging up his helmet...:D
 
Eyeballing things it looks like the initial numbers indicate that year over year viewer erosion is less than 10%. In this day and age that is pretty good.
 
The 2016 race ratings were propped up by a delay that extended it into the NBC Sunday Night Football pregame timeslot. This was widely discussed at the time.

Take that for what you will, it's reality. I'm no fan of the Homestead Bowl format, and so I have no interest in its popularity.
 
I wonder how far back ol Paulsen will have to go this time. I think 2010 plus or minus one year will probably get drama boys click bait done.
 
Good, bad or indifferent the numbers are the numbers. It doesn’t matter if they are uttered with Cronkite solemnity or bellowed with a Billy Idol sneer.

It is ludicrous to blame Nascar’s pitfalls on social media, the way an article is worded or how the series is spoken of. The NFL takes a pounding on severall fronts and no one pays much attention
 
Nascar continues to make money and show a profit, yep the numbers are the numbers. ALS ball is for the tax paying masses, most of them don't know come here from sic em. go team
 
gnomesayin said:
The 2016 race ratings were propped up by a delay that extended it into the NBC Sunday Night Football pregame timeslot. This was widely discussed at the time.

Take that for what you will, it's reality. I'm no fan of the Homestead Bowl format, and so I have no interest in its popularity.
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It's been declining for over 10 years, whether it was propped up in 2016 or not is besides the point. It's a steady downward spiral.
 
gnomesayin said:
The 2016 race ratings were propped up by a delay that extended it into the NBC Sunday Night Football pregame timeslot. This was widely discussed at the time.

Take that for what you will, it's reality. I'm no fan of the Homestead Bowl format, and so I have no interest in its popularity.
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Viewership peak was 6:15-6:30 last year for a 6:44 finish. I think that's around where this year was. 6:45-7 in 2016 and 7:45-7:56 in 2015. The one massive outlier, 2015, peaked at 12.4M.
 
StandOnIt said:
Nascar continues to make money and show a profit, yep the numbers are the numbers. ALS ball is for the tax paying masses, most of them don't know come here from sic em. go team
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IDK why you feel some writer has it in for Nascar or how his way of expressing things makes any diff. You are right that the numbers are the numbers and they tell a good part of any story.
 
StandOnIt said:
I watch the cars on the track, and leave the seat counting to those that are interested in that excitement.
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Same here as when I watch a sporting event I watch it to see the event. The size of the crowd has no bearing on my enjoyment of the event either. I guess I am not defensive about attendance at sporting events as I can’t change it. The Chargers have terrible attendance as do the ‘Yotes. No skin off my snout.
 
I asked very politely that the private pissing match that was going on in this thread go OFF the open forum.
Some chose to continue. I removed those posts that were not discussion ---
If you wish to discuss the TV ratings, please continue. But stop baiting/trolling each other with statements designed
to aggravate and get a war of words going again.
Put your snarky remarks to each other into Private Messages and have at it.

And, yes, I've had members sending me PMs about the behavior of some.
 
Mopardh9 said:
Less seats ...less money NASCAR gets, less exposure the sport gets, the more it contracts. Not a good thing.
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With the current broadcast deal I don’t think any of the tracks have to sell seats to remain profitable. However your point is well taken and if Nascar can’t attain the same kind of broadcast deal next time around several tracks will be hurting.
 
IanMcVittie said:
With the current broadcast deal I don’t think any of the tracks have to sell seats to remain profitable. However your point is well taken and if Nascar can’t attain the same kind of broadcast deal next time around several tracks will be hurting.
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No way NASCAR gets even close to the tv contract they have now. No network is going to dish out that kind cash for a declining product.
 
Mopardh9 said:
No way NASCAR gets even close to the tv contract they have now. No network is going to dish out that kind cash for a declining product.
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I hear you but I never thought sane men and women would give such great money and term the last time around. FOX and NBC didn’t even have anyone bidding against them.
 
It's very simple actually. If you don't like all the changes NASCAR has implemented in the past few years you should be happy that the ratings are so bad. Can you imagine if the ratings were improving? We would see even more gimmicks, more playoffs, more cookie-cutter tracks.

But if ratings keep dropping maybe, maybe, at some point someone will come to his senses and say: you know what, let's go back to our roots, to what was working before we decided to fix something that was not broken. And get rid of all those stupid gimmicks that are driving fans away.

That's why I am happy that the ratings are dropping like a rock . The faster the better.
 
mathematician said:
It's very simple actually. If you don't like all the changes NASCAR has implemented in the past few years you should be happy that the ratings are so bad. Can you imagine if the ratings were improving? We would see even more gimmicks, more playoffs, more cookie-cutter tracks.

But if ratings keep dropping maybe, maybe, at some point someone will come to his senses and say: you know what, let's go back to our roots, to what was working before we decided to fix something that was not broken. And get rid of all those stupid gimmicks that are driving fans away.

That's why I am happy that the ratings are dropping like a rock . The faster the better.
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It won't matter, Nascar will just keep throwing gimmicks at us until there isn't anything there to throw at.
 
mathematician said:
It's very simple actually. If you don't like all the changes NASCAR has implemented in the past few years you should be happy that the ratings are so bad. Can you imagine if the ratings were improving? We would see even more gimmicks, more playoffs, more cookie-cutter tracks.

But if ratings keep dropping maybe, maybe, at some point someone will come to his senses and say: you know what, let's go back to our roots, to what was working before we decided to fix something that was not broken. And get rid of all those stupid gimmicks that are driving fans away.

That's why I am happy that the ratings are dropping like a rock . The faster the better.
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Interesting comment and reflected in what the new head of NASCAR stated to the press. Everything is on the table. Noting the ratings and the lack of people in the stands it needs to be and it seems that finally someone took notice. Who knows maybe the possible sale and how the fall in ratings/sale of tickets have hurt NASCAR's value might have been a part of it?

I hope he changes the sport for the better and pivots away from the sport being screwed by the history of "what would ______________________ (fill in the name of the driver) do?" or "That ain't how ______________ (fill in driver/historical NASCAR figure) did it."
 
Good to see Gluck’s polls put together. I didn’t watch the ASR and didn’t pay attention to the aftermath as it was just a gimmick to me.

It will be interesting to see as the year goes on if people gravitate toward the new rules or if another double digit decrease is in store. I do think a small number of people will watch less races because of it and a small number will watch more because of it.
 
from sportsmediawatch

NASCAR Ends Bad Season With Record-Low
Homestead rating lowest ever
A NASCAR season marked by declining ratings ended with a record-low at Homestead.

Last Sunday’s NASCAR Cup Series finale from Homestead earned a 2.5 rating and 4.15 million viewers on NBC, down 11% in ratings and viewership from last year (2.8, 4.66M) and down 29% and 32% respectively from 2016 (3.5, 6.08M).

Joey Logano’s Cup-clinching win delivered the lowest rating in the history of the race (dates back to 1999) and the smallest audience since at least 2001. The previous lows were set last year.

As recently as three years ago, the race had a 4.4 rating and 7.6 million viewers on NBC.
 
mathematician said:
from sportsmediawatch

NASCAR Ends Bad Season With Record-Low
Homestead rating lowest ever
A NASCAR season marked by declining ratings ended with a record-low at Homestead.

Last Sunday’s NASCAR Cup Series finale from Homestead earned a 2.5 rating and 4.15 million viewers on NBC, down 11% in ratings and viewership from last year (2.8, 4.66M) and down 29% and 32% respectively from 2016 (3.5, 6.08M).

Joey Logano’s Cup-clinching win delivered the lowest rating in the history of the race (dates back to 1999) and the smallest audience since at least 2001. The previous lows were set last year.

As recently as three years ago, the race had a 4.4 rating and 7.6 million viewers on NBC.
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Not good news for Nascar, I know I didn't watch one lap of it, football took precedent.
 
I see many of you are putting the downward trend all on Nascar's shoulders.
Let's be fair and Give Brian credit for much of of the gimmicks. At the same time we
must also credit him for the increase in Nascar's bottom line and the fact the tracks
are making good money as well.
Another thing that has to be taken into account is the fact that Corporate America at one time was very satisfied with a 10% profit each year. Accounting has changed very much over the years, much of it is a bare face lie to investors and as a result a company not showing 30% is in trouble.
Much of what Nascar (Brian) has done over the last years is to increase the bottom line regardless of fan pleasure and so here we are. Now they must address their error and start
being more fan friendly. Reading some posts on here, you can understand that if some people
were given free tickets and a limo ride to and from the track, they would still whine and belittle Nascar because they had to bring their own toilet paper. Those people will never change and will always find fault with Nascar.

I don't really see much difference in the racing over the last 20 years. The mechanical aspects have improved greatly. Years ago we would try to anticipate who would blow an engine. Today if someone blows an engine it is usually driver error. The top 30 cars are separated by less than
2 laps. Years ago you could see that between 3rd and 4th place cars.

I am going to go out on a limb and say the media is the main reason for a major part of Nascar's decline. When Nascar was at its peak, their was so much coverage and side shows and all saying the same thing people just started to tune out. The race coverage has become so irritating, ( they now have 5 people saying the gibberish every 5 minutes) and the TV audience knows they are going to see very little racing they may as well watch the highlights later.

You give a kid a candy when he has done his homework, the bribe usually works. Give a kid candy for breakfast lunch and supper, he don't need to do any work.

The ONLY way Nascar is going to improve is to give LESS but really improve what they give.
I think they have to take control of how the races are presented and stop leaving things up to the networks. That may mean having their own network.

More later. I hope this will encourage posters to have honest conversations and for those who are only interested in tearing down the sport, please go talk politics in the basement.
 
Team Penske said:
I see many of you are putting the downward trend all on Nascar's shoulders.
I am going to go out on a limb and say the media is the main reason for a major part of Nascar's decline. When Nascar was at its peak, their was so much coverage and side shows and all saying the same thing people just started to tune out.
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honestly I don't think that's the reason why ratings are declining so fast. Overexposure is present in every major sport. What about the NBA, the MLB, the NFL ? If I had a dime every time I come across a channel with a show where they talk about the NFL I'd be rich by now.
 
I always thought that the ratings decrease was due to all the obvious reasons and not the announcers. Heck, just cutting back on the commercials might make people tune in.

I’m interested to see how healthy the bottom line of the business model stays when the next TV contract is finalized and the fight/lawsuits that are going to fly if certain tracks have their races cut.
 
Forty year old people grew up with first rides like Chevy Citations and Ford Fairmonts to drive so no wonder the car culture died. All jokes aside NASCAR is a sport that you either gravitate to because you are car crazy or someone has introduced you to it.

The car culture has shriveled and I don’t recall ever reading about a 35 year old father sitting down with his 10 year old son watching a race. Not saying it doesn’t happen but it is not a regular occurrence
 
Towmater said:
I’m interested to see how healthy the bottom line of the business model stays when the next TV contract is finalized and the fight/lawsuits that are going to fly if certain tracks have their races cut.
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"Interested", as in you will be sorely disappointed if the value of the next TV contracts do not steeply decline.

I credit @mathemetician for his honesty. He openly wants the current iteration of NASCAR to fail in hope changes he dislikes will be reversed. His agenda is clear, fair enough.

Why do you predict lawsuits over schedule changes when the sanctioning agreements with tracks end after 2020, and NASCAR and ISC appear poised to combine before then?
 
Team Penske said:
I see many of you are putting the downward trend all on Nascar's shoulders.
Let's be fair and Give Brian credit for much of of the gimmicks. At the same time we
must also credit him for the increase in Nascar's bottom line and the fact the tracks
are making good money as well.
Another thing that has to be taken into account is the fact that Corporate America at one time was very satisfied with a 10% profit each year. Accounting has changed very much over the years, much of it is a bare face lie to investors and as a result a company not showing 30% is in trouble.
Much of what Nascar (Brian) has done over the last years is to increase the bottom line regardless of fan pleasure and so here we are. Now they must address their error and start
being more fan friendly. Reading some posts on here, you can understand that if some people
were given free tickets and a limo ride to and from the track, they would still whine and belittle Nascar because they had to bring their own toilet paper. Those people will never change and will always find fault with Nascar.

I don't really see much difference in the racing over the last 20 years. The mechanical aspects have improved greatly. Years ago we would try to anticipate who would blow an engine. Today if someone blows an engine it is usually driver error. The top 30 cars are separated by less than
2 laps. Years ago you could see that between 3rd and 4th place cars.

I am going to go out on a limb and say the media is the main reason for a major part of Nascar's decline. When Nascar was at its peak, their was so much coverage and side shows and all saying the same thing people just started to tune out. The race coverage has become so irritating, ( they now have 5 people saying the gibberish every 5 minutes) and the TV audience knows they are going to see very little racing they may as well watch the highlights later.

You give a kid a candy when he has done his homework, the bribe usually works. Give a kid candy for breakfast lunch and supper, he don't need to do any work.

The ONLY way Nascar is going to improve is to give LESS but really improve what they give.
I think they have to take control of how the races are presented and stop leaving things up to the networks. That may mean having their own network.

More later. I hope this will encourage posters to have honest conversations and for those who are only interested in tearing down the sport, please go talk politics in the basement.
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I think for the most part racing was good this year, I also think a lot of fans are sick of the constant changes. Stick with something for awhile rather than coming up with another gimmick. I also think this convoluted playoff system has hurt the sport. I like the emphasis on winning, but it also should be put back on consistency, you don't see local tracks using a Chase points system and there's a reason for that. Give the drivers more points for wins, leading the most laps and stop the fake drama. Adding some more short tracks to the schedule, a few more road tracks and you might get some fans back. Change is good, but when you change too much too often then you're going to turn off more people than you're going to attract.
 
Mopardh9 said:
I think for the most part racing was good this year, I also think a lot of fans are sick of the constant changes. Stick with something for awhile rather than coming up with another gimmick. I also think this convoluted playoff system has hurt the sport. I like the emphasis on winning, but it also should be put back on consistency, you don't see local tracks using a Chase points system and there's a reason for that. Give the drivers more points for wins, leading the most laps and stop the fake drama. Adding some more short tracks to the schedule, a few more road tracks and you might get some fans back. Change is good, but when you change too much too often then you're going to turn off more people than you're going to attract.
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I actually largely share your preferences for a traditional points championship with greater emphasis on wins, greater schedule variance, etc. But I don't think it's going to bring the casual masses back.
 
I know I am interested in seeing what the next broadcast deal looks like for Nascar. So much will have changed since the current deal was signed that platforms and other things will likely be different.

I don’t care if the rights fees are more, less or the same as the market will work all that out.
 
IanMcVittie said:
I know I am interested in seeing what the next broadcast deal looks like for Nascar. So much will have changed since the current deal was signed that platforms and other things will likely be different.

I don’t care if the rights fees are more, less or the same as the market will work all that out.
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As stated I'm interested too. Always interested. If the ratings continue their slide the new contract will make things very interesting in NASCARland.
 
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