NASCAR - Television Ratings Thread

Team Penske said:
I scanned it a bit. It seems to me Nascar really has no problem getting their share of fans to watch.
I think their decline is no more than what other sports are experiencing. Many people I have to talked to are not to interested in any of the sports simply because the players are way over paid and many of them have very lose morals.
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To be fair, no other sport is really near peak TV rating season at the moment. The first several races of the season and then again in the summer months when there's nothing else but baseball on NASCAR tends to be the most-watched national TV sporting broadcast. Much of the year tends to follow a particular pattern.

That said, NASCAR definitely experienced a more severe decline than any other sport over the last decade or so, even just the past five years, but so far this season they are at least trending in a better direction than the NBA - which is down somewhere percentage-wise somewhere in the double-digits.
 
Nascar has to be pleased by the respectable year over year ratings results. I think curiosity, something new and people liking the product definitely have something to do with things.

Will people think cars going 4 wide is cool 3 months from now or will they see 4 cars suctioned to the ground and no big deal? Will all the dirty air bother them and will cars stalling out mid pack be OK? Who knows?

I think ratings will be down overall this year but by an acceptable or negligible amount. Will Nascar see this as a mandate to keep going in the current direction?

For me the caveat is the demographic performance. If the audience doesn’t start to get younger there is still a lot of work to do.
 
As someone born in 1997, I can tell you that my age-peers just aren't interested in sports like our parents are. It's not like the MLB is enjoying a glut of young fans either. And with my cousins born in the 00s, it's even worse. Fortnite and PUBG are sports to them.

The perception of NASCAR as a bunch of dumb hicks going in circles (perpetuated by the sanctioning body as often as they try appearing more cosmopolitan) doesn't help. I can't tell you how many times someone has made comments to me along the lines of "I can't believe someone as smart as you would watch NASCAR!" They're absolutely flabbergasted that tracks like Bristol exist or that the last champion from the south was in 2000.
 
Joker said:
As someone born in 1997, I can tell you that my age-peers just aren't interested in sports like our parents are. It's not like the MLB is enjoying a glut of young fans either. And with my cousins born in the 00s, it's even worse. Fortnite and PUBG are sports to them.

The perception of NASCAR as a bunch of dumb hicks going in circles (perpetuated by the sanctioning body as often as they try appearing more cosmopolitan) doesn't help. I can't tell you how many times someone has made comments to me along the lines of "I can't believe someone as smart as you would watch NASCAR!" They're absolutely flabbergasted that tracks like Bristol exist or that the last champion from the south was in 2000.
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Good post and really interesting to me as I don’t know many people in your age group. The guys I do know in your age group are really into gaming and don’t have to go outside much unless it is going to work. They sleep during the day and work a second or third shift job and most live at home. This is a very small sample size and I am not saying what they do is good or bad.

The last time I looked Nascar, MLB and golf had the oldest audiences but just about everyone is getting an older audience as us baby boomers are not getting any younger.

I think what you say about how your friends view Nascar is highly problematic as they see it with scorn. Nascar didn’t get into this problem overnight so it will take a while to change things.
 
dpkimmel2001 said:
We did our part to inflate both the NASCAR & NCAABB ratings in our household. NCAABB is about to rule the ratings in a couple weeks. The selection show is next Sunday and then it's game on.
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Yep, one of the best times of the year. Might make the trip to Jacksonville myself for those first weekend games.
 
Where things stand for the season compared to this weekend a year ago:

Cup down .3% (notice there's a decimal point in front of the 3) so we're virtually flat from a year ago (down an average of only 17,000 per race from this point a year ago). Still making up for the Atlanta drop off. If California gets the same increase that its western counterpart stops got, the year to year numbers for the season will be up.

Xfinity down 3.8% (last year's race was supposed to be on Fox, but rain forced the race itself to air on FS1, so I used the FS1 numbers from last year for comparison.) Using the FS1 numbers, this was the first Xfinity race of the season to be up from a year ago. I think Xfinity is still looking for an identity this season for it to be compelling for people to watch.
 
Joker said:
I will say that once I actually explain some of the intricacies of NASCAR, people usually respect it even if they won't watch it.
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I think there's a lot better chance of getting more people interested by getting them to the track than the tv.
 
Joker said:
As someone born in 1997, I can tell you that my age-peers just aren't interested in sports like our parents are. It's not like the MLB is enjoying a glut of young fans either. And with my cousins born in the 00s, it's even worse. Fortnite and PUBG are sports to them.

The perception of NASCAR as a bunch of dumb hicks going in circles (perpetuated by the sanctioning body as often as they try appearing more cosmopolitan) doesn't help. I can't tell you how many times someone has made comments to me along the lines of "I can't believe someone as smart as you would watch NASCAR!" They're absolutely flabbergasted that tracks like Bristol exist or that the last champion from the south was in 2000.
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What got you interested in watching Nascar and do you attend races??
 
Team Penske said:
What got you interested in watching Nascar and do you attend races??
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Dude I started before I can even remember. I was wearing my Dale Earnhardt Halloween costume during races when I was 3 years old in 2000. My parents were big into it, my dad was a Senior fan and my mom liked Bobby Labonte. Mom stopped watching but I got my dad back into it and he likes Chase.

I've been to Richmond twice, 2012 and 2018.
 
Joker said:
Dude I started before I can even remember. I was wearing my Dale Earnhardt Halloween costume during races when I was 3 years old in 2000. My parents were big into it, my dad was a Senior fan and my mom liked Bobby Labonte. Mom stopped watching but I got my dad back into it and he likes Chase.

I've been to Richmond twice, 2012 and 2018.
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A seasoned fan thanks to your Dad and Mom. Family is what started a lot of people in the sport.
Today there isn't so much a family thing, children are off doing their own thing and the cell phone is their best friend.
Do you agree??
Why don't your friends get involved?
 
Team Penske said:
A seasoned fan thanks to your Dad and Mom. Family is what started a lot of people in the sport.
Today there isn't so much a family thing, children are off doing their own thing and the cell phone is their best friend.
Do you agree??
Why don't your friends get involved?
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This got me to thinking about my involvement in this sport. As a kid I loved plastic model kits. I remember building Bobby Allisons Coke Monte Carlo. I still love plastic kits, still build them. But I can't recall if it was my love of kit building that led to my love of stock car racing or if it's the other way around. I still enjoy both. Somewhere in my stash of stuff I have a Bobby Allison post card of his #2 red and white Chevelle he ran out of his Hueytown shop. Fond memories no doubt.
 
I agree with others that have talked about a parent or an adult introducing a kid to racing/Nascar. In school you get to play all sorts of stick and ball games plus track and field events.

When we were kids we used to race our bicycles in make believe bull rings and road courses with chicanes and jumps as we were competitive and it was fun. We’d do all sorts of things to our bikes, toboggans, go carts and anything else that moved. We definitely had the idea that second place was just the first loser!

I also agree with those that have said how important it is to get a newbie to the track as, IMO, that has the best shot at sealing the deal in making a race fan. Good conversation here!
 
Team Penske said:
A seasoned fan thanks to your Dad and Mom. Family is what started a lot of people in the sport.
Today there isn't so much a family thing, children are off doing their own thing and the cell phone is their best friend.
Do you agree??
Why don't your friends get involved?
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Yeah I think that's part of it, sports aren't being passed down as much to younger generations, and NASCAR suffered the worst because of the stigma that it's a dumb redneck sport.
 
Maybe the bottom of the ratings crater has been found. Wouldn’t that be something?

It is fascinating to read the comments that express hope that the bleeding has stopped. What the posters seems to gloss over is that NASCAR has lost somewhere in the neighborhood of ½ of the fans that used to tune in and watch the race. In any other company heads would have rolled for those numbers long ago.

Yep, everything is fine in NASCARland.
 
Towmater said:
Maybe the bottom of the ratings crater has been found. Wouldn’t that be something?

It is fascinating to read the comments that express hope that the bleeding has stopped. What the posters seems to gloss over is that NASCAR has lost somewhere in the neighborhood of ½ of the fans that used to tune in and watch the race. In any other company heads would have rolled for those numbers long ago.

Yep, everything is fine in NASCARland.
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The glass is always half empty.
 
Joker said:
Yeah I think that's part of it, sports aren't being passed down as much to younger generations, and NASCAR suffered the worst because of the stigma that it's a dumb redneck sport.
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I am not sure I agree. My grandson who is only 5, already has played two years of soccer, 1 year of T-Ball, twice a week Karate and what he loves the most is fishing. He does enjoy NASCAR and his daddy has lots of old collectible cars, so when he watches the race he always gets them out and tries to line them up with the same numbers in the race. His biggest flaw is that he likes the M&M's car. :) It seems to me a lot of parents are more involved than ever in their kids lives. When I played sports I remember my parents coming to only one baseball game.
 
Towmater said:
Maybe the bottom of the ratings crater has been found. Wouldn’t that be something?

It is fascinating to read the comments that express hope that the bleeding has stopped. What the posters seems to gloss over is that NASCAR has lost somewhere in the neighborhood of ½ of the fans that used to tune in and watch the race. In any other company heads would have rolled for those numbers long ago.

Yep, everything is fine in NASCARland.
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I don’t think anyone would even try and argue about the depths Nascar has fallen in the last 15 years or so. Last year was especially brutal for Nascar in the ratings game so if they can tread water for a couple of years it would be a win.

Nascar has started the season off fairly well and that is good news. Who knows if it will stay that way or if losses will start piling up again? I think everyone is just taking it week to week for now.
 
DIDIT said:
I am not sure I agree. My grandson who is only 5, already has played two years of soccer, 1 year of T-Ball, twice a week Karate and what he loves the most is fishing. He does enjoy NASCAR and his daddy has lots of old collectible cars, so when he watches the race he always gets them out and tries to line them up with the same numbers in the race. His biggest flaw is that he likes the M&M's car. :) It seems to me a lot of parents are more involved than ever in their kids lives. When I played sports I remember my parents coming to only one baseball game.
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Where are you from? I've only lived in Orlando and Northern Virginia my whole life, which definitely aren't the north but people still look at NASCAR as backwater.
 
sdj said:
IDK, I see a lot of children in the grand stands every week on TV having a good time and when I attend races also.
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Sure, numerically, but what does the age pyramid look like? I'd bet there's more 55+ than small children.
 
sdj said:
Just curious, @Joker , have you attended races before?

IDK what an age pyramid is, but, I see Kids, Teens,20,30,40 50 60,70 year olds at every race I go to.
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2012 and 2018 spring Richmond.

It's the percentage distribution of those age groups. I'd be willing to be there's a higher percentage of 55+ than 13 and under attending races.
 
Joker said:
Where are you from? I've only lived in Orlando and Northern Virginia my whole life, which definitely aren't the north but people still look at NASCAR as backwater.
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I have friends that follow another racing series and they have a negative outlook toward Nascar. It is not based in fact.
 
IanMcVittie said:
I have friends that follow another racing series and they have a negative outlook toward Nascar. It is not based in fact.
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Europeans by chance? They seem to have the worst impression of all. Not like F1 is at all exciting, but hey.
 
I took my kid to like 20-25 NASCAR races from the time he was 4 until 13. He loved Jeff Gordon and still knows most of the drivers but at 15yo he just doesn't care at all about any form of racing. He would gladly attend a race with me because he loves live sports but he still gets bored during long green flag runs. The only live TV he watches is NFL and occasionally some NBA. He and his friends prefer YouTube and Xbox over everything else. How on earth is NASCAR going to ever appeal to young people? I fear that as the baby boomers die off there will be no one to replace them and NASCAR as we know it will fold. Kinda sucks but interests have changed over the decades and not everything will survive.
 
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