NASCAR - Television Ratings Thread

Can someone explain to me how TV ratings work.....like how are the counts determined, exactly? Where are these numbers coming from? How do the networks know the ages of the people viewing their programming?
 
What is the threshold for counting as a viewer? Do they log every second that I'm watching the race broadcast? Do I need to watch for 5 minutes? 30 minutes? 2 hours? If I'm streaming, am I even counted? I have a buddy (35 years old) who watches cable TV using his parents' login. They are 65+ years old. So when my buddy watches a race, is he viewed as a senior citizen? What if I have people over, or I'm watching at the bar with a dozen other folks....are they all counted? Do the networks have cameras everywhere taking a head count? Funny, I've never had FOX or NASCAR call me up during the race and ask my age.......
 
What is the threshold for counting as a viewer? Do they log every second that I'm watching the race broadcast? Do I need to watch for 5 minutes? 30 minutes? 2 hours? If I'm streaming, am I even counted? I have a buddy (35 years old) who watches cable TV using his parents' login. They are 65+ years old. So when my buddy watches a race, is he viewed as a senior citizen? What if I have people over, or I'm watching at the bar with a dozen other folks....are they all counted? Do the networks have cameras everywhere taking a head count? Funny, I've never had FOX or NASCAR call me up during the race and ask my age.......
Some good info here that should help answer at least some of your questions


The system isn't perfect but it's the most trusted way to do it (as of now). It's flawed though, for sure.
 
Gotta think SRX gets over 1M if they're not going directly against the truck series.
SRX did a terrible job of promoting the first race. Driver cameos on twitter with no info on which race they would be driving in. Only one tweet that had the date and TV time of the race and it was only posted the day OF the race. Couldn't find the schedule before that unless you dug thru CBS's sports site. Who does that.
 
Couldn't find the schedule before that unless you dug thru CBS's sports site. Who does that.
I did, but only after you reminded me they were even racing. On the other hand, I haven't looked at CBS since the Masters, so I don't know how they promoted it.
 
Compared to last year, they posted the schedule and who was going to race where and when multiple times in additions to the cameo's and garage shots etc. This year almost non existent.
 
SRX did a terrible job of promoting the first race. Driver cameos on twitter with no info on which race they would be driving in. Only one tweet that had the date and TV time of the race and it was only posted the day OF the race. Couldn't find the schedule before that unless you dug thru CBS's sports site. Who does that.

I went on the SRX website to see if the racing started at 7pm or 8pm and left empty handed. I clicked on "schedule" and it just shows the race location and date.... apparently.... the time is posted on the home page, but only if you scroll down!
 
Can someone explain to me how TV ratings work.....like how are the counts determined, exactly? Where are these numbers coming from? How do the networks know the ages of the people viewing their programming?
It’s based off of a sample of designated Nielsen families, where they measure pretty much all of their devices. It’s a sample size of about 40,000 homes and then a couple thousand more at other establishments, since they started officially counting out-of-home measurement last year.
 
I went on the SRX website to see if the racing started at 7pm or 8pm and left empty handed. I clicked on "schedule" and it just shows the race location and date.... apparently.... the time is posted on the home page, but only if you scroll down!
The SRX website looks like it was built on a GoDaddy website builder cheap template that was last updated in 2016.
 
I went on the SRX website to see if the racing started at 7pm or 8pm and left empty handed. I clicked on "schedule" and it just shows the race location and date.... apparently.... the time is posted on the home page, but only if you scroll down!
They're all on at 8pt ET in an effort to keep things the same and people guessing start times like nascar
 
The SRX website looks like it was built on a GoDaddy website builder cheap template that was last updated in 2016.
After looking yeah the website sucks. It appears they do most of their promoting on social media, which in all reality probably reaches more fans than a website. To me I was well aware of the upcoming race from Facebook and Twitter, unfortunately it seems like a good number of people here are not following them on those platforms
 
After looking yeah the website sucks. It appears they do most of their promoting on social media, which in all reality probably reaches more fans than a website. To me I was well aware of the upcoming race from Facebook and Twitter, unfortunately it seems like a good number of people here are not following them on those platforms

A lot of people in digital marketing seem to think websites no longer matter and everyone just uses Facebook and Twitter.

The problem with social media is that Facebook pages aren't organized in such a way that you can easily find anything. Hell, a lot of people don't even know how to look something up on a website. I've heard so many businesses, especially in the motorsports industry, say they don't need a website anymore and just need to post on Facebook.

And then you can't look up their menu if it's a restaurant, their ticket prices if it's a racetrack, or so on.

Many of the posts these tracks make, they hire graphic designers who make beautiful graphics but they forget to post what, when, and where.
 
To me I was well aware of the upcoming race from Facebook and Twitter, unfortunately it seems like a good number of people here are not following them on those platforms
Even if I wasn't reluctant to join Twitter or Facebook, keeping up with this joint and a birding forum is already all I want to juggle.
 
Many of the posts these tracks make, they hire graphic designers who make beautiful graphics but they forget to post what, when, and where.
TV ads with no street address or phone number. Sure, that's on your social media page but it's not going to cost any more to include those in the graphics.
 
A lot of people in digital marketing seem to think websites no longer matter and everyone just uses Facebook and Twitter.

A lot of people in digital marketing seem to be complete idiots.

I've heard so many businesses, especially in the motorsports industry, say they don't need a website anymore and just need to post on Facebook.

A website costs money, whereas Facebook costs next to nothing or is free in a lot of cases. For a small company or a guy running his own business by himself out of his garage, I don't blame them. But SRX is big enough that they should at least have a presentable website with basic info.
 
It's pretty stupid. It's like everybody should know where so in so speedway is. Should at least have the damn state it's in lol.

It's actually so uncommon that, when I actually do put that info on my flyers, people ask where the track is and then say they've never seen a track put its address and phone number on a website before. Another track nearby just uses QR codes ... and I'm with the boomers on this one.

A lot of people in digital marketing seem to be complete idiots.

Graphic designers often get so wrapped up in the presentation that they forget the basics. Software developers are so wrapped up in simplification that they forget that most people who still use computers are power users. Digital marketing people are trying to generate excitement that they often forget they have to include the basics.

"Who, what, where, when, and why?"

A website costs money, whereas Facebook costs next to nothing or is free in a lot of cases. For a small company or a guy running his own business by himself out of his garage, I don't blame them. But SRX is big enough that they should at least have a presentable website with basic info.

Got to spend money to make money. Even these restaurants now don't have websites.
 
One of my Summer Speedweeks flyers:

july-9-flyer.jpg
 
Got to spend money to make money. Even these restaurants now don't have websites.

The reality of it is in most cases you're not making money on a website of this type. Like I said earlier social media reaches so many more fans than a website does.

Side note: SRX has made 7 Facebook posts within the last day or so. One clearly states the tv station, date and start time.

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The reality of it is in most cases you're not making money on a website of this type. Like I said earlier social media reaches so many more fans than a website does.

Side note: SRX has made 7 Facebook posts within the last day or so. One clearly states the tv station, date and start time.

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Website is like $100 per year. Sure you have to pay someone to build and maintain it, but you should have that included in the digital media stuff.

Websites do matter. They're more organized, you can put more information on them, and use social media to point them to it. There's **** you can do with a website that you can't do with Facebook and Twitter and InstaTok. Not having a website can cost you money.
 
The reality of it is in most cases you're not making money on a website of this type. Like I said earlier social media reaches so many more fans than a website does.

Side note: SRX has made 7 Facebook posts within the last day or so. One clearly states the tv station, date and start time.
I've done some sketchy stuff in my life, but I don't do cocaine and I don't do Facebook!

Seriously, I think your argument here is silly. Tons of people don't browse Facebook, and tons more don't do it on a daily basis.
 
I've done some sketchy stuff in my life, but I don't do cocaine and I don't do Facebook!

Seriously, I think your argument here is silly. Tons of people don't browse Facebook, and tons more don't do it on a daily basis.
I'd be willing to bet way more people browse social media sites on a daily basis than don't. Heck my 90 year old grandmother even checks it once a day.

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I'd be willing to bet way more people browse social media sites on a daily basis than don't. Heck my 90 year old grandmother even checks it once a day.

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But you still want to reach the people who don’t use Facebook.

And yes, I do advertising with terrestrial radio and linear television too. I even do stuff with the local paper.
 
It's not an 'either / or' situation. No one is saying abandon social media. Adding a web page is relatively cheap, just a few dozen dollars annually for a domain name and site, with more capabilities. Facebook isn't 'free', you have to spend time and resources generating content. (And quit posting cell phone photos of your menues. Pay Kinko's to scan the damn pages so they're readable.) That same content can be used on a web site, and it's not much more difficult. If you can learn to update one, you can learn the other. Unless you're on the tightest of budgets, there's little reason not to have both. If you can afford radio or TV, a web page is certainly within reach.
 
I'd like to see a couple of NASCAR races on USA and on NBC without any rain delays and then compare some numbers.
 
I'd like to see a couple of NASCAR races on USA and on NBC without any rain delays and then compare some numbers.
It isn't rocket science. The numbers will be way lower on USA and if they add yet another pay the ransom add on like peacocks, lower yet. It's total B.S. hidden motive is that racing will go away if you don't pay while on the other larger channel they are showing re runs of the food network.
 
After a long wait without any interruptions to the re-run cop show that was playing. Not even a bullet or a ticker running below on screen to inform the viewers switching to the USA network that a Nascar race was going to be on the channel, or an estimated ETA for the race to start informing race fans that were wondering where the hell the race went. It's no wonder attendance was dismal at best after that blunder. NBC was totally unprepared for a rain delay.

 
I have to think the lack of promotion including the start time had something to do with this. Lousy compared to last year



Here is a perfect example of crappy advertising. Average fan or maybe a potential fan thinks...That's great...hmmm I wonder if it is this week, next week or is it already over? I wonder what time it will be on, will it be streamed, or do I have to have a gotya app to see it?

 
I have to think the lack of promotion including the start time had something to do with this. Lousy compared to last year


Contrary to popular opinion here I don't think promotion is the problem. It's Saturday night in the summer after people have basically been locked down for 2 years. People aren't sitting around on a Saturday night watching tv. Travel is way up right now, people are doing things.

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Contrary to popular opinion here I don't think promotion is the problem. It's Saturday night in the summer after people have basically been locked down for 2 years. People aren't sitting around on a Saturday night watching tv. Travel is way up right now, people are doing things.

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As you know I post a lot here. And my opinion is based on the content and availability of SRX tweets that they have posted about promoting the race this year compared to last year. My best guess is last year it was under different management that included Ray Evernham where many of the tweets last year promoting the series last year came from his participation. Last week they were making a big deal out of the new owner working on a car. Last year Evernham lived at the shop in comparison, and he is a skilled fabricator compared to an X executive at SMI. You have your opinion that people are busy now, could be. I have mine about the lack of info I could find and it's quality.
 
Contrary to popular opinion here I don't think promotion is the problem. It's Saturday night in the summer after people have basically been locked down for 2 years. People aren't sitting around on a Saturday night watching tv. Travel is way up right now, people are doing things.

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Agreed. Doing this on a midweek night would be soooo much better. Thursday's best as that's usually an MLB travel day. Fans going to SRX races are more local than those that go to NASCAR races, and these are all small venues. I'd bet they'd still all get great attendance. Much to my surprise Stafford sold out more than a month ago!

Thursday night, and bump the field size to 14-16. Also keep putting in some more younger talent. I'm glad they're shaking up the fields a bit more this year, but maybe divide it as 40% old-timers, 40% young guns, the rest can be local stars and one-offs like Chase, Justin Marks, etc. Last year the series was essentially a retirement tour and billed as such. I want to see some younger drivers out there that really have a NEED to perform well to move up the ranks, not guys who "want" to do good who've all got more money than God and are already legends in their respective series.
 
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