Rain-Delayed Watkins Glen Race Draws Lowest NASCAR Rating Of Sprint Cup Series Era

dpkimmel2001

dpkimmel2001

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Too bad, they missed a doozie! Not only a good race and one to remember, some good post race action as well.

ESPN's Monday broadcast of the rain-delayed NASCAR Sprint Cup Series race at Watkins Glen drew a 1.6 rating, the network said Tuesday evening.

And according to the TV ratings charts on the Jayski site, that's the lowest rating for a Cup race since at least 2004 (the charts only go back to the start of the Sprint/Nextel Cup era).

The previous low for a Cup race, according to Jayski, was the 2007 Michigan race that was postponed twice and eventually run on a Tuesday. That race drew a 1.66 rating.

What does all of it mean? Not much.

Star-divide

You won't find NASCAR or ESPN executives panicking over ratings for a rained-out race. Particularly since the last Watkins Glen rainout (in 2009) drew a similar 1.7 rating.

Still, perhaps it indicates something about changing viewing habits. In the past, skipping work might have been the only way to watch a postponed race.

Now, fans can access Twitter and any number of chat rooms or other ways to follow the race online during the work day (indeed, SB Nation's NASCAR coverage had one of its most-visited days of the season on Monday).

The rainout also created a statistical oddity: The Watkins Glen Nationwide race (1.91 million viewers) was more-watched than the Cup race (1.89 million). We can't find any record of that happening before, even in previous rainouts.

Obviously, the Cup rating is a fraction of what the race would have gotten had it run as scheduled. In 2008 and 2010, the Glen race drew a 3.6 rating.
Click to expand...

From Jeff Gluck's SB*Nation column here.
 
Maybe someone can merge our threads. lol.

Mods, you can delete mine if you wish. It doesn't matter to me. Dpk has seniority over me and the news getting out to this forum is really what matters.;)
 
The people who compile these stats are obviously not talking to NASCAR fans!

They are probably not taking into consideration how many people set their DVRs to record the race or how many will watch the replay of the event.

In any case, it really is not indicative of anything - except for the fact that the race was run on Monday.

And for ESPN or ABC to take the hit on this one is just mere happenstance...
 
and now the brilliant minds at ESPN will replay the race....on a weekday...at noon. :confused:

What are they shooting for now, a 1.3 rating?
 
robbybee said:
The people who compile these stats are obviously not talking to NASCAR fans!

They are probably not taking into consideration how many people set their DVRs to record the race or how many will watch the replay of the event.

In any case, it really is not indicative of anything - except for the fact that the race was run on Monday.

And for ESPN or ABC to take the hit on this one is just mere happenstance...
Click to expand...

Actually, they do consider DVR.
 
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