NASCAR TV Ratings UP!

27th June 2007

posted in NASCAR, NASCAR-nomics |

No I haven’t taken leave of my senses. Yet. It’s a well known fact television ratings for NASCAR’s premiere Series have been on the decline for the better part of two years.

Many reasons have been offered, everything from a perception by fans some events are “rigged” via caution flags, favoritism shown to select drivers, the sport having too many similar tracks and the length of some events that push over the four hour mark.

There is some truth in those reasons and there’s a whole bunch of conspiratorial nonsense in some.

I’ve harbored some thought part of the drop can be attributed to a general loss of TV viewership across the board for all the major sports. I’ve had nothing to base it on but a gut feeling people are damn tired of watching their sports stars making News headlines, vice Sports headlines, while performing a perp walk for various felonies. And having the various leagues do next to nothing about it.

But, as my headline indicates, there is a bright side and one demographic has shown an uptick in TV ratings. But before I divulge this groundswell of NASCAR popularity it should be noted the ratings people Nielsen have changed who they hand out their black boxes to.

For the first time Nielsen is incorporating out-of-home viewing in its numbers.

Just what does that mean? It means out of home silly. The skeptics would say a few Rednecks outhouses have been wired into the Nielson counting system. But I digress.

The actual meaning is college dormitories are being counted and Fox Sports CEO David Hill believes it accounts for a portion of a 7% increase (3.1 rating from 2.9) in the male 18-34 demo on its Nextel Cup broadcasts this year.

“This is the first accurate snapshot of what college kids are watching,” Hill said. “And they’re watching NASCAR. The households might be down a tad, but what you’re looking for is what’s happening with the younger audience. The good news is, unbelievably, that we’re looking at more future growth for this sport. Show me another sport that’s growing like that among younger viewers.”

Shocking no?

The male 18-34 demo is what everyone targets. It doesn’t matter if you sell IPods or garden tractors if you fail to address the male 18-34 demo in your marketing campaign your company is doomed to failure. Well, unless you sell adult diapers, then all bets are off.

Say what you will, not all is bad in the TV ratings game. The data may be anecdotal given it only covers a portion of the season but it’s enough of an indicator to keep an eye on to see if the trend continues.

Oh… and ~~Busch~~ Wal-Mart/Samsung/DunkinDonuts/30milliondollar Series that everyone claims is on the road to ruin, ESPN2’s coverage has produced a 2 percent increase (182,827 viewers from 179,446) for the same demo.

And finally, I’m pouring a tall cool one to toast my gut feeling. According to the article “overall prime-time TV viewing is down 11 percent year over year across the networks.” Not all NASCAR broadcasts are in prime-time of course but enough are to make an impact on overall ratings.

So heres a tall cold one for and on me!

NASCAR, NEXTEL Cup, Sports, Busch Series, Auto Racing, Motorsports, Full Throttle

This entry was posted on Wednesday, June 27th, 2007 at 7:50 am and is filed under NASCAR, NASCAR-nomics. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. You can leave a response, or trackback from your own site.

1 On June 27th, 2007, Charlie Turner said:#

Enjoy that cool one Marc. I have wondered if the overall drop in NASCAR race viewing ratings wasn’t partially due to the explosion of non-race NASCAR programming and the saturation factor. It wasn’t that long ago that Sunday (race day) was the best time to get all of your NASCAR TV news. Since then, Speed Channel has become the NASCAR Network, 4 networks have NASCAR programming, Sirius NASCAR channel, etc. make it less necessary for fans to watch the actual race. Probably a minor effect on viewing, but an effect in fact. Cheers.

posted on June 27th, 2007 at 10:43 pm

2 On June 28th, 2007, Marc said:#

Excellent point Charlie. Twas a day the only way to get NASCAR, or any racing news, was to watch the race itself.

I’ve often wondered how many viewers are “lost” because their Nielson boxes don’t count VCRs and DVRs that taped the broadcast while the fans were out enjoying a Latte at Starbucks.

Or a chicken fried steak at Stuckeys.

On the other hand are cases where the ratings as collected by Nielson are flat out bullshit!

posted on June 28th, 2007 at 4:39 am

3 On June 28th, 2007, Clance' McClannahan said:#

Cheers!:)

posted on June 28th, 2007 at 8:31 am

4 On June 28th, 2007, Marc said:#

Same to you Clance’

Well, the same assuming your not on a downhill run and headed for a crash landing!
In that case it Green Tea for you.

posted on June 28th, 2007 at 8:39 am

5 On June 29th, 2007, Stephen Shores said:#

I think the Busch races are pretty boring, personally, but ESPN helps make them less boring, IMO. It will be nice to see how they handle the Cup races soon.

posted on June 29th, 2007 at 1:01 am

6 On June 29th, 2007, Brett Adams said:#

@Stephen Man I disagree, I think Espen coverage stinks. They try and make storyline out of nothing and pump up the prestige of Busch league racing. I think that its a great series to watch, but I could do without the way the Deuce tries to make NASCAR into NBA.

posted on June 29th, 2007 at 7:03 am

7 On June 29th, 2007, Marc said:#

All say hello to FT’s newest visitor Brett!!!

Welcome, don’t make a stranger of yourself!

In general I would agree with you Brett. As one who remembers ESPN’s first incarnation of NASCAR coverage I’ve been disappointed.

On the other hand I’ve grown so accustomed to poor coverage by the MSM whether it be sports or “news” outside of the sports world I’m immune to most of it.

BTW, had a peek at you design site. I’m very impressed with your work. I didn’t see any ref to work on WordPress designs, have you made any themes for the system?

posted on June 29th, 2007 at 7:58 am

8 On June 29th, 2007, Brett Adams said:#

Hey Marc. First time poster, but I’m a long time lurker. You’ve been on my RSS feed for months (since the old design at least). I’ve worked with wordpress to some extent, but I’ve never been too interested in blogs. One of my sites that runs on wordpress though is http://www.photoshoptown.com - I really dont work on it too often however and its just a template I downloaded. At any rate, if youd like to see other works - or know anyone who needs a new site let me know.

posted on June 29th, 2007 at 9:47 am

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