They are the only one of the Big 3 Motorsports that still have this happen. Those numbers of course, dont tell the entire story. This year's Daytona 500, for example, drew 4.8 million viewers a. Interestingly, it has been said that NASCAR has been getting younger (the drivers) and older (the fans) at the same time. All four Cup Series races this season have declined from the corresponding weeks of last season, though this weeks drop was the smallest thus far. And I said all that without even bringing up that profoundly irritating cartoon gopher. Most TV consumption, really all TV consumption of TV of tier one sports properties is down simply because TV consumption just broadly is down. Interestingly, it has been said that NASCAR has been getting younger (the drivers) and older (the fans) at the same time. It's no secret that NASCAR is experiencing a variety of issues related to its popularity, despite a slight recent uptick in TV ratings. Stats. Then they sharply declined in Week Two.The four XFL games in Week Two averaged 665,000 viewers, which is a 50 percent decline from the four XFL . Kyle Busch, NASCARs black hat, won his second title. As it happens, the first four official NASCAR races of 2022 are averaging a 9.73 share, which means nearly 10% of all homes that had TVs in use at the time of the broadcasts were tuned in to Fox. Please email the author at nmcdonald@thestar.ca, Copyright 2023 | Powered by CityMediaInc.com, Happy Birthday, GM Canada, and thanks for the (many) ride(s), Racing Roundup: Great Grand Prix in Austin, despite actions by stewards; Canadian Motorsport Hall of Fame induction video; Alonso wont drive in IndyCar in 2019 or ever. Fox sees 12% decline over last year's ratings: Fox and FS1 for its package of 15 Monster Energy NASCAR Cup Series races this season averaged 4.9 million viewers, down 12% from 5.6 million last . These are bold changes, but this variety of tracks will test drivers and teams at every level. IndyCars race at St. Petersberg was also up from 1.219 million viewers last season. NASCARs 2020 champion is also its most popular driverfor the first time since 1988. Compared to the fourth Xfinity race of last season, from Phoenix, ratings fell a tick (from 0.8) but viewership increased (from 1.19M). Translation: the drivers are paying for the pleasure of racing. You can contact him here or on the Sports Media Watch Twitter page. It makes a world of difference watching on TV. Yet instead of focusing their marketing on Johnsons unequaled supremacy, NASCAR chose to put all of their marketing eggs into the Danica Patrick basket, believing a swimsuit model who could drive a racecar would save the sport. NASCAR's meteoric rise was fed by the rise of Jeff Gordon, whom many consider to be NASCAR's first superstar, and the death of legend Dale Earnhardt Sr. The NASCAR ratings for the 2022 season are the best they have been in four years. Which meant that other drivers didnt win a lot. Or at least to give the appearance of it. NASCAR possessed one of the greatest dynasties in the history of sports during Jimmies reign. Flat is better than down, but 2018 was also the year the once-mighty U.S.S. A leading business development, project manager in the auction and liquidation industry, and consultant for various local and national government offices in the Philippines. It could be argued that Junior was the sports last link to its tobacco-chewing, Southern past; once Jeff Gordon tore up the sport, drivers started to appear from every corner of the country. It was the first time in a while where we didn't have a decline on NBC. Even before the recent political turmoil in the sport, NASCAR was hemorrhaging fans and supporters, with viewership numbers dropping every event. However, these deals may be stopping the brand from adapting to consumers' changing viewing habits. Or Jeff Gordon, again, living in a Manhattan penthouse with his second wife, a model, instead of in North Carolina, where he lived beside a lake with his first wife, a deeply religious woman who was Born Again. American Hartford Gold. Looking back over the 2021 season to date in NASCARs top tier Cup series 12 of the 32 races had ratings that were higher over last year and had more viewers; that included a six race stretch leading up to Talladega that saw a consecutive increase in viewership each week. Ratings fell 19% and viewership 21% from last year, when it was the second race of the season (3.2, 5.50M). For any fan that needs racing to be dangerous, there are still four restrictor plate races on the schedule. Along with that came an all-important metric: the Nielsen ratings. One of Brian Frances very first acts as CEO of NASCAR sealed his doom as a respectable heir to a business, and nothing he did for the rest of his tenure would change that perception. The NASCAR Cup Series race at Auto Club Speedway averaged 4.315 million average viewers on FOX last weekend. There's a lot of people that are looking around and understand that the economics of our sport probably are in a better place now than they've been in a long time.. It is not unusual to see speedway grandstands half empty and only several million will tune in from home. Dr. Jon Lewis (aka Paulsen) has been covering the sports media industry on a daily basis since 2006 as the founder and main writer of Sports Media Watch. It may be difficult for younger people to imagine it, but the sport was once poised to overtake the NFL in popularity. And maybe this time, they will have learned from their mistakes. If NASCAR wants to fix the ongoing issues with viewership, fixing their way of broadcasting commercials would go a very long way in those efforts. OTHER VIEWS? They wouldn't explain ratings declines from 2016 to 2017. The fact is, NBC could bring Ken Squier and Gentleman Ned Jarrett back into the booth and call back the late, great Chris Economaki from Heaven to report from pit road, and it would still face the same big hurdle: selling a sport that is losing popularity and has three months of overlap with football. It would have saved a lot of time. The season ended with two flat tires. Certain segments of fans, and media, began to cry that sky was falling. The Daytona Road Course averaged 4.750 million viewers during the event. And then, in 1979, came flag-to-flag TV coverage of the Daytona 500 and other NASCAR Cup races. Fans might be tired of the novelty of the playoffs. They hate all of the commercials. The Xfinity Series at Indianapolis had a rating of 0.67, with 1.249 million viewers, totaling more than F1 Pocono TV Ratings July 26, 2022 Below, we take a look at the NASCAR ratings over the course of the 2023 season with an up-to-date analysis of each event. Declining television ratings have been a near-constant part of the NASCAR conversation for years. It took time, maybe too much time, but NASCAR is finally addressing the three biggest reasons for the decline of the sport. With the current playoff point structure, drivers are also somewhat rewarded for strong season-long performances as wellwhile the Chase completely disregarded excellence during the season. The XFL also had a better Week 2 performance than the 2019 Alliance of American . Having followed the sport in the time frame when it began, I can offer what I believe are the real reasons for the decline of NASCAR. In other NASCAR action, the Xfinity Series race at Las Vegas turned in a 0.7 and 1.28 million. Racing is still pretty danged dangerous. Related:15 Abandoned And Forgotten NASCAR Race Tracks. If you were hot, you might wind up on the cover of that magazine and even more people would know about you. I was critical of the Chase in plenty of columns, but I felt like I really got the point across with this one about it. Nascar, long a symbol of Southern heritage, has become an unlikely battleground in the debate over whether the Confederate battle flag still has a place in America. The NASCAR ratings for the 2022 season are the best they have been in four years. Sunday's NASCAR Cup Series race from Las Vegas averaged a 2.6 rating and 4.36 million viewers on FOX, marking the lowest rated edition of the race since it debuted in 1998 and the smallest audience since at least 2001 (viewership prior to 2002 was not available). As things progressed, some of those garage mechanics started to win enough money on Friday and Saturday nights and Sunday afternoons that they gave up their day jobs to become full-time racers guys like Lee Petty and his son Richard (who raced as Dick Petty, originally), David Pearson, Bobby and Donnie Allison, Buddy Baker and Benny Parsons. The rise of social media as a tool, pastime, or source of information and entertainment has certainly affected most sports, NASCAR included. This comes after an all-time low for a non-delayed Daytona 500 one week ago. It was a radical change to a sport that didnt need radical changes. 500 MOMENTUM:Daytona 500 TV ratings: NASCAR opener ends two-year viewership decline. . The future of IndyCar seems to be brighter when it comes to younger people. The 2021 NASCAR Cup Series season averaged 2.93 million viewers across FOX, FS1, NBC and NBCSN, down 4% from last year (3.06M), down 6% from 2019 (3.11M) and the least-watched season on record. It was not a great race. Not just limited to NASCAR but to many other sports as well is the gradual retirement of its well-known athletes that were the main draw for people to watch the events. By: GP Racing. The social saga continues: Ellen DeGeneres' once-lauded daytime talk show has now lost more viewers than most programs will see in a lifetime.. It's been a whirlwind couple of years for DeGeneres and her fans. Their retirements are a reason for the ratings decline in 2018. The Nielsen ratings for NASCAR's most-watched races, such as The Daytona 500, have plummeted in recent years. It rewards winning and risk taking, where the Chase rewarded points racing and avoiding risk. I dont need to tell anyone who was a fan in the 2000s this, but NASCARs broadcasts at the time may have been the worst in the history of sports. NBC was slightly ahead of last years pace before the Nov. 10 race at Phoenix, but it drew 2.567 million, the least-watched Cup race on broadcast television since 2001 (not counting rainouts). With fewer fans at the track, you might think TV ratings would continue to rise and maybe even increase as those fans turned on the TV instead of spending money to go to the track. Photo credit: brandonzeman on Visual Hunt / CC BY-SA Ill never forget seeing Elliott Sadlers terrifying end-over-end crash at Talladega in 2003 and seeing it again in every single ad for Talladega races for the next 3-4 years. Compared to NASCARs 18-49 demographic, IndyCar has an average of 24%, while they are at 20.1%. In response to its rapidly growing popularity nationwide, NASCAR moved away from the Southeast fans who brought the sport to the dance, and began holding races in places like Vegas, Chicago and Los Angeles. In NASCAR's pre-1990s heyday, when it was still very much a regional sport, manufacturer identity was a big thing. Traveling out of town to attend a NASCAR event would sometimes require staying at a hotel in order to maximize the time and effort spent during getting there. Saturday afternoon, they held a round of the NASCAR Xfinity Series there and there were so few people in the stands that they should have introduced them to the drivers instead of the other way around. Comments Off on What Caused The Decline of NASCAR? . He is likely to build a fan base fast. So 16% drop in terms of total TV consumption of those TVs that are actually tuned in over the last two years, NASCAR shares up 18%. With two races remaining after this weekend Phoenix next weekend and then the finale at Homestead-Miami this would seem to be as good a time as any to take a look at why the bloom has come off that NASCAR rose and why it is going to be almost impossible for it to ever regenerate. All Rights Reserved. Basicallythe first 2 races of 2015 have already soundly beaten the first 4 races of 2012 by 4.7 million viewers. . Just because no one has been killed at the Cup level since Earnhardts death doesnt make it less so. For the first time this season, NASCAR was not the top sporting event of the weekend, trailing the NBA All-Star Game on TNT and TBS (3.1, 5.94M). Last Sundays Cup Series finale from Phoenix averaged a 1.95 rating and 3.21 million viewers on NBC, up 4% in ratings and 5% in viewership from last year (1.9, 3.06M) and the highest rated and most-watched fall Phoenix race since 2018 (2.0, 3.31M). According to reports, the league saw a sharp 50% decline in viewership from week one to the next week.The 3.0 reboot is not going well. NASCAR power rankings during the 2023 season, NASCAR odds: Betting lines for each race and championship futures, NASCAR ratings on big rise compared to recent years in 2022, NASCAR standings: Cup, Xfinity, and Truck points during the 2023 season, Share up 9%, largest for Race #2 since 2017, Share up 2%, largest for Daytona 500 since 2016, Second most-watched non-points race since 2016. 2 days ago The Kansas City Chiefs are expected to decline running back Clyde Edwards-Helaire's fifth-year option, which in turn makes him a logical candidate to be traded this offseason. NASCAR tv ratings for the Bristol Motor Speedway dirt track. On the re-debut of the XFL, the league's TV ratings down in a pretty big way, according to Sports Media Watch. Motorsports encompass a wide variety of classes that offernumerous choices for fans ofauto racing. The presidential and general elections, which need to be held no later than June 18, come at a tough time for Erdogan who has seen a decline in his ratings because of skyrocketing inflation. So no, Johnsons domination wasnt directly a factor in the decline of NASCAR but their failure to market it most definitely was. Our share of those TVs that are tuned in is up 18%. NASCAR teams get creative with sponsors following dip in ratings, attendance Rick Hendrick is seeking a new sponsor for Jimmie Johnson amid the departure of Lowe's. Jared C. Tilton/Getty Images Then they sharply declined in Week Two. [Nielsen estimates from ShowBuzz Daily 11.9, network PR]. However, by the time NASCAR was peaking in the early 2000s, there already wasnt much manufacturer identity left. Covered race cars from the NASCAR Xfinity Series sit parked on pit road during a rain delay before the start . But experts say the reasons are multitude. The XFL's ratings were disappointing in Week One. It has been a challenge for the sport to consistently grab the attention of its audience; however, there are reasons for optimism as the 2022 season represented a step in the right direction. Now, only the economic elite are allowed to enter the Inner Sanctum and if theres one thing NASCAR used to abhor, it was elitism of any kind. The share has become an increasingly relevant metric to sports leagues in recent months, as it is a metric immune from the broader trend of viewers watching less linear television. NASCAR finale sees modest gain as season posts modest drop, Ratings: NASCAR, college hoops, soccer, NHL, XFL sees big drop in Week 2, but on par with last years USFL, LeBron injury ill-timed as Lakers continue to draw, Small sampling for LIV; PGA Tour wins head-to-head in rout. On the other hand, NASCAR will go to full-screen commercials on a regular basis which affects the way a fan can follow the race. NASCAR Home. 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