NASCAR polled fans about the idea on their website following the 2003 season, and fans overwhelmingly rejected it. Photo credit: Zach Catanzareti Photo on Visualhunt / CC BY-SA Or NASCAR could pretty much keep things the way they are and hope to hold on to whoever watches through 2024, when the massive TV contract expires. The future of IndyCar seems to be brighter when it comes to younger people. Far from it. On declining ratings throughout NASCAR and other sports. The event was down 5.6% compared to last year at 4.570 million average viewers on FOX. 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. 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. The playoff system eliminates 25 or more drivers from contention with nearly a third of the season still to go. Now, they buy their way in. Not only in the business world, but in all sports as well. Those numbers of course, dont tell the entire story. It is not unusual to see speedway grandstands half empty and only several million will tune in from home. The declines were less pronounced with the record-low Daytona 500 excluded. People love a winner, they love to hate a winner, and they love to see a dynasty get taken down. The problem was the tracks that replaced themnearly all of them were characterless, cookie-cutter speedways where aero package ruled the day. "While it's easy to cite 'cord-cutting' as a catch-all explanation for what's going on, keep in mind, Nielsen ratings do incorporate streaming services, albeit imperfectly . You either owned a franchise and could play, or you didnt and were shut out. Our share of those TVs that are tuned in is up 18%. Though Nielsen had been king of all things TV for generations, the truth was they were having trouble keeping up as people began to shift their viewing habits. Last year, nearly 70 million unique viewers tuned in to . (Photo by Chris Graythen/Getty Images). 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. They are the only one of the Big 3 Motorsports that still have this happen. NASCAR TV Ratings Below are the ratings for the NASCAR Cup Series: Date | Track | Network | Viewers | Ratings June 20, 2021 Nashville Superspeedway NBCSN Viewers: 2,600,000 Ratings: 1.46 June 13, 2021 Texas Motor Speedway FS1 Viewers: 2,735,000 Ratings: 1.64 June 6, 2021 Sonoma Raceway FS1 Viewers: 2,494,000 Ratings: 1.49 May 30, 2021 https://t.co/Zf4L7g5im4 Timothy Burke (@bubbaprog) July 10, 2018 It would have been nice to have heard more during the championship race from Earnhardt. HOMESTEAD, FLORIDA - NOVEMBER 17: Kyle Busch, driver of the #18 M&M's Toyota, celebrates after [+] winning the Monster Energy NASCAR Cup Series Ford EcoBoost 400 and the Monster Energy NASCAR Cup Series Championship at Homestead Speedway on November 17, 2019 in Homestead, Florida. On the re-debut of the XFL, the league's TV ratings down in a pretty big way, according to Sports Media Watch. It is now an elitist sport because only those who can afford to pay to play need apply. 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. In terms of tier one sports properties, he said. No longer will teams win titles by dominating speedways; driver skill will be more of a factor, as it should be. We all know what Im talking about. winning the Monster Energy NASCAR Cup Series Ford EcoBoost 400 and the Monster Energy NASCAR Cup Series Championship at Homestead Speedway on November 17, 2019 in Homestead, Florida. Photo credit: Darryl W. Moran Photography on Visual Hunt / CC BY-ND I also suggested a solutionthat NASCAR emulate how baseball exploded in popularity after the opening of Camden Yards. The erosion is even more pronounced when you . The sport has grown from. which is a 50 percent decline . So if you can say that it's you and the NFL in terms of stability of your audience. The XFL's ratings were disappointing in Week One. The NASCAR ratings for the 2022 season are the best they have been in four years. With all the different metrics used to measure a sport these days however, it can be complicated. Jimmie won a lot. Drivers. Should there be concerns with the current trend of viewership? For instance: The non-stop promotion of Danica Patrick, as if she was the Second Coming (she wasnt), turned off a lot of fans. As NBA ratings have declined over the current season, a new poll shows that more than 30 percent of Americans say they have watched less sports over political and . Its not often noticed, but it was definitely noticed by Jeff Gordon fans: had NASCAR not implemented the Chase, the driver of the iconic #24 could have been the one standing aside Dale Earnhardt and Richard Petty today with seven titles, instead of his protg Jimmie Johnson. He said its important to look at the bigger picture, a bigger picture that shows how media is consumed. Sundays race at Auto Club is also down from the second race of the 2021 season. 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. After two DNFs in the first two Chase events resulting from simple bad luck, just like that his title hopes were gone. Its safe to say this is not ideal for the sport and there should be some concern on why ratings continue to fall. It was during this timethat "Bootleggers"- those whoproduce anddeliver prohibited whiskey/alcohol also had modified delivery cars that were fast enough to be able to evade, outrun and escape law enforcement should they be spotted. 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. Nothing against Jimmie Johnson for winning titles with the rules as written, but he only managed that feat twice. Its largely forgotten now, because the sports current elimination format playoff system at least had some thought put into it. But that in itself wasnt necessarily the crime. Photo credit: royal_broil on Best Running / CC BY-SA For NASCAR, there are plenty of reasons for the decline in viewership, which we will discuss below. Declining television ratings have been a near-constant part of the NASCAR conversation for years. This year's NCAA tournament ratings were down 11%. And stage races have also not gone over well with purists. No longer could a late-model driver from Syracuse or Spokane get a car and a team together and show up to try to qualify for any of NASCARs races. TV ratings are no longer the end all be all for NASCAR. 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. While Nielsen was undergoing its transformation other smaller agencies stepped into fill the void. This ability to adapt however seems insufficient as NASCAR has recorded a staggering 50% viewership drop in the last 5 years along with substantial admission decline that has varied from 12 -30% percent from 2012 to 2018. That metric is down 16% over the last 24 months. (Busch would have still won.). . Overall, it is another positive and negative week. Kyle Larsons win, which averaged 3.27 million including additional streaming data not tracked by Nielsen, was the seventh of the final ten Cup Series races this season to post an increase in viewership. In addition, the current playoff format, while far from perfect, isnt nearly as unpalatable as the Chase was. Las Vegas, by contrast, moved back from the coveted week after the Daytona 500. This is all just ultimately my opinion, but its a carefully considered one. which is a 50 percent decline . Im not sure why people would think this, although Id actually had some heated debates with Tom Bowles at the Frontstretch about it. Meaning that in todays world even the smallest increase in a TV rating is a really big deal when considering how overall viewership is measured. Removing the Toyota logo and Supra badge, one would be hard-pressed to identify, and in actuality, to associate with the caron what it is supposed to represent. People rooted for car brands as well as drivers, and car companies believed in the whole win on Sunday, sell on Monday mantra. NBA players take a knee during National Anthem, screen image Get woke, go broke. NASCAR Home. Ill start with a few things that I dont believe caused the decline of NASCAR, then Ill share what I think really did. There are still 11 races on intermediate tracks, but its finally moving in the right direction. In the past NASCAR has tried to educate fans who might look at ratings and think the sport is in trouble and help them understand that things arent as bad as they seem. 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. They shut down the polls and went ahead with it anyway. Yes, a team can still dominate all season and lose a championship to a flat tire, but at least its not just an artificial points reset. A Former Reporters Thoughts, fly into a catch fence and injure spectators, I really got the point across with this one, that profoundly irritating cartoon gopher, baseball exploded in popularity after the opening of Camden Yards, that didnt suffer a significant ratings drop, Professional Cornhole Beyond The Parking Lot, Staying Green ex-Patriots Champion Jarvis Green, Terry Kath 1946-1978: The Heart of Chicago. The truth was of course far from that. So no, Johnsons domination wasnt directly a factor in the decline of NASCAR but their failure to market it most definitely was. Even more so than in baseball, the on-screen product is affected with the layout of a track. Lack of manufacturer identity may have been a reason some hardcore fans left the sport in the early 1990s, but that doesnt seem to me to be a valid reason for the sports popularity plunge since 2005. Compared to the 2019 finale from Homestead-Miami, ratings fell 13% (from 2.2) and viewership 14% (from 3.74M). I expect that will be a boon to NASCARs future. The NFL only went down 9%, but please, tell me about anthem kneelers. This isnt to say that the initial Car of Tomorrow wasnt a disasterit wasbut at the time, fans were plenty vocal about safety after the loss of the sports biggest icon. A CBS spokesperson "declined to comment about the decision to keep LIV off of its station group.". Overall, NASCAR brought in 114.231 million average viewers throughout the entire 2022 season which marks its best since the 2018 season (120.454 million average viewers). In NASCAR, the equivalent of a ref would be the flagmen, who not only flag the start and end of the race but flag drivers with caution warnings for safety and rules enforcement. There was suddenly lots and lots of prize money available and other full-time competitors like Bill Elliott, Dale Earnhardt and Darrell Waltrip joined up to give chase. It makes a world of difference watching on TV. Atlanta has had some classics, but that was partly by virtue of the venue hosting the championship race, such as Alan Kulwickis unforgettable title win in 1992. 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. I hope so. NASCAR still attempts to do the best it can when it comes to getting the word out. NASCARs TV ratings began to fall; the once all-mighty numbers began to show not an increase, but a decline. In fact, Nascar could just dump it all on Netflix - which, according to one study, is responsible for half the decline of TV viewership alone. I cant imagine any fan of Dale Earnhardt Sr.and there were a lot of themnot wanting to see the sport take every measure it could to keep drivers safe after Daytona 2001. Social impressions, social following, a positive buzz of our sport, which is measured by third parties, like at YouGov is up 2.5 X over the course of the last two to three years.. The crowd sold out it's 30% capacity soon after the event was . But plate racing still sucksnot only do plates produce multi-car crashes every event, they pervert the standings because of it. Their retirements are a reason for the ratings decline in 2018. 500 MOMENTUM:Daytona 500 TV ratings: NASCAR opener ends two-year viewership decline. The cars already were mostly spec at that point, and the sport was doing just finebooming even. Nielsen slowly began to develop ways to measure who was watching what, and how. And that is for the Indianapolis 500 of stock cars. Tiger Woods was great for golf. NASCAR scraped bottom. TV ratings for the Richmond race were said to be down 12% from the same race in 2015 and 44% from 2014. . The NASCAR ratings for the 2022 season are the best they have been in four years. So to the extent that you can be flat or even up a couple of points it says a lot just about fan interest in the sport.. 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). FONTANA, Calif. Most of NASCAR's Cup Series drivers feel like they're saying their final goodbye to a dear old friend this weekend. 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. Danica turned out to be a huge bustas many people who followed the sport closely, including yours truly, predicted she would be. A fairly new challenge that spectator sports now have to contend with is the rise of the various streaming services that offer varied content that is available across a variety of platforms. In some ways the Recession came at a most inopportune time for sports TV. In other NASCAR action, the Xfinity Series race at Las Vegas turned in a 0.7 and 1.28 million. 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. And as recently as 2013, the race drew 16.5. Chase Elliott, like his 1988 champion father Bill, is from Dawsonville, Georgiathe Southeastand he has the lineage factor as the son of a well-liked champion. And those ways that didnt always involve traditional broadcast TV. Standings. Which meant that other drivers didnt win a lot. The 2023 NASCAR season is underway and it is bound to be very exciting in the second year of the NextGen car. . CLASH SUCCESS:NASCAR TV ratings are in, and the Clash is most-viewed since 2016. I wonder why Truck Series and Xfinity viewership(even from 2019) is up but Cup Series viewership is down. They got famous because of word-of-mouth (Hey, didja hear about that new kid blowin em away over at Hickory?), weekly newspapers like National Speed Sport News (called simply Speed Sport and whos Editors Notebook by the late Chris Economaki was a Must Read) and magazines like Stock Car Racing. NASCAR moved the Brickyard 400 to September . In a piece published in the Athletic last week, Ethan Strauss reported that the ratings for network NBA broadcasts have declined by 45 percent since 2011-12. (It did.) That is a decrease of nearly 50%, and in some races this kind of decline could be seen in the stands too. Sunday, when the big-league Monster Energy Series took the green flag, it was better but there were still an awful lot of empty seats. From F1, Rally, Le Mans, Drifting, or Touring Car championships that are broadcast on TV or via the internet, viewers now have even more access to alternative motorsports events that can offer the same level of adrenaline fueled excitement that NASCAR can provide. There are still plenty of obscene profit breaks, but its far less aggravating when you can still see the action and leader board on part of the screen. Dynasties like Johnsons arent bad for a sportunless the sport doesnt know how to market them. | 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 A fan of cars and bikes, and most anything with an engine, he divides his time between work and family. A driver dominates a race until the last lap and then gets crashed on purpose by the guy who goes on to win. I covered NASCAR for six seasons for two excellent racing websites, Thats Racin (the Charlotte Observers racing site) and the Frontstretch. It was the insistent implementation of it over loud objections of fans. HOMESTEAD, FLORIDA - NOVEMBER 17: Kyle Busch, driver of the #18 M&M's Toyota along with his wife [+] Samantha and son Brexton pose with the trophy after winning the Monster Energy NASCAR Cup Series Championship at Homestead Speedway on November 17, 2019 in Homestead, Florida. It rewards winning, which rewards fighting for wins, which creates rivalries. In 2006, for instance, more than 19 million people tuned in to watch the Daytona 500 on TV; in 2018, only a little more than nine million watched. And while some ran their own cars, most were independent contractors who had their expenses paid by their car owner and then split the winnings (that division of money was usually 60-40) with said owner, who paid the bills. By: GP Racing. By virtue of his fathers untimely passing, Dale Earnhardt Jr. instantly found himself with a larger fan base than any three drivers in NASCAR. It rewards winning and risk taking, where the Chase rewarded points racing and avoiding risk. Anyone who was watching then could tell you that wasnt unusual at all. Photo credit: sidehike on VisualHunt / CC BY-SA Unfortunately, the rising number and lengths of these commercials have become a source of frustration for their fans. 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