NASCAR Television Ratings: NASCAR’s Lost Month
The first month of the NASCAR season typically is a slow time on the sports calendar. NASCAR had its chance to be front and center to the nation without much competition, but it has posted four straight historic lows. With March madness in full swing NASCAR now has to compete with several events for eyes.
The overnight ratings are in for the Good Sam 500 at Phoenix International Raceway and viewership was down another 5% to a 3.6 from 3.8. Another six year low, lowest non weather delayed fourth race since FOX started broadcasting NASCAR.
After massive ratings drops with the Daytona 500 (15%) and Atlanta (28%), the 5% drops for Las Vegas and Phoenix do seem like an improvement. You can’t ignore that the on track product that NASCAR is putting out there now is as good as it has been in years, yet it is not translating into viewers.
Using the overnight ratings, the top sports event of the weekend was the NCAA Selection Sunday show. After adjustments when the final ratings come out later in the week, we do expect to see NASCAR pull ahead. That would make NASCAR the top rated sport show for its first four weeks of the season.
The real glaring issue here is that the sports calendar now gets very crowded. March Madness is in full swing, the NBA playoffs start after that and then comes the summer olympics. Once the olympics are over the NFL takes over the sports landscape until we return to Daytona.
NASCAR needed to make hay in the ratings its first month of the season to gain some traction and momentum heading in to the spring when there are more options for viewers. That month is gone, and there is not one bright spot to point to. Holding onto “we are losing less than before” is a terrible argument for NASCAR.
The new Nielsen Social Ratings also paint a bleak picture for NASCAR. This last weekend on Sunday NASCAR couldn’t break into the top five, or even sneak into the top 10 for the entire weekend. Losing out to several soccer games and college basketball tournament games that only had a fraction of the viewership of NASCAR.
The water cooler talk of yesteryear is today’s social media. People do not wait until the week and talk at the office about what they watched over the weekend. They post as it’s happening and NASCAR can’t find traction in this market. There is a direct correlation between social media postings and increases in viewership hour by hour. The Lakers Warriors game two weeks ago, where the Lakers surprisingly beat the Warriors, built in ratings as it’s social media posts increased and people realized there was an upset brewing.
More racing: NASCAR: Kyle Busch Is A Legend In NASCAR, Like It Or Not
This week the NASCAR Sprint Cup series heads to Auto Club Speedway in California. This track is an interesting example of NASCAR’s issues. Drivers love the wide-open track that allows for several lanes to race. While fans get discouraged at how the race spreads out and there can be long dead stretches. I personally looking forward to seeing how the new lower downforce package performs there. Another 5% drop would be a sign of slowing decline, but NASCAR needs a hold in the ratings soon.