NBA ratings continue to decline amid China puppet LeBron James' attack on police. Then they sharply declined in Week Two. 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. They are the only one of the Big 3 Motorsports that still have this happen. From their colorful beginnings to what is now a billion-dollar sporting event, NASCAR has continued to provide high octane entertainment for its millions of fans and supporters. The NASCAR ratings for the 2022 season are the best they have been in four years. The various platforms of social media have been a convenient and fast way to obtain information and entertainment on a particular sporting event. NASCAR needs side-by-side commercials during green-flag racing and then full-screen commercials during yellow flags. NASCAR Home. | Nothing against Jimmie Johnson for winning titles with the rules as written, but he only managed that feat twice. 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. It would have been nice to have heard more during the championship race from Earnhardt. 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. Dynasties like Johnsons arent bad for a sportunless the sport doesnt know how to market them. The Patriots domination was great for the NFL. Nascar, he wrote . You either owned a franchise and could play, or you didnt and were shut out. Even though the Confederate battle flag was banned within Talledega Speedway on Sunday, outside the track, the initials "PC" stood for "publicly Confederate.". Racing, like basketball and other sports, has seen year-to-year ratings decline. In case you werent there or dont remember, in 2004 NASCAR welcomed their new series sponsor, Nextel (now Sprint), with a new playoff system called the Chase. It was the first time in a while where we didn't have a decline on NBC. In other NASCAR action, the Xfinity Series race at Las Vegas turned in a 0.7 and 1.28 million. In 2008 Kyle Busch smoked the field for the first 26 races, winning eight of them and setting the NASCAR world on fire with his brash and unapologetic racing style. (Photo by ISC Images & Archives via Getty Images), ISC Archives/CQ-Roll Call Group via Getty Images, landscape. 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.. The last race at. (Photo by Jonathan Ferrey/Getty Images), 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. The decline of NASCAR was a combination of ill-considered decisions: the implementation of a contrived playoff, poorly thought out broadcasting contracts, and departing from unique and venerable venues for dull, unexciting ones. Danica Patrick just retired. Related: NASCAR ratings on big rise compared to recent years in 2022. . In the late '90s and the early 2000s, NASCAR saw an unprecedented growth in popularity and TV ratings. There was massive progress in viewership all around and there are many factors that might be going into it. And one other thing about NASCAR in those days: the races were open to anybody who could qualify. The disappointing ratings continue a downward trend in Daytona 500 viewership, which has been steadily declining since Fox scored 18.7 million viewers in 2005 with a household rating of 10.9 . Interestingly, it has been said that NASCAR has been getting younger (the drivers) and older (the fans) at the same time. It didnt help that a hugely popular driver underperformed, but that shouldnt have caused this much of a free fall. Games on TNT are also down by more. He pointed out that despite the ratings decline, NASCAR achieved a "double-digit share increase" last year. The above car is a NASCAR entry that is supposed to look like a Toyota Supra. The #48 team should have been a gold mine. On declining ratings throughout NASCAR and other sports. You also dont often see post-race fisticuffs after races at Kansas or Vegas like you might at Martinsville or Bristol. Fans might be tired of the novelty of the playoffs. They hate all of the commercials. Nielsen slowly began to develop ways to measure who was watching what, and how. And as recently as 2013, the race drew 16.5. That is a decrease of nearly 50%, and in some races this kind of decline could be seen in the stands too. but the mainstream media claiming the political/social justice shift in sports has nothing to do with the decline in viewership are whistling past the graveyard. But in a relatively short time, NASCAR corrected the car and the multiple issues with its design, and while the cars dont differ by manufacturer like they once did, at least were not seeing disastrously awful races just because of the cars construction. Photo credit: Zach Catanzareti Photo on Visualhunt / CC BY-SA These figures paint a troubling trend that NASCAR is on a long term downtrend it has yet to recover from. Sundays 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). 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. Drivers. In terms of tier one sports properties, he said. While this already marks the third time that NASCAR has seen the average viewership go down, there is one major positive to take away from it. This is all just ultimately my opinion, but its a carefully considered one. 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. One shining example was a 2010 Dover racea playoff race, no lesswhere ESPN broke away with 11 laps to go in a very much undecided event for an ad break. The drops: 10% in one year, 19% in two years, 38% in three years, and, good golly Miss Molly, 51% since 2015, when NBC picked up the second half of the season in a giant 10-year contract, with Fox doing the first half. It was another case of costly arrogance; as much as fans loved NASCAR, they didnt love it enough to put up with an endlessly saturated marketing campaign featuring occasional snippets of racing each week. Photo credit: tequilamike on Visual hunt / CC BY Ratings were like Bible verses, an almighty Gospel preached to stakeholders on how much of NASCAR was reaching the masses. (Photo by Robert Laberge/Getty Images), Nascar's TV Future May Or May Not Include Streaming Its Top Tier Races. NASCAR moved the Brickyard 400 to September . These Are The Reasons Why NASCAR Is Losing Fans, "Bootleggers"- those whoproduce anddeliver prohibited whiskey/alcohol, colorful beginnings to what is now a billion-dollar sporting event, 15 Abandoned And Forgotten NASCAR Race Tracks, 15 Rules Every NASCAR Employee Has To Follow, 10 NASCAR Drivers With The Most Wins (& How Much They Won), A New Toyota Celica Concept Shows What A Pure Toyota Sports Car Could Be Without BMW, A Modern Plymouth Road Runner Like This Could Shake Up Today's Pony Car Market, EXCLUSIVE: This Toyota 2000GT Rendering Brings An Icon Into Modern Day, The 5 Worst Ford Mustangs To Buy Used (Plus The 5 Best), 10 Used German Performance Cars We'd Buy Over An American Muscle Car Any Day. Q: You say NASCAR continues to grow and like you, . 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. The previous two races the Daytona Roval and Homestead-Miami posted double-digit increases over the same Cup Series stops last season, but those races had the benefit of moving up from the lower-rated summer portion of the schedule. Standings. Overall, it is another positive and negative week. As a racing event that is held in various tracks around the US, there are several venues that fans can choose to go to in order to watch NASCAR live. 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. Most die-hard fans of NASCAR are those that have followed it the longest. The fan base that is paying attention to our sport now than probably two or three years agopart of that is the economic model of our sport is a little bit more sounder, on solid footing; the introduction to the Next Gen car, it brings on new owners like Justin Marks and Michael Jordan, Pitbull et cetera. Which might explain why, despite the denials, the people who are descendants of Big Bill France, the man who started it all, are quietly shopping the company around and hoping to get out while the goings good. And those ways that didnt always involve traditional broadcast TV. Speaking of disrespecting your fan base, how about needlessly putting an end to a beloved 54-year tradition? In todays media world they are now just a small part of what is used to measure the popularity of the sport. Gordon wasnt the only driver who turned in a spectacular season-long performance only to have it nullified. And stage races have also not gone over well with purists. Covered race cars from the NASCAR Xfinity Series sit parked on pit road during a rain delay before the start . 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. Once upon a time, if the Cup series had a weekend off, drivers like Earnhardt Sr. and/or Earnhardt Jr. would go to Disney World and drink beer with NASCAR fans they bumped into in the lineup for A Small World. 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.. Tiger Woods was great for golf. 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. Feb 25, 2023, 2:33 AM. Stats. Im not buying the its too safe bit as a cause for the decline of NASCAR. 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. 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. Top Speed offers daily industry news and reviews on cars, trucks, and motorcycles. Or at least to give the appearance of it. Photo credit: Fast Eddie Maloney on Best Running / CC BY-SA It may be difficult for younger people to imagine it, but the sport was once poised to overtake the NFL in popularity. The 2021 campaign includes six road course races, a dirt race at Bristol (! With 38 race weekends, NASCAR doesn't take too many in-season . Though fewer fans were able to attend in person, with the improvements in internet bandwidth, and the rise of more and more cable channels, some were finding other ways to digest their favorite sports. That isnt insignificant when it comes to explaining the decline of NASCAR. 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. NASCAR polled fans about the idea on their website following the 2003 season, and fans overwhelmingly rejected it. Should there be concerns with the current trend of viewership? Yes, thats actually true; read it again if you need to. After two DNFs in the first two Chase events resulting from simple bad luck, just like that his title hopes were gone. The fan backlash was loud and intense. 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. The. Thirty-five percent of participants said they were now watching less sports due to political and social messaging, whereas only 11 percent said they now watch more. Its possible that the most popular driver not performing well hurt the sport, given the sports fan demographic. The XFL's ratings were disappointing in Week One. It took quite a few years of longtime fans bitching about that, but NASCAR did finally move the Labor Day Southern 500 back to Darlington. Photo credit: Ford Racing on VisualHunt / CC BY The markets simply couldnt support them anymore. While retired drivers still are visible within the world of NASCAR acting as team managers, commentators, or guests, without the familiar presence of these stars on the track, people can, and have lost some level of interest in NASCAR. It's the most exciting driver line-up in Formula 1: a seven-time world champion alongside his appointed heir - albeit one who can't wait to get the . However, in recent years that growth has slowed. NASCAR has struggled with the 18-49 demographic and while IndyCar doesnt have as many overall viewers, the percentage of those viewers being in that demographic is higher. Viewership for the 2019 Phoenix race was 22% lower than in 2018. I hope so. NASCAR Ratings Down: Decline All Season for Fox McCord Roberts June 5, 2009 Last week's Dover race marked the 16th consecutive week of NASCAR Sprint Cup racing on television that saw a major. At the start of the 21st Century NASCAR TV ratings, meant everything. The NASCAR season ended on a slightly better note in the ratings, though the season could not quite measure up. The truth was of course far from that. NASCARs 2020 champion is also its most popular driverfor the first time since 1988. 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. I expect that will be a boon to NASCARs future. We try to do is take the complex and boil it down to something that is more easily understood by the fanbase.. Kyle Busch, NASCARs black hat, won his second title. That's the first time in a decade that that has happened, Hebrst said. 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. 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 . The trajectory is good. In addition, the current playoff format, while far from perfect, isnt nearly as unpalatable as the Chase was. Basicallythe first 2 races of 2015 have already soundly beaten the first 4 races of 2012 by 4.7 million viewers. 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. A fan of cars and bikes, and most anything with an engine, he divides his time between work and family. Bookmark this page for NASCAR ratings as another year of racing is officially underway! These fans would attend a race, then go sightseeing around the town so as to make the trip more worthwhile and as a result, even more money is required to be put in the budget in order to cover the costs for a dew days hotel stay. Veterans like Kyle Busch and Kevin Harvick are future Hall of Fame drivers with fairly large followings, and a strong crop of young drivers are making names for themselves. But the ratings decline is hitting all of the leagues hard (including MLB, which has not embraced the movement on the field nearly as much as the WNBA, NBA, and NFL). There are not many. After a marked decline in the middle of the previous decade, NASCAR's television numbers have been on the rebound over the past five years. As one of motorsport's most popular race series, NASCAR has a long and colorful history that dates to the US prohibition erain the 1930s. As streaming services provide instant entertainment whileNASCARhas scheduled andlengthy race events,thecomparison is similar toordering drive-thru (cheap and convenient) versusdining at a fine restaurant (pricier and takes longer before you can eat). Photo credit: wjarrettc on Visual hunt / CC BY By virtue of his fathers untimely passing, Dale Earnhardt Jr. instantly found himself with a larger fan base than any three drivers in NASCAR. The cars already were mostly spec at that point, and the sport was doing just finebooming even. Auto Club Speedway's racetrack seems to be adored by every . Up until the middle of the 21st century the measured pairs of eyeballs watching NASCAR on TV were counted, analyzed and, for the most part, cheered. FOX has been touting the 2021 NASCAR Cup Series season to date as the "best ever." Sorry, I'd give that honor to 1992 and wouldn't even provide 2021 to date a spot on my top-10 list of modern-era. For instance: The non-stop promotion of Danica Patrick, as if she was the Second Coming (she wasnt), turned off a lot of fans. It's no secret that NASCAR is experiencing a variety of issues related to its popularity, despite a slight recent uptick in TV ratings. The Truck Series averaged 594,000, up 16% from last year (511K) and 13% from 2019 (549K). UPDATE: The Daytona 500 posted only a modest decline in ratings and viewership, but that was still enough to make it one of the least-watched ever. The Daytona Road Course averaged 4.750 million viewers during the event. There were often timesand Im not exaggerating thiswhen a viewer would see maybe five laps of racing, a two-minute break, and then just two more laps of racing before another break. They do not want to watch commercials over and over again. This brought even more attention and money to the sport and school was soon out. NBA players take a knee during National Anthem, screen image Get woke, go broke. Photo credit: Zach Catanzareti Photo on Visualhunt.com / CC BY-SA The XFL also had a better Week 2 performance than the 2019 Alliance of American . 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. Photo credit: Zach Catanzareti Photo on Best Running / CC BY 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. 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. 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