Related:15 Rules Every NASCAR Employee Has To Follow. The decline of NASCAR from dominance started circa 2005, and there wasnt any big change to car specs in that time period. OutKick reported: The NBA ratings are worse The first study focused exclusively on Bristol Motor Speedway, while the second study took other NASCAR race tracks into account, and both studies found that noise levels regularly exceeded 140 decibels when the race cars were accelerating at full throttle, and that the noise levels lasted, on average, about three to four hours, the average Our share of those TVs that are tuned in is up 18%. Not only is this tolerated by NASCAR but encouraged. But theyve also improved the schedule, the broadcasts, and the method of determining a champion. The NASCAR Cup Series race at Auto Club Speedway averaged 4.315 million average viewers on FOX last weekend. If they hadnt, youd probably be reading articles today about the decline of Coca-Cola too. 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. The fan backlash was loud and intense. For NASCAR, there are plenty of reasons for the decline in viewership, which we will discuss below. (Busch would have still won.). Where . When you use this link to shop on Amazon, youll help subsidize this great websiteat no extra charge to you. People do not want to watch numerous full-screen commercials while green-flag racing is taking place. 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. NASCAR's social media channels have piled up nearly 2 billion social impressions (the number of times its content was viewed) and more than 92 million fan engagements (retweets, likes, shares). They wouldn't explain ratings declines from 2016 to 2017. Tiger Woods was great for golf. 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. Yes, sports ratings as a whole are down, but NASCAR's fall is alarming: Daytona 500 viewership from 2001 to 2009 ranged from 16 to 19 million. Related: NASCAR power rankings during the 2023 season. Meanwhile, NASCAR ratings . Digital and social consumption is as important now, as it's ever been; probably more important now than it's ever been, he said. 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. 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. Sundays race at Auto Club is also down from the second race of the 2021 season. NASCAR should post improved viewership numbers in 2022. NASCAR tv ratings for the Bristol Motor Speedway dirt track. It was boxy, ugly, and top heavyand its shape was part of the reason for the Indianapolis debacle of 2008. I hope so. On the re-debut of the XFL, the league's TV ratings down in a pretty big way, according to Sports Media Watch. After years of seeing its once enormous audience dwindle to almost nothing, NASCAR is finally righting the ship. This is a BETA experience. It was the first NCS race on the dirt in 50 years. 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. So no, Johnsons domination wasnt directly a factor in the decline of NASCAR but their failure to market it most definitely was. Herbst, and NASCAR, are well aware that fans, and some media, still look to the ratings. Speaking of disrespecting your fan base, how about needlessly putting an end to a beloved 54-year tradition? When not at work, Karlo spends his time at home, with family, either being the cook or fixit guy in his house. 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. 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. No longer do young NASCAR racers start at their local tracks and work their way up. That would have a big effect on viewership overall. If any single event hastened the decline of NASCAR, it was Indy 2008. Opinions expressed by Forbes Contributors are their own. Standings. However, in recent years that growth has slowed. But more importantly, the racing isnt anywhere near as exciting at the cookie cutters, as I so eloquently explained here. Last years Xfinity race at the track aired on FS2 and had a 0.21 and 341,000. NASCAR did (and still does) market the possibility of spectacular wrecks. As the son of one of the greatest racecar drivers in history, Junior also had an impossible standard to live up to. 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. I'm just . On Monday, the Bristol Motor Speedway dirt track hosted the NASCAR Cup Series. 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. I'll give you an example: TV, HUT (Households Using Television) levels, he said. The 2021 campaign includes six road course races, a dirt race at Bristol (! 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. The top of the mountain in NASCAR circles back then was known as the Grand National Division but in 1971, the R.J. Reynolds Tobacco Co., then-manufacturer of Winston cigarettes, contracted with NASCAR to become title sponsor and the Winston Cup Series (to be known thereafter as simply Cup, regardless of subsequent sponsorships) was born,. I think thats some pretty solid footing.. Photo credit: wjarrettc on Visual hunt / CC BY The rise of social media as a tool, pastime, or source of information and entertainment has certainly affected most sports, NASCAR included. Elliott is a great driver and a likable kid, and he doesnt take any craphe doesnt shy away from wrecking a driver like Denny Hamlin if the situation called for it. No longer do young NASCAR racers start at their local tracks and work their way up. You may opt-out by. Statistics for NASCAR indicate that 63% are male, 20% are minorities and 47% are between the ages of 18 and 44, with the majority of this age bracket being in the older end, the number of which is also dropping yearly. 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. While NASCARs ratings were a record low for a second event of the season, the NTT IndyCar Series found themselves with a massive jump in ratings. 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. NASCAR blew off fan demand for picture-in-picture commercial breakssomething theyve since embracedwhile Fox Sportss indifference to fans went completely unchecked. Auto Club Speedway's racetrack seems to be adored by every . 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. Las Vegas, by contrast, moved back from the coveted week after the Daytona 500. Dynasties like Johnsons arent bad for a sportunless the sport doesnt know how to market them. This article looks at several of the reasons why NASCAR is losing fans. These are bold changes, but this variety of tracks will test drivers and teams at every level. It was a successful year as the sport averaged over three million average viewers per race. I also think it's healthy just in terms of the interest. Photo credit: Darryl W. Moran Photography on Visual Hunt / CC BY-ND After two DNFs in the first two Chase events resulting from simple bad luck, just like that his title hopes were gone. With all the different metrics used to measure a sport these days however, it can be complicated. However, these deals may be stopping the brand from adapting to consumers' changing viewing habits. Follow along, because there will be a test later . The Daytona Road Course averaged 4.750 million viewers during the event. After 26 of 36 races, the top ten drivers would have their points reset, putting them all on a level playing field again for the last ten races. FONTANA, Calif. Most of NASCAR's Cup Series drivers feel like they're saying their final goodbye to a dear old friend this weekend. The #48 team should have been a gold mine. Since this is a non-ideological blog, I wont get into the things that the NFL, NBA and MLB have recently done to drive away a significant portion of their fanbases. 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. 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%. The sport has grown from. The XFL also had a better Week 2 performance than the 2019 Alliance of American . https://t.co/Zf4L7g5im4 Timothy Burke (@bubbaprog) July 10, 2018 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 . 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. Unless you are a die-hard fan of the sport, people would rather watch condensed snippets of the race or read the highlights instead of actually spending time watching or subscribing to NASCAR real-time races. 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. Jerseyball Millvilles Mike Trout and Aaron Cox, Precision Pistol Shooting For Greatness, The Power of Fun Dave Raymond, The Original Phillie Phanatic, Being Relentless The HEADstrong Foundation, Surviving Until Tuesday Sergeant Andrew Einstein. 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. 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. Racing, like basketball and other sports, has seen year-to-year ratings decline. NASCAR polled fans about the idea on their website following the 2003 season, and fans overwhelmingly rejected it. In 2007, an average of 16.4 million viewers tuned in to watch The Daytona 500, but by 2014 that number had fallen by more than 50% to an average of 8.3 million viewers per race. Ratings were like Bible verses, an almighty Gospel preached to stakeholders on how much of NASCAR was reaching the masses. If that contributed to NASCARs decline, however, that is on NASCAR. So NASCAR racing has become just like European formula-car racing and IndyCar racing in North America. "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 . By then, hardly anyone will have a standard TV, anyway, because every event will be streamed, and ratings wont matter. 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). More to the point: both sports need to be patient . The trajectory is good. It may seem good on the surface, but there's more beneath that makes this concerning. 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. Maybe there is a segment of fans who tune in for death-defying calamities, but that has always been a part of the sport and still is. I wonder why Truck Series and Xfinity viewership(even from 2019) is up but Cup Series viewership is down. Extra charge to you bold changes, but this variety of tracks will test drivers and at. Racing is taking place sports need to be patient at Bristol ( contributed to NASCARs decline,,... 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