Related: Phoenix race results from March 13, 2022 (NASCAR Cup . There may well be a Chase Elliott effect in NASCAR as the sport delivered its second-straight increase in viewership since his return from injury. document.getElementById( "ak_js_1" ).setAttribute( "value", ( new Date() ).getTime() ); Your email address will not be published. One of them is the overall viewership across the entire season while the other remains the final 10 events when each of them matters even more. Surprisingly, NASCAR has also outshined other sports. The other scenario that we could do is run midweek races, which we were forced to do in 2020. We have a really good relationship with both Fox and NBC. Digital and social consumption is as important now, as it's ever been; probably more important now than it's ever been, he said. By then, hardly anyone will have a standard TV, anyway, because every event will be streamed, and ratings wont matter. NASCARs popularity is down and the ratings reflect it. If we were to run a typical race at 1 p.m., were going to get about 10 percent fewer viewers at 1 p.m. than we would at 3 p.m. From an ad sales perspective: Ad Sales for Fox completely sold out every single ad unit on big Fox or FS1 throughout all of 2021. In, Website (racingnews.co), und SportsBusiness Daily, und Sports Media Watch. Related: NASCAR power rankings during the 2023 season. Phoenix was not the only race to record a drop, with the 2022 Daytona 500 also under-performing in terms of viewership despite the hype and ticket being sold out. LOS ANGELES, CA - MARCH 14: (L-R) Brian Herbst, NASCAR managing director, broadcasting, Scott [+] Warfield, NASCAR managing director, social and digital content, Brad Keselowski, driver of the #2 Team Penske Ford Fusion, Jill Gregory, NASCAR senior vice president and chief marketing officer and Laura Froelich, Twitter global head of sports partnerships, pose for a photo after NASCAR announces plans to live-stream in-car cameras on Twitter for the 2018 season on March 14, 2018 in Los Angeles, California. They did not find their way into the 2022 schedule. ", Website (racingnews.co) & SportsBusiness Daily & Sports Media Watch, Average viewership of the NASCAR Cup Series in the United States from 2014 to 2022 (in million viewers) Statista, https://www.statista.com/statistics/812557/average-us-tv-audience-nascar-cup-series/ (last visited May 01, 2023), Average viewership of the NASCAR Cup Series in the United States from 2014 to 2022 (in million viewers) [Graph], Website (racingnews.co), & SportsBusiness Daily, & Sports Media Watch, June 16, 2022. It was not a great race. * Asterisk indicates race was postponed to Monday. NASCARs TV ratings began to fall; the once all-mighty numbers began to show not an increase, but a decline. (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. NASCAR averaged 2.93 viewers across Fox and NBC Sports in 2021, down 4 percent from last year (3.06 million) and 6 percent from 2019 (3.11 million), according to Sports Media Watch. Is that directly because of television and trying to capture more viewers? NASCAR intends to continue the charter system beyond 2024, NASCAR could possibly race internationally as early as 2024. NASCAR has been down for the eighth . So if you can say that it's you and the NFL in terms of stability of your audience. Get in touch with us. Im pleasantly surprised about the stability of our viewership number over the course of the last three or four years. Upon further review, however, the country's most popular racing series has a reason to be concerned. Fans can also watch NASCAR races for free by signing up for a trial of fuboTV. In an era of falling TV ratings across nearly every sport, NASCAR has continuously been used as the archetype of this decline. This year's Daytona 500 was watched by 8.17 million total viewers, or an eight percent decrease from the year before. It is possible that another playoff system to sustain interest in TV programming for nine months could be introduced with a radically revamped schedule in 2021 and it is possible that NASCAR could go back to the old way and determine a champ on points over an entire season. Nielsen is still a big part of the media landscape. NASCAR TV Ratings Stabilize Amid Pandemic, Progressive Changes - Forbes The 2019 race averaged a 5.3 and 9.17 million, while the 2018 event averaged a 5.3 and 9.30. No longer tied to a box atop the TV or a diary that viewers filled out, the company started to figure out how to report who was watching on TV, on cable, and on streaming platforms. "Average Viewership of The Nascar Cup Series in The United States from 2014 to 2022 (in Million Viewers). (Just in case you were wondering, Fox is unlikely to name a replacement for Darrell Waltrip if he is replaced, that is though we should find out more next month. This years Daytona 500, which was won by Austin Cindric, NASCAR averaged a total viewership of 8.9 million. In fact, the sport will have tremendous momentum going into next season after its playoff numbers did pretty well compared to previous years. 2019 NASCAR TV Ratings: Majority of Races Increased TV Viewership I do think its fair to think about a race length that was typically 500 miles and are we holding the attention span of a younger demo before a 500-mile race. Bristol Dirt, another tentpole event that we expected big things from in 2021 and expect big things in 2022, was also rain-impacted and pushed to Monday afternoon for a 4 p.m. Whats written in a contract isnt necessarily how the deal plays out over the course of those eight to 10 years. However, the 2022 season represented very notable numbers. That was a concession NASCAR made for the big contract. You can contact him here or on the Sports Media Watch Twitter page. 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. Fortunately, for the first time in NASCAR history, that narrative has changed due to the 2022 season. I think that both Fox and NBC have done a great job in surrounding their booth with the right talent, the right expertise. Profit from the additional features of your individual account. Prior to 2019 ratings are also across NBC and NBCSN. Last year, FOX averaged 4,159,000 viewers per race. NASCAR average TV audience in the US 2019 | Statista April 29, 2023 at 3:55 PM. NASCAR is no exception. The Camping World Truck Series averaged 594,000 viewers, up 16% from '20 and 13% from '19. The statistic depicts the average national TV viewership in the U.S. for selected motor . Is NASCAR Bailing on Budweiser Over the Recent Bud Light Controversy? This past week, he pitched the idea of a single-elimination tournament, played out within the confines of five Cup Series races on five consecutive weekends. 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. Without this postponement, NASCAR's average viewership is up 3% in 2020. working with us to tweak the distribution as needed. He is a veteran sports reporter, having covered the NBA, NFL, Major League Baseball, college basketball, college football, NASCAR, IndyCar and sports business for several outlets. For comparison, the NHRA event saw an average of 458,000 viewers. (Photo: David J. Griffin / Icon Sportswire via Getty Images). NASCAR at Dover live updates, highlights from 2023 race 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). And, obviously, the network window is increasing as well. Are 36 points races plus two exhibition races a right number for television or is that something that you could see tweaked? This marks the second straight week that NASCAR has been up in viewership. I think youll continue to see a premium on those network windows from the team side. Facebook: quarterly number of MAU (monthly active users) worldwide 2008-2022, Quarterly smartphone market share worldwide by vendor 2009-2022, Number of apps available in leading app stores Q3 2022. There are a number of soccer properties out there that are shifting to direct consumer; we will not have an all-out shift to direct consumer. However, based on the total viewership above, the 2022 season appears to be showing signs of NASCAR going in the right direction. Chart. You will find all of your NASCAR ratings coverage at Sportsnaut. The 2020 and 2021 Daytona 500 were rescheduled due to inconducive weather and they happened on Mondays. FOX Announces TV Ratings For 2022 NASCAR Season Last year's fifth race, which took place in Phoenix six days earlier . We are happy to help. Every single playoff stretch since the 2014 season has seen a decrease in viewership. Try a week on us. To use individual functions (e.g., mark statistics as favourites, set statistic alerts) please log in with your personal account. NFLX Im spending a lot of time right now meeting with teams individually to walk them through this kind of tradeoff between total viewership and giving us the best chance for success from a consumption perspective, both in 2025 and whenever the next TV deal runs through. The most important key figures provide you with a compact summary of the topic of "NASCAR" and take you straight to the corresponding statistics. As recently as 2013, when Danica Patrick competed in the race for the first time, the 500 had a 9.9 and 16.7 million. Sunday's race in Atlanta, the fifth of the Cup Series schedule, attracted 4.003 million viewers. It would have been nice to have heard more during the championship race from Earnhardt. Follow Jordan on Twitter @jordan_bianchi. Published by Statista Research Department , Dec 8, 2022. 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 a Premium user you get access to background information and details about the release of this statistic. Bookmark this page for NASCAR ratings as another year of racing is officially underway! I think probably too early to tell. NASCAR Cup Series races have averaged 4.76 million viewers on Fox Sports so far this season, up 17% from the first eight races last year (4.09M). The NASCAR playoffs have been a controversial idea ever since its inception for the 2014 season and that has been shown over the years with the overall viewership during the final 10-race stretch. If the new NASCAR is losing fans, it's hard to tell for now. NASCAR viewership up at Talladega - Sports Media Watch And a lot of that will be dictated by the penetration levels that are there at the time of the year. By the measurements used today, NASCAR then is in a very good place. The media landscape has evolved over the course of the last eight years. So if we were going to have a partnership with a company the likes of the Fox Corporation or NBC Universal, there needed to be a significant allocation of our races that went to cable to have a network partner as powerful and blue chip in nature as each one of those. or Disney plus; there's more competition for those eyeballs then there's ever been. The NASCAR Cup Series rolls into the Mid-Atlantic to take on the Monster Mile on Sunday. When we go up against the NFL on a cable race, were usually in a 1.3 to 1.4-1.5 range. So from 2018 to 2021, and Im projecting lets say what was a projected flat number for Phoenix, will be around a decline of 7 percent. It was a successful. Viewership of the NASCAR Cup Series increased by six percent since last year, from an average of 3.48 million to 3.7 million viewers. To the extent that the platform penetration levels change or the trajectory of those platforms changes between now and then, thats something that we would take a look at. I think that an answer that I would give you today in 2021 probably isnt going to hold up in terms of where the world is in 2023. The sport mishandled the on-track racing by introducing the 550 horsepower package which caused the fanbase to lose trust. I feel like the season running from February to November is probably the right length of season for us, but its probably too early to tell if there could be any other changes going into the next rights cycle. (Busch would have still won.). Looking at the change of viewership from a 1 oclock start time to a 3 oclock start, it seems almost silly not to cater to that audience where you have a bigger opportunity for growth. Pennzoil 400 at Las Vegas Speedway was also the most-watched event of the weekend on March 6 with a viewership of 4.544 million and a rating of 2.71 million. As were putting our schedule together, we are ensuring that for these new tentpole events or races in new markets, that we have a network window home for those new events. Has either Fox or NBC indicated that theyre interested in re-upping? Every sport has a very passionate fan base. Ratings predictions: NBA and NHL Game 7s, plus XFL v. USFL, News: Phoenix rights deal, CFP schedule and more, NFL Draft viewership rebounds from last year, Two-game night results in big numbers for Cup playoffs. And based on what we see today, NASCAR seems to be on an upward trajectory and shows no signs of slowing down. With that, here's what you need to know about this year's Cup Series race at Dover, including start time and broadcast information. 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. And because of the changes weve made as an industry that allows for the scheduling innovation that weve had over the last two or three years, our case to the networks for those network windows is a little bit more palatable. If you are an admin, please authenticate by logging in again. We needed them in 2020. Plus, if NASCAR carries this momentum into the 2023 season, everything will be up again. It was a successful year as the sport averaged over three million average viewers per race. It is now the first race that has been up when it is a direct comparison with no other factors affecting it, such as a change from Saturday night to Sunday afternoon. So if were looking at 3 million viewers, thats about 300,000 people that would not be able to see our content simply because its early on and trying to bring in the West Coast viewer. You mentioned evolution. In todays world TV ratings arent the big deal they once were nor the only thing that matters. Where ESPN+ or Peacock are today from a subs perspective versus where they will be in two years, it may change that calculus. Please do not hesitate to contact me. But because were delivering 3 million viewers on a typical Sunday, and youre probably getting 50,000 to 60,000 people in the stands, the way we look at that is were simply trying to deliver our content and our product to the most amount of eyeballs possible. Your new brackets are just what NASCAR needswait #11what if Ross passed you every week? Viewership for the 2019 Phoenix race was 22% lower than in 2018. Year-over-year viewership this season has been down every step of the way. The only potential exception to that at the end of their season will be the NFL. And then, we run almost all the way through November with only one off weekend in 2022. NASCAR has officially returned to pre-COVID-19 pandemic numbers and no matter how it is spun, this is a fantastic situation for the sport. Rain impacting the Daytona 500 cost us about 5 percent of our season average (this years race, delayed by nearly six hours, earned an average of 4.83 million viewers). So we are spending a lot of time right now talking to and gathering feedback from our industry, the teams, the tracks and others so that we are as prepared as possible for that discussion in 2023. TV viewership of major racing series US 2022 | Statista 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. He swept both stage wins and ultimately took the checkered flag an impressive 4.8-seconds ahead of the field to claim his first career NASCAR [] Nick Bromberg updated the viewership of the past several years, tweeting: The Wise Power 400 at Auto Club Speedway in Fontana averaged a rating of 2.61 and a viewership of 4.570 million. Comparing those championship viewer numbers with NASCAR's biggest race of the year and it's even more troubling. I dont think were ever content with where we are, but I think in the environment that were in, were really pleased with the stability of those numbers. NASCAR has suffered with declining attendance for years from its heyday in the early 2000s, when it was routinely drawing crowds well over 50,000 to 100,000 essentially for every Cup Series race. Herbst spoke with The Athletic before the Cup Series championship finale at Phoenix Raceway about a number of topics: ratings, NASCARs relationship with Fox Sports and NBC Sports, future negotiations, whether a Cup Series race could exclusively be aired on a streaming platform, why NASCAR feels it is one of the most stable sports leagues on television and why its well-positioned to see a growth in viewership in 2022. According to SMW, the Cup Series finale from Phoenix averaged a 1.95 rating/3.21 million viewers on NBC, up 4 percent in ratings and 5 percent in viewership from last year (1.9, 3.06 million), when it became the championship race for the first time. Opinions expressed by Forbes Contributors are their own. All of these numbers are the raw total from each rating release throughout the season. The belief is that maybe NASCARs partners dont always present the sport in the best light or maybe educate their viewers compared to some other motorsports forums. FILE - Chase Elliott (9) looks on prior to a NASCAR Cup Series auto race at Charlotte Motor Speedway, Sunday, Oct. 9, 2022, in Concord, N.C. We will be a linear TV property, traditional TV property, through 2024. Most valuable sport event brands worldwide 2019, Racing teams of NASCAR ranked by team value 2019, Average U.S. TV audience of NASCAR races 2019, Daytona 500 TV viewers in the U.S. 2000-2022, To download this statistic in XLS format you need a Statista Account, To download this statistic in PNG format you need a Statista Account, To download this statistic in PDF format you need a Statista Account. Both Fox and NBC have shown that they will bring the stars of yesterday into the booth today and they will invest where they need to invest to have the star power of our sport. Directly accessible data for 170 industries from 50 countries and over 1 million facts: Get quick analyses with our professional research service. These Are The Reasons Why NASCAR Is Losing Fans - HotCars Ratings were like Bible verses, an almighty Gospel preached to stakeholders on how much of NASCAR was reaching the masses. While Nielsen was undergoing its transformation other smaller agencies stepped into fill the void. You may opt-out by. While NASCAR consistently ranks at or near the top of weekend viewership for all sporting events, the decline in raw numbers comes at an inopportune time. I wouldnt trade anything that happened with Bubba Wallace winning at Talladega for the world, but that race ran on Monday afternoon on NBCSN versus on NBC on Sunday, which is always one of our higher-performing races. ET There are also financial tradeoffs to that as well. Hes tasked with not only getting exposure for the sport but measuring that exposure and translating in a way that shows value to stakeholders. Learn more about how Statista can support your business. The NASCAR ratings for the 2022 season are the best they have been in four years. Brilliant. Obviously, NASCAR would like to see growth, but looking at the numbers, is NASCAR pleased with where its at right now? And those ways that didnt always involve traditional broadcast TV. ET start time, and was probably two points off the season average based on where we expected that to be. Lets take a deeper look at the data from the last five years. Gone are the days when a fan would tune in to a broadcast or cable channel to see their favorite sporting event or teams, as many leagues around the globe have signed rights fees with streaming platforms like ESPN+, Amazon, Peacock, Paramount+ and a plethora of others. If you back up three years to 2019, we did 16 races on a network and 20 races on cable in 2022. Every FOX race that can be compared to last year has posted an increase in ratings and viewership; the lone race on FS1 (Martinsville) declined. After years of decreasing numbers, a boost in viewership is very positive. Please do not hesitate to contact me. They are now just one part of a bigger picture: one pixel of a screenshot. Required fields are marked *. So I think thats probably unlikely. Now, NASCAR might say, Well, 3.759 million for a race in November, even if it is half as much as four years ago, is more than 0.000 viewers for no race. And ratings are slightly better overall when you include the Fox half, which is better than another plunge, as in 2018. UPDATE: Sunday's NASCAR Cup Series at Phoenix scored a 2.8 rating and 4.6 million viewers on FOX, down 15% in ratings and viewership from last year (3.3, 5.4M), down 30% and 31% respectively from . (The 2023 Martinsville audience was larger, but that was entirely due to last year's race being on a Saturday.) Show sources information At a designated cut-off . We try to do is take the complex and boil it down to something that is more easily understood by the fanbase.. Its certainly healthy in terms of eyeballs, Hebrst said. We are a national sport; we will deliver 3 million viewers in a typical NASCAR Cup Series race. Your login session has expired. 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. According to FOX TV, during the recently concluded event in Phoenix, the channel received a rating of 2.33 and a total viewership of 3.9 million.