Average viewership of the NASCAR Cup Series in the United States from 2014 to 2022 (in million. The NASCAR Trucks Series averaged 627,000 viewers for 23 races across FOX and FS1 in 2022, +5% from 599,000 viewers for 22 races in 2021 TV Ratings - Martinsville November 1, 2022 Adam Stern from Sports Business Journal reports that NBC earned a 1.52 rating with 2.541 million viewers for Sunday's Championship 4 cutoff race at Martinsville Speedway 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. This text provides general information. NASCAR Is Better Than Ever, but Why Is No One Watching? Every single playoff stretch since the 2014 season has seen a decrease in viewership. Thursday's opening round of the NFL Draft averaged a combined 11.29 million viewers across ESPN (5.62M), ABC (4.11M) and NFL Network (1.56M), up 13% from last year (10.03M). To say that 2022 is important would be an understatement because its our audition year for the rights deal in 2023. NBC was up from an advertising perspective; it has been years since that has been the case. If people want to watch a race, they will tune in to see the action. And a lot of that will be dictated by the penetration levels that are there at the time of the year. And what both Fox and NBC have done a really good job doing with us is evolving their product and evolving the distribution mix to make it current digital products, streaming in-car cameras on platforms like YouTube or Twitter or Fox having watch parties or alternate broadcasts on their various Fox Sports platforms. Overview and forecasts on trending topics, Industry and market insights and forecasts, Key figures and rankings about companies and products, Consumer and brand insights and preferences in various industries, Detailed information about political and social topics, All key figures about countries and regions, Market forecast and expert KPIs for 600+ segments in 150+ countries, Insights on consumer attitudes and behavior worldwide, Business information on 70m+ public and private companies, Detailed information for 35,000+ online stores and marketplaces. Daytona 500 Ratings History (1979-present) - Sports Media Watch And thats with a rain-impacted Daytona 500 in 2021. You may opt-out by. Please have NASCAR contact me ..Im serious.. They have their favorites in terms of who they like or who they do not like in the booth. The ideal entry-level account for individual users. NBC, we performed exceptionally well for them on the broadcast side, on the cable side; our OTT product, TrackPass, has doubled our expectations in 2020, tripled some expectations in 2021. I think probably too early to tell. It does not include any additional numbers from the networks. NASCAR has been down for the eighth . Use Ask Statista Research Service. And they demand a network window. And frankly, OTT platforms offer access to a younger demographic than we have on cable TV today. Prior to 2019 ratings are also across NBC and NBCSN. 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. Herbst is tasked with putting the puzzle pieces together made all the more challenging because NASCARs current contracts with Fox Sports and NBC Sports expire at the end of the 2024 season, setting up pivotal rights negotiations that will begin in the spring of 2023, shaping NASCARs direction in both the short and long term. Viewership for the 2019 Phoenix race was 22% lower than in 2018. Be the first one to comment on this story. 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. The data would back that up. He said its important to look at the bigger picture, a bigger picture that shows how media is consumed. Chart. 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. Overall, NASCAR's viewership as an individual motorsport has been in decline. ", 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. We feel really good about the length of our season. In fact, the sport will have tremendous momentum going into next season after its playoff numbers did pretty well compared to previous years. Looking ahead to 2022 and your continued efforts to try and find that growth and obtain more viewers, later start times are related to this. The same race last year attracted 4.154 million viewers, and the 2017 race drew 4.662 million both of which had established respective viewership lows for the 36th and final race of the too-dang-long Cup season. Related: NASCAR intends to continue the charter system beyond 2024. 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. NBC said its season viewership averages of 18 Cup races in 2019 (except for weather-affected races at Daytona and Darlington) was 2.57 million, the same as in 2018. NASCAR at Dover live updates, highlights from 2023 race Are you interested in testing our business solutions? 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. What does that present for NASCAR in terms of going out and trying to capture an audience? Without this postponement, NASCAR's average viewership is up 3% in 2020. I would say its trying to capture more viewers and trying to capture more fans. I think youll continue to see a premium on those network windows from the team side. Has either Fox or NBC indicated that theyre interested in re-upping? There were slight improvements from last years, however, which had a viewership of 4.24 million and a rating of 2.5. The best of the best: the portal for top lists & rankings: Strategy and business building for the data-driven economy: Industry-specific and extensively researched technical data (partially from exclusive partnerships). This years Daytona 500, which was won by Austin Cindric, NASCAR averaged a total viewership of 8.9 million. working with us to tweak the distribution as needed. Many fans, especially those who might want to disparage the sport, dont understand that just because the TV numbers are down or not at the sky-high levels they once were, doesnt mean NASCAR is facing any sort of loss of popularity. The Camping World Truck Series averaged 594,000 viewers, up 16% from '20 and 13% from '19. 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. When added to metrics from an agency known as Joyce Julius & Associates, which specializes in measurement and analysis of media promotions that showed just how much TV exposure a sponsor was getting, NASCAR teams were able to justify the high cost of the sponsorships they were charging. And Id say our perception as a property has been turned on its head over the last two to three years. Can you elaborate on why NASCAR believes that to be the case? This year's Daytona 500, which was won by Austin Cindric, NASCAR averaged a total viewership of 8.9 million. I think that the momentum is good. 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. 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. This is a BETA experience. After years of decreasing numbers, a boost in viewership is very positive. Follow below for live results and highlights from this year's Wurth 400. NASCAR 2018 TV Ratings - ESPN Where ESPN+ or Peacock are today from a subs perspective versus where they will be in two years, it may change that calculus. Whats been the reaction from teams as you walk them through this? Compared to 2019s finale from Homestead, ratings were down 13 percent (from a 2.2 rating) and viewership down 14 percent (from 3.74 million). With four consecutive racing weekends down the line, analysis shows the four events have been the most-watched sporting events across the United States. [Online]. Not just from a financial perspective, but from what is the distribution sweet spot that makes the most sense for our industry and our fan base. You mentioned evolution. For the weekend, Talladega placed second among sporting events behind the competing Kings-Warriors NBA playoff game on ABC (7.52M). NBC Sports' 2021 NASCAR Cup Series viewership across NBC and NBCSN produced a Total Audience Delivery of 2.562 million viewers, . 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. document.getElementById( "ak_js_1" ).setAttribute( "value", ( new Date() ).getTime() ); Your email address will not be published. (Keep in mind last years audience was originally reported as 4.68 million, but NASCAR said Tuesday that the year-ago figure was later revised downward.). And like most entities in sports and entertainment, NASCAR is enjoying pent-up demand among fans who couldn't attend as many races during the pandemic. Then you can access your favorite statistics via the star in the header. Fans might be tired of the novelty of the playoffs. They hate all of the commercials. Where Did All The NASCAR Fans Go? - Forbes The network windows and broadcast windows have never been more important than they are in 2021. NASCAR Cup and Xfinity Series Deliver Viewership Gains Across NBC The Wurth 400, featuring all of the top NASCAR drivers, will be held Sunday at the Monster Mile in Dover, culminating a three-day weekend of racing. Does it make it more complicated that NASCAR is a sponsor-driven sport where its imperative to get those sponsors in front of people? (Photo by Jonathan Ferrey/Getty Images). Please create an employee account to be able to mark statistics as favorites. That's the first time in a decade that that has happened, Hebrst said. 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. Ill tell you ratings: We would do about 0.9 to a 1.0 to a 1.1 for midweek races (on cable) on a Wednesday, and theres a lot of stress on the industry to do that Sunday-Wednesday-Sunday model. Certain segments of fans, and media, began to cry that sky was falling. 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. This year's Daytona 500 was watched by 8.17 million total viewers, or an eight percent decrease from the year before. 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). Show sources information The Great Recession that swept across the landscape starting in 2008 changed everything. The event was down 41.8 percent from last year, with 3.958 million average viewers on FOX, but up 11.9 percent from the first Sunday FS1 race (May 10) in 2022. 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. 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. NASCAR Daytona 500 ratings and viewership dating back to 1979, the first year the race was televised in full. (2022). The other scenario that we could do is run midweek races, which we were forced to do in 2020. The Coca-Cola 600 is a test of man versus machine and that is one I would not see changing anytime soon. 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. Fox reported a modest 2% increase in viewership of comparable Cup race from 2018 to 2019, but it needs to be noted that Foxs part of the schedule does not collide with NFL and college football, which NASCAR fans also enjoy watching. The truth was of course far from that. NASCAR at Dover: Free live stream, TV, start time for postponed race Certainly, theres not a lot of sports properties that are on our scale that can tell that story. The only potential exception to that at the end of their season will be the NFL. It's peak viewership was 10.1 million viewers. Statista assumes no 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. Year-over-year viewership this season has been down every step of the way. Accessed May 01, 2023. https://www.statista.com/statistics/812557/average-us-tv-audience-nascar-cup-series/. Please logout and login again. It would be, lets see how this works at this venue, lets see how that works at this venue. Of all the places for Ryan Truex to absolutely turn in a career day, the 31-year-old led a dominating 124 of the 200 laps at his hometown Dover (Del.) The lead-in ARCA race drew a 0.34 and 522,000, down slightly year-over-year (0.35, 532K). That is more critical to our sport than probably any other sport in America. When we go up against the NFL on a cable race, were usually in a 1.3 to 1.4-1.5 range. But it is similar to the dilemma that you correctly called out in 2013. 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. The Wednesday night race at Martinsville Speedway in June averaged 1.71 million viewers, and one at Charlotte Motor. The rain-delayed 2021 Daytona 500 had a 2.8 rating and 4.83 million viewers, marking the lowest rated and least-watched edition of the race. But it is definitely important for us as a sport to be heads-down and doing everything we can in 2022 to make the biggest impact and position us well for 2023. There is a lot of tradition in these race lengths. 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.. Home Motorsports NASCAR NASCAR scores increase at Talladega, LONG POND, PA - JULY 28: A general view of the NASCAR logo on the wall during the Monster Energy NASCAR Cup Series Gander Outdoors 400 on July 28, 2019 at Pocono Raceway in Long Pond, Pa. (Photo by Rich Graessle/Icon Sportswire). What we try to do is boil it down to more simple sound bites that are A: true and B: accurate, Hebrst said. Are you interested in testing our business solutions? And I feel like were peaking at the right time, for sure. This will flip essentially in 2022; 19 races will be on a network and 17 races will be on cable. It is and it will be a balancing act for us in the industry in 2023 to get that distribution mix right because were not going to have all of our races on broadcast, were not going to have all of our races on over the top platforms, we will be somewhere in between. I think theyve been really great partners. NASCAR had its best season of overall viewership (114.231 million average viewers) since the 2018 season (120.454 million average viewers), according to the exact numbers released by Show Buzz Daily every week. Delaware is in its third year with just one . (Photo by ISC Images & [+] Archives via Getty Images). Weve been partners with Fox for 20-plus years. Get in touch with us. 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. How NASCAR is presented on television by its partners is a hot-button topic, including among some of the industry. It's also down from March 2019 numbers. Herbst adds that small swings in the numbers show the steadiness of viewership week to week, and thats a very good thing. The statistic depicts the average national TV viewership in the U.S. for selected motor . Nascar's TV Ratings Are No Longer The Big Deal They Once Were - Forbes I definitely think that was the right call at the time. Sundays NASCAR Cup Series race from Talladega averaged a 2.6 rating and 4.55 million viewers on FOX, flat in ratings and up 5% in viewership from last year (2.6, 4.34M). The advent of streaming services has further changed how sports are presented to viewers. NASCAR TV Ratings: Every NASCAR Cup Race Since 2011 - TobyChristie.com 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. They did not find their way into the 2022 schedule. So in a world that is more competitive than ever, where Netflix, Amazon Prime and Disney+ and HBO Max and Peacock are all grabbing more eyeballs and more attention, for us to continue to increase from a share perspective of those eyeballs on linear TV, so thats traditional TV, and then to remain essentially flat in viewership over the course of the last three years, theres not a lot of sports properties that can tell that same story. Figuring out how that all comes together, in an uncertain time for broadcast rights, is the responsibility of NASCAR executive Brian Herbst, senior vice president of media and productions. 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. There is a push and pull between the media experience sitting back on your couch versus the at-track experience. They are now just one part of a bigger picture: one pixel of a screenshot. NASCAR TV Ratings: March 2022 (Phoenix Raceway) - Racing News I think thats some pretty solid footing.. This seasons playoffs increased for the first time and now sits as the best viewership since the 2019 season. The ESPN and ABC broadcasts increased 26% and 8% respectively . The NFL is going to have a game exclusively on Amazon; IndyCar is going to have a race exclusively on Peacock. 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. This Talladega tv rating doesnt add up FOX has been averaging -500,000 viewers for all of their races this year Theres no way the Talladega viewership couldve increased over 2022, when NASCAR was actually seeing slight increases. So that's a positive viewership increase of 2%. 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. NASCAR Xfinity results: Ryan Truex wins at Dover - Yahoo This statistic is not included in your account. There can be more done to increase these playoff numbers too. NASCAR ranked as the first- or second-most viewed sport of the weekend 17 times. NASCAR power rankings during the 2023 season, NASCAR odds: Betting lines for each race and championship futures, NASCAR ratings on big rise compared to recent years in 2022, NASCAR standings: Cup, Xfinity, and Truck points during the 2023 season, Reported number of 4.682 million was adjusted to 4.336 million for 2022, 2022 on Saturday night, 2023 on Sunday afternoon, 2022 on FOX, 2023 on FS1. document.getElementById( "ak_js_1" ).setAttribute( "value", ( new Date() ).getTime() ); Daytona 500 ratings history (1979-present), 1979-2004 numbers from Sports Business Daily. 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. Kyle Buschs win, which peaked with 5.85 million viewers, was the second-straight NASCAR race to increase year-over-year after the first eight declined. The rain-delayed 2021 Daytona 500 had a 2.8 rating and 4.83 million viewers, marking the lowest rated and least-watched edition of the race. Average U.S. TV audience of NASCAR races 2019. To use individual functions (e.g., mark statistics as favourites, set Despite the drop in their record, the Phoenix race was the talk of the town that weekend as well as the most viewed event in the United States. Average viewership of the NASCAR Cup Series in the United States from 2014 to 2022 (in million viewers) [Graph]. Is NASCAR Bailing on Budweiser Over the Recent Bud Light Controversy? Daytona 500 ratings hit all-time low after long rain delay You can contact him here or on the Sports Media Watch Twitter page. I think that you will see us take a hard look at race lengths over the course of the next two or three years. A shot that shows the overall value sponsors receive. So what Steve is referring to, the opportunity that we have in 2022 if the weather cooperates, is one that were pretty excited about. Las Vegas TV Ratings: March 2021 (NASCAR Weekend) (The 2023 Martinsville audience was larger, but that was entirely due to last year's race being on a Saturday.) If the sport starts rotating the tracks within the playoffs, including the championship event, it would be surprising to not see a boost in numbers. I dont think that commentary on a broadcast booth or a studio show is something that is unique to NASCAR. Brad Paisley joined the NBC Sports crew during NASCARs visit to Nashville Superspeedway. This marks the second straight week that NASCAR has been up in viewership. Get the best reports to understand your industry. The race was down 11.9% compared to the first Sunday race on FS1 last season, Share up 9%, largest for Race #2 since 2017, Share up 2%, largest for Daytona 500 since 2016, Second most-watched non-points race since 2016. It would have been nice to have heard more during the championship race from Earnhardt. Related: NASCAR ratings on big rise compared to recent years in 2022. Cup Series racing finished with its third consecutive year of share growth, up 14 percent since 2018 and up 8 percent over the 2020 season. Nielsen is still a big part of the media landscape. This is the first time the sport has seen an average of over three million average viewers per race since the 2018 season too. The Sporting News is tracking live updates from Monday's race at Dover. So even if were competing versus the NFL, we hold up pretty well. NFL Draft viewership rebounds from last year - Sports Media Watch By the measurements used today, NASCAR then is in a very good place. NASCAR bracket? Is Denny Hamlin's tournament idea a good one? You bet! (The Athletic obtained data that confirmed Herbsts point). NBC did the best with what it was given, really, but there were few compelling storylines. Comparing those championship viewer numbers with NASCAR's biggest race of the year and it's even more troubling. 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. Along with that came an all-important metric: the Nielsen ratings. The NASCAR Cup Series rolls into the Mid-Atlantic to take on the Monster Mile on Sunday. Nielsen slowly began to develop ways to measure who was watching what, and how. But experts say the reasons are multitude. Our share of those TVs that are tuned in is up 18%. Profit from the additional features of your individual account. The future of NASCAR is bright and will likely run through FOX and NBC moving forward, as stated during the State of the Sport address last week. Its certainly healthy in terms of eyeballs, Hebrst said. Jordan Bianchi is a motorsports reporter for The Athletic. As a Premium user you get access to background information and details about the release of this statistic. Another change for 2022 is that there are going to be more races on network TV, and on the NBC side races on cable are shifting from NBCSN to USA Network, which is in more homes than NBCSN (NBCSN is shutting down at the end of 2021). What is the sweet spot for how long a race should be from a television perspective? From the Aug. 22 Michigan race to Sept. 26s Las Vegas playoff race, Cup Series races saw six consecutive weeks of year-over-year viewership increases, the longest streak since 2011. Directly accessible data for 170 industries from 50 countries and over 1 million facts: Get quick analyses with our professional research service. NASCAR will for sure be even better next year. We needed them in 2020. Home Daytona 500 ratings history (1979-present). Is NASCAR the Most Watched Sport in America? | Sports It also ranks as the most-watched NASCAR race of the season outside of the Daytona 500, a distinction usually held by the first post-Daytona race. Please do not hesitate to contact me. NASCAR Daytona 500 ratings and viewership dating back to 1979, the first year the race was televised in full. This year's race peaked at 10.57 million viewers during the final laps from 6:30 p.m. to 6:45. But even with that decline, if you look at any other Tier 1 sports property any property essentially thats over 100,000 viewers or so on an average minute basis, and those are the properties that tend to have really lucrative rights deals for any property that has completed their regular season, we performed better than any one of those other properties from 2018 to 2021. Brian Herbst is the senior vice president for media and productions for NASCAR. or Disney plus; there's more competition for those eyeballs then there's ever been. Its a great viewership opportunity. Veteran NASCAR Broadcaster Sounds Alarm Bells on 'Troubling Decline' in Published by Statista Research Department , Dec 8, 2022. Professional sports adapted as well, understanding, and learning, how to measure viewership and show that value to their stakeholders. The sport mishandled the on-track racing by introducing the 550 horsepower package which caused the fanbase to lose trust. NASCAR at Dover live race results, updates, highlights from rain