The half-mile dirt track was a success on many levels. 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. FONTANA, Calif. Most of NASCAR's Cup Series drivers feel like they're saying their final goodbye to a dear old friend this weekend. And you hear more and more about this today. It makes a world of difference watching on TV. NASCAR moved away from tracks where drivers push and shove and fight both other racecars and the track, and moved to aero-dependent speedways where engineers in the garage determined winners. OTHER VIEWS? People do not want to watch numerous full-screen commercials while green-flag racing is taking place. NASCAR rose to prominence in the 1980s and 90s as TV became more and more involved. In the early 2000s, NASCAR was soaring. The news sort of heads downhill from there. Photo credit: sidehike on Visual hunt / CC BY-SA The declines were less pronounced with the record-low Daytona 500 excluded. Compared to last years fourth race of the season, Phoenix, ratings fell a tick (from 2.7) and viewership 5% (from 4.58M). 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. I expect that will be a boon to NASCARs future. NBC did the best with what it was given, really, but there were few compelling storylines. 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. As NBA ratings have declined over the current season, a new poll shows that more than 30 percent of Americans say they have watched less sports over political and . Then they sharply declined in Week Two. American Hartford Gold. All Rights Reserved. By then, hardly anyone will have a standard TV, anyway, because every event will be streamed, and ratings wont matter. The current NBA broadcast deal nets the league $2.6 billion a year, however, a new report says the next one may be closer to $8 billion annually. Compared to the 2019 finale from Homestead-Miami, ratings fell 13% (from 2.2) and viewership 14% (from 3.74M). 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 . By the measurements used today, NASCAR then is in a very good place. So if Im right, in a few years NASCAR may become Americas summer sport again. By: GP Racing. NFLX Auto Club Speedway's racetrack seems to be adored by every . The same story goes for NASCAR as the adverts that major companies place during their televised races are a major source of income for the organization and the teams. by both sides, angered fans but they were particularly angry at NASCAR, which onceelevated Jeff Gordon to the Chase field when he hadnt qualified for it. But theyve also improved the schedule, the broadcasts, and the method of determining a champion. With two races remaining after this weekend Phoenix next weekend and then the finale at Homestead-Miami this would seem to be as good a time as any to take a look at why the bloom has come off that NASCAR rose and why it is going to be almost impossible for it to ever regenerate. TV ratings are no longer the end all be all for NASCAR. 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. The television ratings for sports in 2020 reflect the poll results and the frustration many feel toward the constant sloganeering and political pandering. The rise of social media as a tool, pastime, or source of information and entertainment has certainly affected most sports, NASCAR included. Since early in the millenium, however, interest in NASCAR both at the speedways and on television has dropped off. It rewards winning, which rewards fighting for wins, which creates rivalries. Then they sharply declined in Week Two.The four XFL games in Week Two averaged 665,000 viewers, which is a 50 percent decline from the four XFL . 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.. Photo credit: wjarrettc on Visual hunt / CC BY The NASCAR season ended on a slightly better note in the ratings, though the season could not quite measure up. . You can contact him here or on the Sports Media Watch Twitter page. 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. This year's Daytona 500, for example, drew 4.8 million viewers a. Keep in mind Phoenix only became the regular season finale starting last season. 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. IndyCar always has side-by-side commercials during green flag racing. 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. NASCARs viewership continues to fall after the ratings for last weekends race at Auto Club Speedway were released on Tuesday morning. Fans might be tired of the novelty of the playoffs. They hate all of the commercials. which is a 50 percent decline . 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. That isnt insignificant when it comes to explaining the decline of NASCAR. 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. NASCAR star Bubba Wallace reacted to a chart on Twitter that showed last weekend's NASCAR race at Foxwoods Resort Casino as the top-watched sporting event of the weekend. over the same Cup Series stops last season, 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 possessed one of the greatest dynasties in the history of sports during Jimmies reign. Dale Earnhardt Jr. retired at the end of the 2017 season. In 1994, there were six events held at intermediate tracks of 1.5-2 miles in length. Its not so much that the points reset NASCAR introduced in 2004 was a monumentally stupid idea. (Photo by AaronP/Bauer-Griffin/GC Images). It was a successful year as the sport averaged over three million average viewers per race. Herbst, and NASCAR, are well aware that fans, and some media, still look to the ratings. 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. You either owned a franchise and could play, or you didnt and were shut out. . "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 . 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 Nielsen was undergoing its transformation other smaller agencies stepped into fill the void. Even more so than in baseball, the on-screen product is affected with the layout of a track. Photo credit: Zach Catanzareti Photo on Visualhunt / CC BY-SA There was suddenly lots and lots of prize money available and other full-time competitors like Bill Elliott, Dale Earnhardt and Darrell Waltrip joined up to give chase. NASCAR made an absurd amount of money with their television contracts in the 2000s, but that ultimately cost them a sizable chunk of the audience when networks were forced to make it worth their while. More to the point: both sports need to be patient . 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. 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. At the start of the 21st Century NASCAR TV ratings, meant everything. In that race, caution flags were flown almost every ten laps for tire wear, as Jimmie Johnson limped to a victory. It is now an elitist sport because only those who can afford to pay to play need apply. 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. 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. And stage races have also not gone over well with purists. 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. The last race at. If NASCAR wants to fix the ongoing issues with viewership, fixing their way of broadcasting commercials would go a very long way in those efforts. Even though the Confederate battle flag was banned within Talledega Speedway on Sunday, outside the track, the initials "PC" stood for "publicly Confederate.". That's the lowest TV audience ever recorded for the. . In fact, the current car lends itself to some pretty good racing. Please email the author at nmcdonald@thestar.ca, Copyright 2023 | Powered by CityMediaInc.com, Happy Birthday, GM Canada, and thanks for the (many) ride(s), Racing Roundup: Great Grand Prix in Austin, despite actions by stewards; Canadian Motorsport Hall of Fame induction video; Alonso wont drive in IndyCar in 2019 or ever. Which meant that other drivers didnt win a lot. 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. It is understandable that throughout its existence, rule changes have been implemented at NASCAR, and the reasons for such have varied from safety, technological, or as organization initiatives to provide more challenges or add excitement to the races. However, NASCAR attendance numbers have fluctuated over the last decade. The . Most TV consumption, really all TV consumption of TV of tier one sports properties is down simply because TV consumption just broadly is down. The last race at Auto Club took place in 2020 and had an average of 4.781 million viewers for the third event of the season. Well, it might be as easy as the product fans are seeing on their televisions over the course of a race. Home Media FOX NASCAR hits Las Vegas low. They are now just one part of a bigger picture: one pixel of a screenshot. | A fan of cars and bikes, and most anything with an engine, he divides his time between work and family. Ill never forget seeing Elliott Sadlers terrifying end-over-end crash at Talladega in 2003 and seeing it again in every single ad for Talladega races for the next 3-4 years. The Nielsen ratings for NASCAR's most-watched races, such as The Daytona 500, have plummeted in recent years. 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