As TV Viewership Increases, NASCAR's Share Declines
According to The Nielsen Company, people are watching more TV than ever. Unfortunately, that isn't working to NASCAR's advantage. At least not yet.
According to The Nielsen Company's "Three-Screen Report," the average American is now watching 151 hours of TV every month, up almost four percent over the same period the year before.
While that number paints an unfathomably bleak picture of the "average American" -- people, please: 151 hours?!? That's damn-near a full-time job! -- our inherent laziness doesn't seem to be working to NASCAR's advantage: Its TV numbers, down more than 20 percent since 2005, continue to drop; Sunday's race earned a 5.3/8 overnight rating, down 13 percent from 2008 and the lowest since the race moved to February in 2005.
Maybe if Obama just encouraged each of us to watch even more TV -- let's push that number to 160! -- NASCAR could regain its broadcast luster.
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The ratings are dropping because of the production of the race, and not the racing. Commercials during the last 20 laps. Commercials when the competition is really hot. Five minute commercials. During commercials the wrecks happen. Seldom are the wrecks fully covered. Rinky Dink fake animals. Stops for educational cuts that have been seen over and over again. People turn in to watch the cars race. Cover the race and quit trying to entertain the watchers. The race is the entertainment.
The races are definately not too long. If you want shorter races, then watch the Camping World or Nationwide races. I think you'll find what you're looking for there. Lets look at this. Sprint Cup has 36 races per year on average 3 hours, 30 minutes per race. MLB has 162 games that average 3 hours per game. Believe me, I have even seen some 4 hour baseball games which are quite common in the playoffs. Lets do the math shall we? 486 baseball hours as compared to 126 Sprint Cup hours. Do I need to keep going?
While I might agree that races are a bit long, the fact remains that viewership ws strong not too many years ago -- when the races were the same length...
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Sometimes it is hard to know what channel or what time the races are on. I check online to get the full schedule. I think more advertising would help. When you are competing with other sports for time, you have to be pushy to be noticed. I started Nascar Girls on Facebook because just like other sports, female sports fans are overlooked. My husband is a big fan of racing and got me interested. Since the first time I watched a race I have been hooked. Real fans won't stop watching. The hard part is to get new fans to boost viewership.