ESPN averaged a 3.8 U.S. area rating and 6.1 million viewers for five NASCAR Nextel Cup race telecasts this season, with the Michigan race airing on a Tuesday morning on ESPN2 due to weather, earning a 1.3 rating and 1.8 million viewers.
Excluding the rain-delayed race, ESPN’s five races were down 15.6% in ratings and 15.2% in viewers from last year, when TNT and NBC aired the six races, averaging a 4.5 rating and 7.2 million viewers, with each net airing three races.
Bookmark to:
- NASCAR overall TV ratings down 2nd straight year
- ESPN’s Nationwide Talladega ratings see big jump from 2007
- Despite ESPN’s bullish predictions, NASCAR TV ratings continue to decline
- Brickyard/Allstate 400 smallest ever
- ABC’s Richmond telecast sees upturn in ratings
I didn’t know ratings were falling. Is attendance at the races down too?
I can tell you what the problem is… there are two huge reasons for the ratings slump on ESPN. First of all not everyone has cable or satellite. This keeps many, many fans from being able to watch the race, I know several people with this problem.
The other reason is because the coverage on ESPN and ESPN2 sucks. The announcers, with the exception of Rusty Wallace, are terrible. I have never heard so many errors when talking about drivers and car numbers. Casey Mears and Kasey Kahne should not be confused by people making a 6-figure salary for discussing Nascar.
Most fans that I know are also sick and tired of the race being cut off without even talking to the top 10 finishers. TNT and NBC were not always so quick to rush off the air. Did anyone even notice that Jeff Burton was asked not to spend time doing burn-outs after winning the Busch race at California because they were “running out of T.V. time”? How dare they tell the winner of the race not to celebrate because ESPN2 needed to go to a re-play of NHRA qualifying? Why did ESPN even want to start airing Nascar again if they do not want to allow extra time for Red Flag delays?
If Nascar wants ratings to stay up they must demand that their Cup races be televised on non-cable channels. They also need to keep the fan favorite announcers, Larry, Darrell and Mike. The announcers should go with the sport not the network.
Simple answer for lower ratings,,,,RUSTY WALLACE,,,He has to be the most annoying broadcaster ESPN has. Please hurry and retire DJ and take Rustys place.
espn coverage is horrible. its like a monkey with ADD is at the controls. why cant they follow two cars for more than 3 seconds? they change cameras so much it gives me a headache. why cant they go through the field? why cant they give us a rundown at the end of the race? why, above all, am i watching some fool in a room with a cutaway car show me what camber is when there is a race gong on? i know there are people out there who dont know about things like that, but it can be explained easily, we dont need all the fancy bs and graphics. especially when the race is happening outside the room of a thousand toys. just show the race espn, and talk about the race, we actually watch for… get this, the race!
oh, and draft track is pathetic, what a waste of time and money that thing is!
I agree bob rusty gets on my nerves I couldnt stand the guy as a driver and hate having to hear his mouth even more
It is because the coverage and the commentaters suck!! I can’t
stand to listen to Rusty Wallace “well when I did that….” It is
NOT about you anymore Rusty!
I mean do we remember them losing their feed for the last few laps
of a really good Busch finish? Classic example of them sucking!
Just let Fox have the whole Nascar season!!!!!!!
Maybe Nascar has run it’s course and is on the downside of it’s popularity. ESPN put Nascar on the map. The annoucers do suck but Fox’s coverage is lkie a soap opera.
Uncle Clem… the only problem with Nascar is that the drivers cannot show emotions without being fined. They wanted to make the sport family-friendly and have sacrificed the one thing people watched for in the first place. How many times would Dale Earnhardt have been fined with today’s rules? ESPN is crap… they can’t even play NascarNow without cutting in during the last 5 minutes to talk about Football. With as many ESPN channels as there are you would think they could dedicate 1 hour to Nascar alone. I agree with everyone that Rusty is boring but at least he knows who drives which car and how to say their name. Fox’s gives the fans what they want. Boogity, Boogity, Boogity, what do you think Nascar is?? It is a soap opera for Men.. just like professional wrestling.
Emotions of the drivers? Boogity, Boogity, Boogity?
What you described is entertainment and not racing.
Thank You.
Ohh come on.. why do you think people show up and tune in to see? 40+ cars going around and around… just passing each other without a little bumping and fiery tempers? No, they tune in to be entertained. Yeah entertained by racing and all of the excitement and emotions that come with it!
We can be exposed to commercials about “E.D.”, men singing “Viva Viagra” and couples talking about Herpes outbreaks but don’t let the drivers say shit or show their tempers. And don’t forget that chances are ESPN and now ABC are showing commercials during the restarts and a lot of the time when a crash happens we end up just seeing a replay because their attention was elsewhere.
Point is the coverage is crappy, most people think Fox is better or at least that their commentators are better and there are so many rules the drivers cannot express themselves without facing a fine or worse. When did it become more important to appeal to mainstream America instead of the die-hard fans that expect to be entertained.
That’s fine…I prefer die hard racing but to have a variety is ok.
You DO realize tv ratings have been falling for some time. It is convenient to blame ESPN, but FOX’s rating were falling too.
Nascar hasn’t done themselves any favors with the chase, top 35 qualifying rule, lucky dog, COT car, beer cans thrown at the drivers, lawsuits against sponsors, name of the series changing every 3 years…. etc. If you look at when the ratings started falling, it linbes up with some of these events and decisions and whne Brian France took over.
Don’t forget that once ESPN started carrying Nascar anyone without Satellite or Cable could not watch the race. Yeah so maybe a lot of people think “EVERYONE” has more than the basic antenna channels but that is not the case, at least around where I live. ABC and FOX are available to everyone and these type of channels should be the only ones to carry the Cup race.
I agree with you about the changes that have been made to the sport. COT, Sprint vs. AT&T, Winston to Nextel to Sprint Cup… I guess they have not heard the saying, “If it ain’t broke don’t fix it”.
ESPN is owned by ABC or visa versa. I think the chase will be on ABC with ESPN announcers…like last week. But, I’m not sure…..