NASCAR Xfinity Series racing from Bristol drew a 0.8 final rating and 1.1 million viewers on Fox Sports 1 last Saturday, down 27% in ratings and 30% in viewership from last year (1.1, 1.7M) and down 27% and 33%, respectively, from 2013 (1.1, 1.7M). The race aired on ESPN2 the past two years. Viewership was the lowest of the season for the Xfinity Series, falling below the previous mark set at Texas a week earlier (1.2M).
Goes to show that most race fans have no access to the Fox Sports 1 network but this should clearly show that, as an advertiser, I would be reluctant to want to put my money there right now…
I don’t have cable or a dish-type network, so, personally, can’t watch very many races anymore and, to tell you the truth, would rather watch golf nowadays… These Xfinity races are a joke with the Cup drivers in the best rides and dominating every race like last night… I have not watched a NASCAR race this year, even the Daytona 500…
I agree with you Dave, the Xfinity series is a complete joke and not fun to watch (except the road courses and super speedways). Last nights race was a complete waste of time and the cup drivers are ruining it for me. I do not want to see Denny Hamlin dominate a Xfinity race, its not impressive. The cup races have been pretty decent this year though!
I don’t have cable or a dish-type network, so, personally, can’t watch very many races anymore and, to tell you the truth, would rather watch golf nowadays… These Xfinity races are a joke with the Cup drivers in the best rides and dominating every race like last night… I have not watched a NASCAR race this year, even the Daytona 500…[/QUOTE]
So why does this bother you?
Are you SURE ratings would be substantially better if it were on network???
Maybe they have a support race on the proper network to better match it’s viewers…Fox and NASCAR marketing folks aren’t stupid.
Doesn’t bother me a bit Groundpounder… I could care less but NASCAR and their advertisers should from a business standpoint… All you have to look at is the big disparity in ratings from last year on ESPN2 to this year on Fox Sports 1…
Maybe ratings are down because AT&T U Verse is NOT showing Xfinity races that are Fox Sports 1. Instead they are showing re-runs of dart tournaments.
I have only seen 2 Xfinity races this year. 6 million people in America have
AT&T U Verse. How many of them do you think are NASCAR fans?
Which of the following sentences have you heard before…
1 I wish i could watch the Cup race, but it’s on a channel i don’t get.
2 I’d watch the Cup race, but it’s on regular tv and i only watch FS1.
The fact that these races are on channels that few people get has everything to do with the sliding tv ratings for NASCAR. And it seems counter intuitive for NASCAR to allow it’s races to be shown on channels that have few subscribers. But the fact is, like everything in racing these days, it all comes down to money. FOX offers NASCAR a dump truck full of money, and part of the deal is that FOX is going to show certain races on their pay channel. NASCAR really couldn’t care less, they make 10 times more money from the FOX deal than they would if every seat at every race was sold.
[QUOTE=Matt Albee;158582]Which of the following sentences have you heard before…
1 I wish i could watch the Cup race, but it’s on a channel i don’t get.
2 I’d watch the Cup race, but it’s on regular tv and i only watch FS1.
The fact that these races are on channels that few people get has everything to do with the sliding tv ratings for NASCAR. And it seems counter intuitive for NASCAR to allow it’s races to be shown on channels that have few subscribers. But the fact is, like everything in racing these days, it all comes down to money. FOX offers NASCAR a dump truck full of money, and part of the deal is that FOX is going to show certain races on their pay channel. NASCAR really couldn’t care less, they make 10 times more money from the FOX deal than they would if every seat at every race was sold.[/QUOTE]
Completely agree with Dave and all others. The series has gone from a stepping stone for new contenders to a testing ground for the cup cars for the next day. There was a time when we watched to see our local heroes like Ingram Ard and so many others that we could see at a regular Saturday night show. I have dis but never watch the series anymore.
Well said Dave. I don’t watch the truck or Xfinity series now, simply because I don’t get that station and I’m not going to buy a cable package to just watch one race a week. I’ve been a race fan my whole life and have watched Nascar since it’s been televised. I use to go to a local race and record the races so I could watch them when I got home. In the past several years, I’ve been losing interest in it, and am not a die hard fan any more. For the past 3 weeks, I have not watched any Nascar racing. Since Nascar has been televised, that is probably the first time I’ve ever missed watching 3 races in a row, or even 3 races in a season. The main reason is because I don’t get Fox1 and I didn’t get SPEED either. The other reason is I went to a local race last Satruday and didn’t even realize the Texas race was a Saturday race. Hey when you don’t get the station the races are broadcast on, you don’t hear the advertising for the races, and I don’t watch much of FOX. There are many reasons I’ve lost interest in NASCAR, but the main reason I haven’t been watching is because it’s on a station I don’t subscribe to. You know what, it’s NASCAR’s loss, not mine, and not FOX’s.
I miss the old Busch Grand National Series races on TNN. Only about half the races were Cup support events. The rest were at great short tracks like Hickory, South Boston, Orange County and Myrtle Beach. Good racing with it’s own stars like Ard, Sprague, Ingram, Houston and Ellis in the V6 powered cars that sounded like a swarm of angry mosquitoes.
In addition, I preferred the Old Busch North Series to the K&N “rich kid” Series that it has de-evolved into. It was cool when they had the combination “North vs South” events at New Hampshire, Dover and Watkins Glen where the BGN and BGNN cars could both compete.
Nowadays my NASCAR watching includes only plate, short track and road course events. Everything else is a bore and I’ll only watch if it’s raining or I’m under the weather.
The NASCAR/Fox alliance is becoming a very slippery slope for the sport. The sport is now wholly dependent on sponsor money to field a car much less a team. The marked decline in viewership has a direct impact on the value of a sponsorship to the product company. Given that I suspect we will continue to see a decline in sponsor money until this trend reverses itself. Race attendance is not nearly as important as sponsors knowing that their logos are being viewed and supported by large numbers of fans. I hope the sport can outlast the life of the Fox/Nascar contract.
This thread is a typical “bash NASCAR thread” by folks that probably aren’t privy to the reasoning used, contracts, real numbers, etc…but everyone is entitled to an opinion or maybe they have a personal ax to grind against NASCAR, the most successful racing sanctioning body of any type ever, for whatever reason…
“Good racing with it’s own stars like Ard, Sprague, Ingram, Houston and Ellis in the V6 powered cars that sounded like a swarm of angry mosquitoes.”–Scott
Don’t forget the occasional “firecracker” sound as someone tested the integrity of their oil pan with their connecting rods.
Agree, though with the drivers. You know, part of what made those guys so much fun to watch was not only were they not Cup-interlopers, they were short track guys who clawed their way to that level.
[QUOTE=OldSchool+;158607]“Good racing with it’s own stars like Ard, Sprague, Ingram, Houston and Ellis in the V6 powered cars that sounded like a swarm of angry mosquitoes.”–Scott
Don’t forget the occasional “firecracker” sound as someone tested the integrity of their oil pan with their connecting rods.
Agree, though with the drivers. You know, part of what made those guys so much fun to watch was not only were they not Cup-interlopers, they were short track guys who clawed their way to that level.[/QUOTE]
Yes sir, Old School. Back when proving yourself meant more than having a silver spoon…
[QUOTE=Groundpounder;158604]This thread is a typical “bash NASCAR thread” by folks that probably aren’t privy to the reasoning used, contracts, real numbers, etc…but everyone is entitled to an opinion or maybe they have a personal ax to grind against NASCAR, the most successful racing sanctioning body of any type ever, for whatever reason…
Now, back to watching Richmond! LOL[/QUOTE]
Brian, this thread is a typical bash nascar thread because there’s no other way to talk about your series. You’ve taken your father and grandfathers hard work and pissed it away by pretending to be the NFL.
The reasoning used, the contracts, the “real” numbers…we’re about as privy to those as you can be. You feel that money for the stakeholders ( corporate interests and race teams ) is far more important than putting on a good show. Or for that matter, putting on any show at all since many nascar fans are no longer able to watch the races on tv.
When you get a moment, please post the criteria you used to come up with the idea that your series is the most successful of any sanctioning organization ever, that should make some very entertaining reading.
Now, back to watching anything but Richmond. LOL.
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