Do the ratings include streaming? Because I stream 90% of the races I watch, because I simply cant afford cable. And I would say only a handful of races I watch on a third party streaming site.
Now MLB is dead when they pull out of a black populated Michael Vick and Dominique Wilkins Atlanta in favor of white supremacist triple K Tebow bowing Colorado that has the same voter ID law. Why don't MLB move to Marxiachutesses in Booston Buena a boosto.
The early 2000s were such a great time to be a NASCAR fan. Great racing in all three series, parity, an endless amount of sponsors, top quality coverage and of course, the ratings to back it up. I'm so glad I grew up in that era. I know NASCAR will never go back to those times but if they can find a way to stabilize and find their audience, then it can become popular again, and the answer to that problem might not be as hard as some people think. Only time will tell though.
Simulcasting with Streaming and traditional over the air broadcast tv live games will work. Cable is declining drastically. Not everyone can afford cable and Nascar needs to know where the consumers are now and days and that’s the internet not on tv. WWE,MLB,NHL,NFL all just signed deals did all that this year.
@@CGrantMaledy TH-cam tv is great featurewise but it’s kinda expensive and I heard some instances it might go up to 70.99. I wouldn’t get it but the 4K features and unlimited dvr is good but it’s outta my budget. I think nascar should join a streaming service or just create their own with live races and talk shows. I live in nyc urban area and cable for me was around 80 for the first year then increase to 150 bucks for the first package then in some instances it would be 180-200 since I’m adding in internet in here plus the home phone bill
I hear that, I can only afford it with my 5 other “family members” and the literal only thing I watch is NASCAR. I have 3-4 other things I pay a yearly/monthly fee to watch (tour de France, world triathlon, etc) and would gladly do the same with nascar... but the adds have to go, they drive me crazy!
I feel like something everyone misses is how popular Inside Nascar was in the 90's and 2000's and how much it hurts the sport having it on Showtime. I remember looking forward to it every week. Also, you used to be able to get great tickets for cheap. Now it's practically hundreds of dollars to take your family to a race. Everyone used to be able to afford to go. I think both of these issues effected the sports popularity and ratings significantly.
Ticket prices are not the issue. I go to Atlanta for $25 a ticket. Charlotte runs 2 for $60 deals. Bristol is $60. Talladega is $70. Nashville is $55. Darlington is $60. All those are the tracks I’ve gone to in the past couple years or are going to this year. Kids tickets are all significantly reduced as well. They weren’t $10 or $15 back in 2005. Don’t go blaming the tickets when it’s not the tickets fault
@@joshjarnagin3161 ticket prices are way cheaper than they used to be. Hell, when I first went to Michigan, I remember my mom needed exclusive tickets to watch practice and maybe qualifying
I haven't checked prices in a few years. All I know is when I started going regularly single tickets were in the 25-40 dollar range and I stopped going when they were in the 75-100+ dollar range.
@@GrunkyMcSaucy Ticket prices aren't an issue in 2021, at least not at most tracks. Atlanta Motorspeedway has an Insiders Club for 2021 where you get tickets to all five races, plus VIP parking for really low prices. Lower Johnson section was just $130 per person.
A culmination of things led me away from the sport when I was a young teen: girls, guitar, stick and ball sports, etc. But I think the switch to ESPN was a bigger factor than I previously realized because I never had cable growing up
I think a good head start would beginning the migration to streaming services. Remember when Ross Chastain drove that TubiTv scheme at Atlanta? Start streaming NASCAR programming on Tubi since it's a free platform or at the very worst pay a yearly fee of like $5 and it gets you access to watch the races. I mean I can't start brainstorming ideas, can't I?
I hadn't missed almost a single race from 2000-2019. What finally pushed me away was last year's garbage season. The manufactured racing and the fake noose started the sour taste last year. But Chase Elliott's totally undeserved championship during a season where it should have only been Kevin Harvick or Denny Hamlin finally broke me of wanting to watch any racing. Championships don't mean a single thing in Nascar anymore.
Personally I think TV Ratings are a red herring in this day of age. Focusing NASCAR attention on a medium that is seen as dying and one where even the biggest sports are having ratings plummets means that obsessing over TV ratings is kind of focusing on the wrong thing. Do we really care for radio ratings? So why are we all so obsessed over an archaic stat?
It's hard to find an employer that gives weekends off these days. A lot of people are lucky if they get one weekend day off. Plus, a lot of people don't like watching sports on DVR. It's hard to avoid spoilers because of social media and smartphones notifying you of the results via apps or websites. There are probably a lot of real NASCAR fans who are just unable to watch races. Try factoring that into TV ratings.
People blame the sport for all the crappy ratings. The broadcasting channels themselves seem to be the problem. Here in Canada we have TSN and it’s fine IMO.
none of these nascar shills want to talk about that. but NASCARs solution is to rip out entire grand stand sections and STILL can't even sell out tracks that were automatic sell outs for DECADES. Bristol and Richmond use to have waiting lists now you can't even give tickets away to these races
In the 2000s I would go to Charlotte at least once a year and a couple years I hit all 3 races. Would sit in the diamond tower terrace, just out of turn 2. It was an awesome grandstand and I enjoyed it more than being on the front stretch. Now, that grandstand is gone and it's like it never existed. And for the prerace experience, it doesn't exist. Used to, we would get to the track at noon for a 5 o'clock start time just to tour around the track and experience all the fun. All that is gone now and when we do go, we show up about a hour before the green flag and have plenty of time to do whatever before going to our seats. What's even funnier, no lines at the bathroom!!! Before you would have to wait what felt like forever, now there isn't even a line. To me, a fan since the early 80s, the early 2000s was the peak of popularity. Man I have such great memories from then! Oh and I go to Richmond, Martinsville, and Darlington (and Rockingham before the left it). I've seen the decline first hand at all these tracks.
NASCAR has - No live tv morning show on network TV to recap the race weekend, news regarding the sport, and of course breaking news -No pre race weekend show like Trackside and post race shows -No late night TV show for fans at night NASCAR isn’t doing themselves any favors to gain fans throughout the week or garner attention for race weekends along with no practice nor qualifying.
Seriously though. Nascar doesnt know how to get new fans. Being PC isnt good enough lol. I wish shows like undisputed would cover more then 2 sports. Its literally the same network
I am a real fan. I've been watching since 1992. Every race, every practice, every qualifying. Trucks, Xfinity, Cup. As long as they are on the track I was watching. I have been to over a hundred races but I did stop go to them when Jimmie Johnson's dominance took over. I got tied of buying tickets just to watch him win all the time. I still watched all the races on tv but yes JJ put a sour taste in some people's mouth.
@@likedislike5187 so Dale Sr did the same then? or Petty? dominance happens and to me that's not a reason to stop going to the tracks... I have no idea how many I've been to I lost count many years ago, but looking at it in that perspective doesn't make sense to me... it's hard to win and what he did will probably never be matched... if it had been your driver or say Dale Jr would you have continued to watch? the problem with Jimmy (and I believe the only problem) was that he wasn't a polarizing figure not the winning... him being bland is boring to the casuals and honestly even us old timers at times, but not once did it deter me from going or watching them... that's honestly why it's like to see drivers like Noah be great not good it would only help the sport, but I don't see the talent even though I wish I did
also fun fact did you know Jimmy actually won less than you think... In his CAREER he won 83 cup events, that's 10 less than Gordon, only 7 more than Dale and a number that is less than half the amount of Petty
This is a good kick in the butt to get people to take a look at the ratings in a way that sets up popularity of the sport. I would like to take each year and determine what influenced the ratings that year. Bottom line is that NASCAR is not really responsible for the ratings for the most part as it seems to me that it is more like world events that have the biggest impact. I think it would be best to compare with other sports to really get an accurate idea if the sport is doing bad or not.
Something else is today there's cable cutting and streaming. I watch the races from a twitch user who streams the race on his channel to me and 1 to 2k others, and thats a TSN channel he's using. There are people watching just not on the traditional ways. I bet you find another few hundred thousand views from outside sources
I think more frustrating than nascar’s self -induced decline is the general decline in car culture. Networks moving races to cable, etc. Idk how one isn’t interested in a pack of cars traveling at 200mph bumper to bumper. Most people aren’t comfortable getting that close to a car in a parking lot. That’s why taking friends to see races in person is the best way to gain interest IMO because they get to see how fast they go first hand, the tv doesn’t always do it justice.
If you simulcast with streaming services I think it would would go a long way NBC is gonna have no choice but to jump to USA and I think FOX should give FX another chance I also think losing things like Speed channel trackside and the "real" Raceday if you know what I mean hurt rating bc there was nothing to build up the big show over the weekend or any indicator Nascar had a race either than occasional TV ads that you rarely see.
2005 motorsports almost every series hit their peak. F1 is actually the only racing series that didn't peak then, as it's still growing in ratings and popularity. But Nascar, indycar, IMSA (although it wasn't called IMSA at the time), WEC (same situation is IMSA), BTCC, WTCC, and pretty much every other series, had their ratings and viewership peaks that year
main reasons why NASCAR has fallen during 2005~2019: - Jimmie winning 5 straight - Football keeps gaining viewership and is easily the go-to over nascar in the overlap in Sep-Nov - 15 years worth of elderly people passing away that is a much higher NASCAR demographic than the incoming youth, who do not watch nascar at all really - Dale Jr. retiring A few reasons they’re going up recently: - Covid - Covid - Covid - Covid - Covid
Absolutely the most informative video I have seen on the decline of popularity of NASCAR. Still, I have admire and question NASCAR in the same breath for the "So called Ban on the "Confederate Battle Flag" . As you know we see it at every race or at least I have from AZ,NV,KS and my home track here in Texas. The fall out was huge among the older fans. No offence but your generation lose interest fairly quickly.
I always dreaded as a kid when the races would move from fox to tnt. We didn't have cable at the time so I couldn't watch the races. Always remember ESPN and the few TNT races I saw having garbage coverage.
The rained out 2021 500 only got HALF of the ratings from the 2014 rain 500. Next TV deal will be an albatross contract with no increase in viewership. Sounds like the situation NBC had to walk into...
Honestly Nascar has a problem that it can’t get over. And it’s the hump of convincing people it’s not going around in circles for 500 laps. I explain this to everyone yet within my work place and family even I’m the only one that watch’s passionately. It sucks. But it’s also an opportunity that I take advantage of. For my Birthday last year I got a good portion of my folks to watch the Coke 600 and I’ll be damned if some didn’t walk away saying things like “they really go that fast?” “How on earth is the car filled with fuel that quickly?” “How are they not wrecking! They’re like 2” apart!” “Wow that was cool”. And that right there? That’s Hope bud.
I think its more accurate to call it "Tinted specticles" more then common knowledge (That would imply that its fact and was true, which as we know with the most overreactive fans simply isn't no matter how much they will it). Someone on an F1 video said how fans tend to have this selective memory where they make the past seem like it was way better then what it actually was and I think it REALLY applies to the NASCAR fanbase. Many people make it seem like the 90s was when it was far more popular while ignoring that: - Coverage was not as widely available (Too bad if you didn't have ESPN, sound familiar?) - Broadcasters were inconsistant as you pointed out (On that network this week, on another the next) Whereas for instance in the most popular season ratings wise, NASCAR had those two problems by now fixed with the Fox and NBC deal: - Coverage that was for the most part widely available (With mostly the Busch Series being on the FX at the time) - Broadcasters that were consistant (Fox having the first half of the season while NBC had the second half, which meant no guessing as to who was broadcasting what races) I tend to think its easy for people to make it seem like the COT killed NASCAR purely due to the timing of it (Arrives in the midst of Johnson's Domination AND the eventual recession, which just didn't help the image) but yet it wasn't really when you disengage the fan bias from the concreate objective truth. I think if anything, this topic is just another example of how fans only want to hear what they want to hear, not what they NEED to hear. Its kinda funny how often this fanbase bashes the F1 fanbase, yet they act exactly the same in their ignorance of all the facts they repeatidly dismiss. Seems like in general, people just don't like the truth.
I think what is killing Nascar’s rating is people are moving to pirating streams of races as more and more people cut cable out, especially younger people who dont have the money to spend money on cable packages.
several reasons are why nascar's ratings/popularity crashed. i'll list my own thoughts in no particular order: 1. dale jr not winning/having 2 wins from '07-'13. he was the most popular driver and he wasn't successful during that time. 2. toyota coming into the sport, not the car of tomorrow. nascar is an american car thing and it turned fans off that a foreign company came into the scene. 3. dale jr going from DEI to Hendrick left fans turned off that he went to the enemy. 4. jimmie johnson's domination from '06-'10. 5. the elimination of the old championship system/chase introduction and its own changes every few years. 6. SPEED channel dying. 7. apart from the championship system, other rules changes. such as: the racing back to the caution/lucky dog, the restart zone, the pit road rules, out of bounds at daytona/talladega and when those penalties are called, changing practices/no more happy hour, staged racing/random debris cautions, the charter owner system, no more 43 car fields, etc. 8. the influx of new, young, 'vanilla' drivers--them being sponsor shills, and the retirements/downfall of many old fan favorites and their personalities. drivers can't act out in frustration or get mad or show emotion anymore because their sponsors might dump them. also goes for race teams. roush, yates, DEI, etc. 9. the horrible quality of racing.. whoever gets the lead immediately after a restart is going to lead or win. 10. the tv networks shoving a new driver down our throats acting like they're the next best thing(even if they do have talent or not).. examples: juan montoya, joey logano, danica patrick, reed sorenson, bubba wallace, austin dillon, chase elliott, etc. 11. sponsorships of EVERYTHING. *takes sip of coke* presented by credit one bank. here's our toyota pace car! let's take the green flag to start the race, then 3 laps later go side by side where we show you a tiny clip of the race overdubbed by 5 minutes of commercials! we know that nascar needs sponsors to succeed.. but the name of the race, tv commercials, and the 200mph billboards driving around the track are enough. 12. the focus on cookie cutter tracks/larger metro areas opposed to staying in the southern roots. only 1 atlanta race, taking a race away from darlington(and the southern 500 at the time), both races from rockingham, north wilkesboro... all for chicago, las vegas, california, phoenix and miami. not to mention now taking away the firecracker 400/july 4th race from daytona. 13. the tv deals in their entirety. too many announcers/reporters--too many talking people during a race. are we watching a race or listening to jeff and clint talk about that one time they fought at phoenix? are we watching a wreck the announcers are reacting to, or is director artie keptner focusing on the leader lapping derrick cope for the 5th time? are we watching the race, or is the position ticker taking up the whole screen? which channel is the race on next week? what time? when are the practices and qualifying? the race is on a rain delay, why is every driver, crew chief, owner, and tire handler getting interviewed? we don't need larry mac showing us what loose or tight means again. 14. the cup stars/champions/teams continuing to ruin the truck and xfinity series. how can fans grow to like a driver and be a fan of them if they "don't make it" thanks to kyle busch, gibbs, hendrick, and others continuing to not let them succeed?
Great analysis. I'll add a theory. Empty seats hurt TV ratings. I suggest 2020 covid sports ratings fall was in part caused by empty stadiums. A game held in front of empty bleachers is uninspiring. The economic collapse of 2007, 8, and 9 eroded ticket sales. TV viewers noticed and their attraction waned. How cool is a sport if the stadium is half empty?
Maybe if NASCAR tried to re-connect with their die hard, core fanbase and stopped trying to appeal to the so called casual fans who moved on from the sport 10 years ago, ratings wouldnt be such a problem. NASCAR forgot who made them a big hit in the first place and now the die hards feel disowned and are moving on as well.
The end of the season is very stressful as opposed to fun. I have a hard time watching starting with the round of 8 because I feel like there is a good chance the best drivers all year will be screwed over out of the championship. I feel like this is likely why the late season ratings are down.
I've literally never heard anyone say the ratings in the nineties were the best. The racing, yes but never the ratings. Also I'm not sure how anyone could say "the Chase" had nothing to do with it when ratings increased forever until one year after the chase began, then they started to decline. That could easily suggest that people gave it a chance and didn't like it. ...And, the COT looked horrible and I wouldn't say that the fact that ratings weren't down during those particular races means anything at all because I don't think casual fans knew what car would be running on those particular weeks. As far as the recent garbage ratings during the final weeks of the season I think it would be reasonable to say that since only the teams that are still alive in the playoffs get any coverage at all, the fans of the 90% of the drivers who won't win or get talked about or be on tv at all probably don't watch. Maybe what people liked about the old days was you could tune in and watch "this week's race." You didn't have to know anything to follow along. Now it's turned into "this week in the championship battle" and if you haven't been watching you're somewhat out of the loop. The championship is too much of the storyline. In the nineties, if you hated Earnhardt, even if he was the point leader, this week someone else could win and you could be happy about that. Now it's just all about playoffs and cut-lines and eliminations. The week to week isolated race was better.
It's very simple: bad TV contracts led to Nascar having less viewers ability and the last 3 races are on a severe decline because people don't respect the champion, Nascar is a punchline by F1 and Indycar fans because of all the gimmicks they've used and casual sports fans have a hard time getting it because the format is nearly impossible to understand. If Nascar was more simplified in its approach and had more viewer accessibility I don't think there would have been such a massive drop-off in ratings
It is not on a severe decline, ratings have plateaued recently with every race getting on average 3 million viewers, that’s far more than what Indycar gets and F1 in the states gets, those series barely crack the 1 million viewers, it’s not as bad as you make it out to be
hey man,could you please turn on the auto-generated subtitles on your videos, so us, the ones who don't have an exceptionally good could perfectly watch your top quality videos? please my friend :) greeting from a brazilian NASCAR fan 👍
Funny the first nascar race I ever watched was the first race with the car of tomorrow at Bristol. I was hooked for 3 or 4 years. When the pandemic hit I found myself watching a lot of nascar videos and became more interested in the sport. Bristol dirt was cool and it should be a better show next year.
NASCAR going on ESPN was a massive mistake and contributed to the downfall. Bottom line, driver personalities is what needs to bring the sport back. Most drivers today have no personality. Nothing the fans can latch onto. That's what it had before. Also the Daytona 500 each year has to be a slam dunk. And for God's sake fix this damn playoff format.
Saying this before I watch but I think most people dont realise that in terms of TV ratings most sports arent doing that well. Like they have peaks but on average dont rate too high
A big part of nascar's problem is declining live attendence (even before covid) Because like...the NHL may never crack a certain number in TV ratings but the games usually have decent attendence figures (depending on which team youre looking at)
Bingo especially in the last few years sports ratings are falling at extreme levels. Some people just don't like sports anymore. Gaming, streaming, and Netflix however...
The biggest problem is coverage has been awful. And was worse in the mid-2000s many times they'd cut from the race for ad breaks or to tell us some bullshit we already knew about with the cut-away car. "Let's check the back of the field now never mind the battle for 2nd place you GOTTA see this!" It also seems like the drivers can't even enjoy a win the way they used to. They cut away from it so fast. It used to last a few minuets now it's maybe 2 at best, it seems.
The network moving sucks, the cable shift sucked, I don't have cable in the country just finding the race on TV became a pain in the A$$. More recently I quit watching altogether because I detest the "segment racing" crap.
I don’t get it, why do the last 3-4 races do so bad? In terms of drama that’s when it really heats up for the championship so what causes it to really go down?
I always thought the peak was 2006 or 2007 season first of the Car of the future of the two one being introduced and other where it was used first not 2005 but I bet the other two are really close.
For the final races IMO Nascar will have to reduce the calendar and end the season earlier to avoid losing attention to the NFL season entering its most crucial moments. Not like Indycar which avoid the NFL completely but to a point that the season ends in october instead of November. That requires them cutting the calendar to about 28 or even 25 races instead of 36. Nascar doesn't have the power anymore to clash against the NFL so them having a schedule sligthly bigger than F1's (23) is more realistic than them having one with as many rounds as a 20-team european soccer league (38).
I started watching nascar from 2004 to 2007 and back to watching it again in 2017. The reason I stopped watching is because I didn’t know what channel it would be on. One day it would be on speed then another day it would be on tnt. I was a kid at the time and it was just confusing for me.
The problem is that we are basing popularity by tv ratings, I know that’s the easiest way to find out how many people are watching, however when people look at ratings they don’t think about factors such as watch parties, streaming services, or people who record the race and watch it at a later time, those 3 factors might cause hundreds of thousands, maybe even millions of people not being counted in ratings, plus nascar wants to attract a younger audience, however young people like myself can barely afford cable, or can’t afford it at all.
Dude nascar is NOWHERE near as popular as it was from the late 90s to late 00s. Back then nascar highlights would be the top story or near the top on SPORTSCENTER. Sports talk radio shows would talk nascar and have drivers on their shows back then. Drivers would be in non racing related media pop culture commercials etc back then. TODAY NASCAR is nowhere near that popularity
It’s the subscription services that kill this sport. Die hard fans only but no room for new fans to grow into the sport. Sponsors want viewers too. The average fan isn’t going to pay that crazy amount just to watch or subscribe to yet another service. Especially one that has the potential to have bigger sponsors. My solution would be to have easy fan access. Put it on TH-cam live and let anyone stream it to their tv. Let the sponsors get the viewers and nascar can get new growth. I used to watch it occasionally and whenever I think I might I find myself frustrated and can’t find a live stream without a year subscription. So I remember that each time and I give up. Not a diy hard fan but occasionally want to watch.
Heading into that 2015 NBC/FOX deal, it seemed like a good time to be a NASCAR fan, but then the races on the sports networks seemed to honestly just kill the momentum and stabilization for NASCAR at the time. Now, I’d still easily say NASCAR is one of the bigger sports in America, but it’s been a rough 15 or so years for the sport of NASCAR. Thankfully since 2018, NASCAR has seemed to find a good stabilizing point and honestly seem like it’s going in a good direction for the future to come, but with all this said, only the future can tell where we’ll be!
And their political correctness didn't help, also the manufacturers should determine the body style, but I know make all body's the same to keep cost down but teams just use that money elsewhere.
Nascar drove Dodge away with their bullshit. From the beginning of time itself, Nascar and Dodge have never gotten along. Remember Dodge left at the end of the 70s and didn't come back till the turn of the century because of a nassive disagreement between them. Nascar and Dodge just don't get along. Plain and simple. There's nothing the fans can do about it.
One thing that really shocked me in this video was Jaret claiming that NASCAR in early 2015 was still the second most popular sport in the US. I don't remember it at the time being that popular, I know it was coming off a stabilization period, and there was tons of talk coming off of the fantastic season that was '14, but I thought that other sports had surpassed the popularity stock-car racing amassed. I don't know if those claims are true or false, I've never heard of NASCAR being that massive in the mid 2010s, I'm gonna need some proof via stats & comparisons. Hard to believe tbh. By the way, what really explains the initial ratings drop in '07 on the FOX portion of the season? I understand that certain circumstances pushed that scenario to happen, as listed in the video, but that to me doesn't explain too much. I want to know more. Also to note, the things said in this video makes NASCAR's downfall both clearer and more confusing. I get the push on cable and rained-out races, along with bad treatment by ESPN, being contributing factors that were easy to understand why they hurt the sport so much. However, the stabilization period throws a huge wrench into this conversation. NASCAR went from these all-time peaks and then by the 2010s the drop that came afterwards began to flatten. Just bonkers to me. Not to mention the questions I had to start off the comment-- How was NASCAR ranking against other sporting leagues in '07-'10? Did anyone manage to overtake the number two spot and NASCAR got it back, or was NASCAR there the entire time? TV ratings are really damn confusing. So many questions from what in theory wouldn't be such a hard-pressing topic. If anyone's willing to answer at least any of these, let alone all of them, I'd be happy, because the confusion in my head surrounding this subject is really freakin' high. Unreal!
It works like football but on steroids, there's only 36 events a year so each event gets more viewership but there's less events than the NBA and MLB have.
I’m not paying for a service required to watch races. Like Hulu live or whatever. That’s because that one race a week is the only time I’d use I. So I stream through twitch. I wonder how many other viewers do something similar and how that impacts numbers
Nascar has decent ratings. Comparable to all sports except the nfl and ncaa football. It just doesn’t have a big finale like the World Series or nba finals that gets big ratings to end the year.
In the cable vs open channel debate, most countries to have NASCAR (or any motorsport in general) you need to have cable. Here in Brazil in 2020 we only had F1 on open TV. NASCAR, Indy, F-E, local series, etc? Cable. Considering how motorsports each and every day becomes more niche, I believe cable TV in the nearest future (and maybe streaming services on the long run?) will be the rule, not only in the USA, but anywhere on the world.
I find this funny... because 2007 was the year I came back to the sport after slipping away in the early 2000s... not because of what they were doing... but I was doing different things in my early adult years.
I think whats important is that the Daytona 500 needs to go as schedule because we can get a lot of potential viewers. Because of that rain delay we lost all of those potential viewers that could possibly watch races later in the season.
I can see what happened just by watching the footage in your video. The camera work is TERRIBLE on broadcasts, and they fill the screen with those annoying graphics all the time. They do this with every sport and it's why I don't watch anything anymore. Ads, bad announcers, and you can't see the big picture. The worst seat at the track is a better view, better sound, and the tickets are probably cheaper than cable.
You judge a sport’s popularity by looking at the grandstands… NASCAR is definitely dying. TV rating mean nothing. People watch midday baseball to take a nap… same with NASCAR today.
I'll also add that when your biggest race is the first vs something like the superbowl or the world series at the end, not sure how NASCAR expects a 'finale to be the big hit when the big hit is race #1
If it means anything, outside of NASCAR, I stream most of my sports content illegally now. I got TH-camTV but they dont have YES, so I find a stream. Im a Dolphins fan in CT, so I used to watch the local game and follow gamecast stuff but now I have a stream.
@@ZontarDow your kidding right, just look at Adam stern tweet today. Just on the American viewership, everything is not about ratings anymore, it is developing and building up a established brand to the social media world and etc... I going for a degree for this type of stuff, so social media is huge, but it does affect the needle way more than you think. It increases a fanbase interaction and allows companies to believe they are getting more exposure or “bang for your buck”.
Their idea by putting it on those channels was to make it worth paying the extra money to the cable company for the packages that include FS1 and NBCSN. For NASCAR this was the worst possible thing to happen TV wise.
Is there anything in this video that you didn’t know about NASCAR’s popularity before watching?
Hello. Iceberg do you know me?
It's Main Audience Downfall in 2009
All of it
The only thing I didn't know is that you're a strange animal..
#mugclub
Do the ratings include streaming? Because I stream 90% of the races I watch, because I simply cant afford cable. And I would say only a handful of races I watch on a third party streaming site.
Boomers: NASCAR is dead
NASCAR Twitter: NASCAR is dead
EmpLemon: NASCAR was never meant to go mainstream
Me: NASCAR isn't dead. CART is dead.
Lmfao emp was right the whole time
don't remind me :(
Now MLB is dead when they pull out of a black populated Michael Vick and Dominique Wilkins Atlanta in favor of white supremacist triple K Tebow bowing Colorado that has the same voter ID law. Why don't MLB move to Marxiachutesses in Booston Buena a boosto.
CART is dead. The Indy Racing League is alive and well. NASCAR is Frankie and the end of “Casino.”
The early 2000s were such a great time to be a NASCAR fan.
Great racing in all three series, parity, an endless amount of sponsors, top quality coverage and of course, the ratings to back it up. I'm so glad I grew up in that era.
I know NASCAR will never go back to those times but if they can find a way to stabilize and find their audience, then it can become popular again, and the answer to that problem might not be as hard as some people think. Only time will tell though.
NASCAR needs to be more viewable in Canada.. half the time the races are on a blackout..
FOR REAL
Very true! Is there any option other than TSN? Their coverage is horrible. Also, anyone know where to watch ARCA races?
@@seizetheapathy i’m from Winnipeg! Arca & Trucks are on FS1, all cup & xfinity are on tsn. ALL races are available!
This is why I love living in Windsor. I get all the Detroit TV and Radio.
@@seizetheapathy the show it on fox
NASCAR Rating: _exist_
Rain: *haha get stonk brrrrrr ↘️*
Hello dad
Simulcasting with Streaming and traditional over the air broadcast tv live games will work. Cable is declining drastically. Not everyone can afford cable and Nascar needs to know where the consumers are now and days and that’s the internet not on tv. WWE,MLB,NHL,NFL all just signed deals did all that this year.
The TH-cam tv option is the only reason I can watch live, I had no idea so many people were still paying for cable
@@CGrantMaledy TH-cam tv is great featurewise but it’s kinda expensive and I heard some instances it might go up to 70.99. I wouldn’t get it but the 4K features and unlimited dvr is good but it’s outta my budget. I think nascar should join a streaming service or just create their own with live races and talk shows. I live in nyc urban area and cable for me was around 80 for the first year then increase to 150 bucks for the first package then in some instances it would be 180-200 since I’m adding in internet in here plus the home phone bill
I hear that, I can only afford it with my 5 other “family members” and the literal only thing I watch is NASCAR. I have 3-4 other things I pay a yearly/monthly fee to watch (tour de France, world triathlon, etc) and would gladly do the same with nascar... but the adds have to go, they drive me crazy!
@@CGrantMaledy the commercials piss me off every 15-20 mins
@@CGrantMaledy yeah the only thing I watch on sling tv is nascar and other channels I don’t watch I only have this because of nascar
I feel like something everyone misses is how popular Inside Nascar was in the 90's and 2000's and how much it hurts the sport having it on Showtime. I remember looking forward to it every week.
Also, you used to be able to get great tickets for cheap. Now it's practically hundreds of dollars to take your family to a race. Everyone used to be able to afford to go. I think both of these issues effected the sports popularity and ratings significantly.
I think nascar started to realize and some places tickets became way cheaper throughout the past years.
Ticket prices are not the issue. I go to Atlanta for $25 a ticket. Charlotte runs 2 for $60 deals. Bristol is $60. Talladega is $70. Nashville is $55. Darlington is $60. All those are the tracks I’ve gone to in the past couple years or are going to this year. Kids tickets are all significantly reduced as well. They weren’t $10 or $15 back in 2005. Don’t go blaming the tickets when it’s not the tickets fault
@@joshjarnagin3161 ticket prices are way cheaper than they used to be. Hell, when I first went to Michigan, I remember my mom needed exclusive tickets to watch practice and maybe qualifying
I haven't checked prices in a few years. All I know is when I started going regularly single tickets were in the 25-40 dollar range and I stopped going when they were in the 75-100+ dollar range.
@@GrunkyMcSaucy Ticket prices aren't an issue in 2021, at least not at most tracks. Atlanta Motorspeedway has an Insiders Club for 2021 where you get tickets to all five races, plus VIP parking for really low prices. Lower Johnson section was just $130 per person.
I wonder what the rating for *NOON START* actually are?... 👀
#NOON
#NOON
This won't be fair for fans on the Pacific coast.
@@iceanalytics they'll be alright
@@WastdTrashPanda Well, I live on the pacific coast and I'm not a fan of watching a race at 9am.
A culmination of things led me away from the sport when I was a young teen: girls, guitar, stick and ball sports, etc. But I think the switch to ESPN was a bigger factor than I previously realized because I never had cable growing up
I think a good head start would beginning the migration to streaming services. Remember when Ross Chastain drove that TubiTv scheme at Atlanta? Start streaming NASCAR programming on Tubi since it's a free platform or at the very worst pay a yearly fee of like $5 and it gets you access to watch the races.
I mean I can't start brainstorming ideas, can't I?
I think the most shocking thing is the 2006 Daytona 500 is the most viewed race ever. I was very surprised by that.
I hadn't missed almost a single race from 2000-2019. What finally pushed me away was last year's garbage season. The manufactured racing and the fake noose started the sour taste last year. But Chase Elliott's totally undeserved championship during a season where it should have only been Kevin Harvick or Denny Hamlin finally broke me of wanting to watch any racing. Championships don't mean a single thing in Nascar anymore.
I remember being so mad that almost all the races for about were on ESPN.
NASCAR needs to strike a streaming deal soon.
Hello
Hey Black Flags Matter
Very unprofessional idea, *DARIAN*
What are you thinking Darian? Have it on Disney+? Or HBO Max?
@black lives matter please talk about this in your channel
Personally I think TV Ratings are a red herring in this day of age. Focusing NASCAR attention on a medium that is seen as dying and one where even the biggest sports are having ratings plummets means that obsessing over TV ratings is kind of focusing on the wrong thing. Do we really care for radio ratings? So why are we all so obsessed over an archaic stat?
It's hard to find an employer that gives weekends off these days. A lot of people are lucky if they get one weekend day off. Plus, a lot of people don't like watching sports on DVR. It's hard to avoid spoilers because of social media and smartphones notifying you of the results via apps or websites. There are probably a lot of real NASCAR fans who are just unable to watch races. Try factoring that into TV ratings.
People blame the sport for all the crappy ratings. The broadcasting channels themselves seem to be the problem. Here in Canada we have TSN and it’s fine IMO.
The way the broadcast partners treat nascar, and have treated nascar, is collectively the largest cause of the rating decline.
You Can Blame ESPN And ABC For That.
I dont judge popularity off tv ratings... i judge off the the butts in the stands... which has massively decreased since mid 2000s
In the same time ticket prices dropped
@@ashketchumsdad prices drop when demand decreases so its no surprise there.
none of these nascar shills want to talk about that. but NASCARs solution is to rip out entire grand stand sections and STILL can't even sell out tracks that were automatic sell outs for DECADES. Bristol and Richmond use to have waiting lists now you can't even give tickets away to these races
In the 2000s I would go to Charlotte at least once a year and a couple years I hit all 3 races. Would sit in the diamond tower terrace, just out of turn 2. It was an awesome grandstand and I enjoyed it more than being on the front stretch. Now, that grandstand is gone and it's like it never existed. And for the prerace experience, it doesn't exist. Used to, we would get to the track at noon for a 5 o'clock start time just to tour around the track and experience all the fun. All that is gone now and when we do go, we show up about a hour before the green flag and have plenty of time to do whatever before going to our seats. What's even funnier, no lines at the bathroom!!! Before you would have to wait what felt like forever, now there isn't even a line. To me, a fan since the early 80s, the early 2000s was the peak of popularity. Man I have such great memories from then! Oh and I go to Richmond, Martinsville, and Darlington (and Rockingham before the left it). I've seen the decline first hand at all these tracks.
@@dshih199 yeah. Unfortunately NASCAR scapegoats the wrong thing, always lol
I Blame ESPN And The Great Recession For NASCAR's Ratings Going Down From 2007-2009.
NASCAR has
- No live tv morning show on network TV to recap the race weekend, news regarding the sport, and of course breaking news
-No pre race weekend show like Trackside and post race shows
-No late night TV show for fans at night
NASCAR isn’t doing themselves any favors to gain fans throughout the week or garner attention for race weekends along with no practice nor qualifying.
💯
Seriously though. Nascar doesnt know how to get new fans. Being PC isnt good enough lol. I wish shows like undisputed would cover more then 2 sports. Its literally the same network
They had most of those shows when it was on TNN.
@@lgstack2496 those shows need ratings, and to directly compete with _First Take_ they need to cover the same sports. That doesn’t include NASCAR.
I heard a lot of fans complain about Jimmie winning nonstop, and citing that as why they left in the late 2000's
that's not real fans anyway then bc that happens in EVERY sport
I am a real fan. I've been watching since 1992. Every race, every practice, every qualifying. Trucks, Xfinity, Cup. As long as they are on the track I was watching. I have been to over a hundred races but I did stop go to them when Jimmie Johnson's dominance took over. I got tied of buying tickets just to watch him win all the time. I still watched all the races on tv but yes JJ put a sour taste in some people's mouth.
@@likedislike5187 so Dale Sr did the same then? or Petty? dominance happens and to me that's not a reason to stop going to the tracks... I have no idea how many I've been to I lost count many years ago, but looking at it in that perspective doesn't make sense to me... it's hard to win and what he did will probably never be matched... if it had been your driver or say Dale Jr would you have continued to watch? the problem with Jimmy (and I believe the only problem) was that he wasn't a polarizing figure not the winning... him being bland is boring to the casuals and honestly even us old timers at times, but not once did it deter me from going or watching them... that's honestly why it's like to see drivers like Noah be great not good it would only help the sport, but I don't see the talent even though I wish I did
also fun fact did you know Jimmy actually won less than you think... In his CAREER he won 83 cup events, that's 10 less than Gordon, only 7 more than Dale and a number that is less than half the amount of Petty
@@likedislike5187 same, dude, same.
This is a good kick in the butt to get people to take a look at the ratings in a way that sets up popularity of the sport. I would like to take each year and determine what influenced the ratings that year. Bottom line is that NASCAR is not really responsible for the ratings for the most part as it seems to me that it is more like world events that have the biggest impact. I think it would be best to compare with other sports to really get an accurate idea if the sport is doing bad or not.
I felt like it has been smooth so far this year as of this typing.
I love your content man!! Always good stuff
Something else is today there's cable cutting and streaming. I watch the races from a twitch user who streams the race on his channel to me and 1 to 2k others, and thats a TSN channel he's using. There are people watching just not on the traditional ways. I bet you find another few hundred thousand views from outside sources
The internet killed NASCAR.
But then, it's killed pretty much everything else.
NASCAR needs to be on streaming services
Yes that is very true
True, but it has to do its research and due diligence. A screw up now could send ripples in the sport for decades
I just watch it on Twitch for free.
@@TheIceberg Hey if you got the time can you please do why NASCAR ON TNT 2007-14 sucked? Thank you ur the best NASCAR youtuber!
Not cbs tho.
I think more frustrating than nascar’s self -induced decline is the general decline in car culture. Networks moving races to cable, etc. Idk how one isn’t interested in a pack of cars traveling at 200mph bumper to bumper. Most people aren’t comfortable getting that close to a car in a parking lot. That’s why taking friends to see races in person is the best way to gain interest IMO because they get to see how fast they go first hand, the tv doesn’t always do it justice.
If you simulcast with streaming services I think it would would go a long way
NBC is gonna have no choice but to jump to USA and I think FOX should give FX another chance
I also think losing things like Speed channel trackside and the "real" Raceday if you know what I mean hurt rating bc there was nothing to build up the big show over the weekend or any indicator Nascar had a race either than occasional TV ads that you rarely see.
Chase for the Cup started in 2004. NASCAR ratings started to decline in 2006
2005 motorsports almost every series hit their peak. F1 is actually the only racing series that didn't peak then, as it's still growing in ratings and popularity. But Nascar, indycar, IMSA (although it wasn't called IMSA at the time), WEC (same situation is IMSA), BTCC, WTCC, and pretty much every other series, had their ratings and viewership peaks that year
In F( that year Fernando Alonso won the world championship and they went to Indy for the USGP and only 6 cars started
main reasons why NASCAR has fallen during 2005~2019:
- Jimmie winning 5 straight
- Football keeps gaining viewership and is easily the go-to over nascar in the overlap in Sep-Nov
- 15 years worth of elderly people passing away that is a much higher NASCAR demographic than the incoming youth, who do not watch nascar at all really
- Dale Jr. retiring
A few reasons they’re going up recently:
- Covid
- Covid
- Covid
- Covid
- Covid
Absolutely the most informative video I have seen on the decline of popularity of NASCAR. Still, I have admire and question NASCAR in the same breath for the "So called Ban on the "Confederate Battle Flag" . As you know we see it at every race or at least I have from AZ,NV,KS and my home track here in Texas. The fall out was huge among the older fans. No offence but your generation lose interest fairly quickly.
I always dreaded as a kid when the races would move from fox to tnt. We didn't have cable at the time so I couldn't watch the races. Always remember ESPN and the few TNT races I saw having garbage coverage.
The rained out 2021 500 only got HALF of the ratings from the 2014 rain 500. Next TV deal will be an albatross contract with no increase in viewership. Sounds like the situation NBC had to walk into...
"So if there's a rainout with the Daytona 500..."
What do you mean "if?"
I came back watching Nascar during high school in 2016 after I stopped watching as a younger kid cause I never knew what the Nascar schedule was.
Honestly Nascar has a problem that it can’t get over. And it’s the hump of convincing people it’s not going around in circles for 500 laps.
I explain this to everyone yet within my work place and family even I’m the only one that watch’s passionately. It sucks. But it’s also an opportunity that I take advantage of. For my Birthday last year I got a good portion of my folks to watch the Coke 600 and I’ll be damned if some didn’t walk away saying things like “they really go that fast?” “How on earth is the car filled with fuel that quickly?” “How are they not wrecking! They’re like 2” apart!” “Wow that was cool”.
And that right there? That’s Hope bud.
Stage racing, and competition cautions killed it
Imagine NASCAR Getting Rid Of Stage Racing...
One could make an argument that the '90s were the best decade for NASCAR, but to suggest that it was when ratings were highest is ridiculous.
I'd say late 90s to 2005 was the nascar glory days
I think its more accurate to call it "Tinted specticles" more then common knowledge (That would imply that its fact and was true, which as we know with the most overreactive fans simply isn't no matter how much they will it). Someone on an F1 video said how fans tend to have this selective memory where they make the past seem like it was way better then what it actually was and I think it REALLY applies to the NASCAR fanbase. Many people make it seem like the 90s was when it was far more popular while ignoring that:
- Coverage was not as widely available (Too bad if you didn't have ESPN, sound familiar?)
- Broadcasters were inconsistant as you pointed out (On that network this week, on another the next)
Whereas for instance in the most popular season ratings wise, NASCAR had those two problems by now fixed with the Fox and NBC deal:
- Coverage that was for the most part widely available (With mostly the Busch Series being on the FX at the time)
- Broadcasters that were consistant (Fox having the first half of the season while NBC had the second half, which meant no guessing as to who was broadcasting what races)
I tend to think its easy for people to make it seem like the COT killed NASCAR purely due to the timing of it (Arrives in the midst of Johnson's Domination AND the eventual recession, which just didn't help the image) but yet it wasn't really when you disengage the fan bias from the concreate objective truth. I think if anything, this topic is just another example of how fans only want to hear what they want to hear, not what they NEED to hear. Its kinda funny how often this fanbase bashes the F1 fanbase, yet they act exactly the same in their ignorance of all the facts they repeatidly dismiss. Seems like in general, people just don't like the truth.
I think what is killing Nascar’s rating is people are moving to pirating streams of races as more and more people cut cable out, especially younger people who dont have the money to spend money on cable packages.
Why are ratings plummeting the laste 3-4 years late in the season? Becsuse THE PLAYOFFS SUCK
Love your content. Although it may be a myth that the Chase ruined NASCAR but I can tell you that it ruined it for me...
several reasons are why nascar's ratings/popularity crashed. i'll list my own thoughts in no particular order:
1. dale jr not winning/having 2 wins from '07-'13. he was the most popular driver and he wasn't successful during that time.
2. toyota coming into the sport, not the car of tomorrow. nascar is an american car thing and it turned fans off that a foreign company came into the scene.
3. dale jr going from DEI to Hendrick left fans turned off that he went to the enemy.
4. jimmie johnson's domination from '06-'10.
5. the elimination of the old championship system/chase introduction and its own changes every few years.
6. SPEED channel dying.
7. apart from the championship system, other rules changes. such as: the racing back to the caution/lucky dog, the restart zone, the pit road rules, out of bounds at daytona/talladega and when those penalties are called, changing practices/no more happy hour, staged racing/random debris cautions, the charter owner system, no more 43 car fields, etc.
8. the influx of new, young, 'vanilla' drivers--them being sponsor shills, and the retirements/downfall of many old fan favorites and their personalities. drivers can't act out in frustration or get mad or show emotion anymore because their sponsors might dump them. also goes for race teams. roush, yates, DEI, etc.
9. the horrible quality of racing.. whoever gets the lead immediately after a restart is going to lead or win.
10. the tv networks shoving a new driver down our throats acting like they're the next best thing(even if they do have talent or not).. examples: juan montoya, joey logano, danica patrick, reed sorenson, bubba wallace, austin dillon, chase elliott, etc.
11. sponsorships of EVERYTHING. *takes sip of coke* presented by credit one bank. here's our toyota pace car! let's take the green flag to start the race, then 3 laps later go side by side where we show you a tiny clip of the race overdubbed by 5 minutes of commercials! we know that nascar needs sponsors to succeed.. but the name of the race, tv commercials, and the 200mph billboards driving around the track are enough.
12. the focus on cookie cutter tracks/larger metro areas opposed to staying in the southern roots. only 1 atlanta race, taking a race away from darlington(and the southern 500 at the time), both races from rockingham, north wilkesboro... all for chicago, las vegas, california, phoenix and miami. not to mention now taking away the firecracker 400/july 4th race from daytona.
13. the tv deals in their entirety. too many announcers/reporters--too many talking people during a race. are we watching a race or listening to jeff and clint talk about that one time they fought at phoenix? are we watching a wreck the announcers are reacting to, or is director artie keptner focusing on the leader lapping derrick cope for the 5th time? are we watching the race, or is the position ticker taking up the whole screen? which channel is the race on next week? what time? when are the practices and qualifying? the race is on a rain delay, why is every driver, crew chief, owner, and tire handler getting interviewed? we don't need larry mac showing us what loose or tight means again.
14. the cup stars/champions/teams continuing to ruin the truck and xfinity series. how can fans grow to like a driver and be a fan of them if they "don't make it" thanks to kyle busch, gibbs, hendrick, and others continuing to not let them succeed?
Of someone leads after the restart the will lead or win. Yes if you lead you lead lol
Sunday during the recession:
*welp time to find a job*
lol I laughed too hard at this
idk much ab nascar rating, but i do know The Iceberg is my favorite nascar youtuber
Great analysis. I'll add a theory. Empty seats hurt TV ratings. I suggest 2020 covid sports ratings fall was in part caused by empty stadiums. A game held in front of empty bleachers is uninspiring. The economic collapse of 2007, 8, and 9 eroded ticket sales. TV viewers noticed and their attraction waned. How cool is a sport if the stadium is half empty?
How does today's NASCAR ratings, popularity, compare to those back in the 40', 50's, 60's, 70's, 80's....?
NASCAR needs to go back to some of their old haunts like Rockingham and Wilkesboro.
They Got North Wilkesboro Speedway Back.
Maybe if NASCAR tried to re-connect with their die hard, core fanbase and stopped trying to appeal to the so called casual fans who moved on from the sport 10 years ago, ratings wouldnt be such a problem. NASCAR forgot who made them a big hit in the first place and now the die hards feel disowned and are moving on as well.
THIS
Good call on shock and awe dominating 2003 television
The end of the season is very stressful as opposed to fun. I have a hard time watching starting with the round of 8 because I feel like there is a good chance the best drivers all year will be screwed over out of the championship. I feel like this is likely why the late season ratings are down.
The Great Recession caused the fall of NASCAR
Nice excuse. The economy has recovered for years since
@iceberg I hope to see you at the Martinsville race. I’ll be wearing chocolate Myers’ 1993 uniform shirt. And eating a bunch of martinsville dogs 😂
I've literally never heard anyone say the ratings in the nineties were the best. The racing, yes but never the ratings. Also I'm not sure how anyone could say "the Chase" had nothing to do with it when ratings increased forever until one year after the chase began, then they started to decline. That could easily suggest that people gave it a chance and didn't like it. ...And, the COT looked horrible and I wouldn't say that the fact that ratings weren't down during those particular races means anything at all because I don't think casual fans knew what car would be running on those particular weeks. As far as the recent garbage ratings during the final weeks of the season I think it would be reasonable to say that since only the teams that are still alive in the playoffs get any coverage at all, the fans of the 90% of the drivers who won't win or get talked about or be on tv at all probably don't watch. Maybe what people liked about the old days was you could tune in and watch "this week's race." You didn't have to know anything to follow along. Now it's turned into "this week in the championship battle" and if you haven't been watching you're somewhat out of the loop. The championship is too much of the storyline. In the nineties, if you hated Earnhardt, even if he was the point leader, this week someone else could win and you could be happy about that. Now it's just all about playoffs and cut-lines and eliminations. The week to week isolated race was better.
It's very simple: bad TV contracts led to Nascar having less viewers ability and the last 3 races are on a severe decline because people don't respect the champion, Nascar is a punchline by F1 and Indycar fans because of all the gimmicks they've used and casual sports fans have a hard time getting it because the format is nearly impossible to understand. If Nascar was more simplified in its approach and had more viewer accessibility I don't think there would have been such a massive drop-off in ratings
It is not on a severe decline, ratings have plateaued recently with every race getting on average 3 million viewers, that’s far more than what Indycar gets and F1 in the states gets, those series barely crack the 1 million viewers, it’s not as bad as you make it out to be
hey man,could you please turn on the auto-generated subtitles on your videos, so us, the ones who don't have an exceptionally good could perfectly watch your top quality videos?
please my friend :)
greeting from a brazilian NASCAR fan 👍
Funny the first nascar race I ever watched was the first race with the car of tomorrow at Bristol. I was hooked for 3 or 4 years. When the pandemic hit I found myself watching a lot of nascar videos and became more interested in the sport. Bristol dirt was cool and it should be a better show next year.
NASCAR going on ESPN was a massive mistake and contributed to the downfall. Bottom line, driver personalities is what needs to bring the sport back. Most drivers today have no personality. Nothing the fans can latch onto. That's what it had before. Also the Daytona 500 each year has to be a slam dunk. And for God's sake fix this damn playoff format.
they need more driver pre race interviews
We need to go back to the 04 style chase imo
Chase starts in 2004, Nascar peaks and begins declining in 2005, and you say it didn't do it lol
LoL it gave NASCAR a small ding to be fair.
There are 2 things that drove fans away....... the chase and Toyota
It helped short term but hurt long term, especially when they made more changes to the chase/playoffs format.
Saying this before I watch but
I think most people dont realise that in terms of TV ratings most sports arent doing that well.
Like they have peaks but on average dont rate too high
A big part of nascar's problem is declining live attendence (even before covid)
Because like...the NHL may never crack a certain number in TV ratings but the games usually have decent attendence figures (depending on which team youre looking at)
Bingo especially in the last few years sports ratings are falling at extreme levels. Some people just don't like sports anymore. Gaming, streaming, and Netflix however...
@@dannyboy2851 yeah like we dont hear people raising alarms about how bad the NFL's TV ratings are...and theyre pretty bad too
I miss the Gen 4 and Gen 5 cars. I loved them.
The biggest problem is coverage has been awful. And was worse in the mid-2000s many times they'd cut from the race for ad breaks or to tell us some bullshit we already knew about with the cut-away car. "Let's check the back of the field now never mind the battle for 2nd place you GOTTA see this!" It also seems like the drivers can't even enjoy a win the way they used to. They cut away from it so fast. It used to last a few minuets now it's maybe 2 at best, it seems.
2015 we lost Steve Byrnes and in 2007 we lost Benny parsons
I Wish They're Still Alive. Steve Burns And Benny Parsons Are My Guys.
The network moving sucks, the cable shift sucked, I don't have cable in the country just finding the race on TV became a pain in the A$$. More recently I quit watching altogether because I detest the "segment racing" crap.
NASCAR: everyone loves the playoffs and the GaMe 7 mOmEnTs
TV Ratings: lol funny joke
Completely skipped over the 2008 Indy debacle that I have to believe affected total viewership
It definitely could have. It destroyed any goodwill the race itself had
I don’t get it, why do the last 3-4 races do so bad? In terms of drama that’s when it really heats up for the championship so what causes it to really go down?
Fans hate the playoff format. Plain and simple
@@DepravedCoTApologist clearly not the issue since the first 6 races of the playoffs has no issues
I always thought the peak was 2006 or 2007 season first of the Car of the future of the two one being introduced and other where it was used first not 2005 but I bet the other two are really close.
NASCAR is wise to focus on quality of product. Ratings will follow great racing
For the final races IMO Nascar will have to reduce the calendar and end the season earlier to avoid losing attention to the NFL season entering its most crucial moments. Not like Indycar which avoid the NFL completely but to a point that the season ends in october instead of November. That requires them cutting the calendar to about 28 or even 25 races instead of 36. Nascar doesn't have the power anymore to clash against the NFL so them having a schedule sligthly bigger than F1's (23) is more realistic than them having one with as many rounds as a 20-team european soccer league (38).
I started watching nascar from 2004 to 2007 and back to watching it again in 2017. The reason I stopped watching is because I didn’t know what channel it would be on. One day it would be on speed then another day it would be on tnt. I was a kid at the time and it was just confusing for me.
You should have been there during the 90s. The races could go from CBS to ESPN to TNN and all over the place.
The problem is that we are basing popularity by tv ratings, I know that’s the easiest way to find out how many people are watching, however when people look at ratings they don’t think about factors such as watch parties, streaming services, or people who record the race and watch it at a later time, those 3 factors might cause hundreds of thousands, maybe even millions of people not being counted in ratings, plus nascar wants to attract a younger audience, however young people like myself can barely afford cable, or can’t afford it at all.
Dude nascar is NOWHERE near as popular as it was from the late 90s to late 00s. Back then nascar highlights would be the top story or near the top on SPORTSCENTER. Sports talk radio shows would talk nascar and have drivers on their shows back then. Drivers would be in non racing related media pop culture commercials etc back then.
TODAY NASCAR is nowhere near that popularity
It’s the subscription services that kill this sport. Die hard fans only but no room for new fans to grow into the sport. Sponsors want viewers too. The average fan isn’t going to pay that crazy amount just to watch or subscribe to yet another service. Especially one that has the potential to have bigger sponsors. My solution would be to have easy fan access. Put it on TH-cam live and let anyone stream it to their tv. Let the sponsors get the viewers and nascar can get new growth. I used to watch it occasionally and whenever I think I might I find myself frustrated and can’t find a live stream without a year subscription. So I remember that each time and I give up. Not a diy hard fan but occasionally want to watch.
Heading into that 2015 NBC/FOX deal, it seemed like a good time to be a NASCAR fan, but then the races on the sports networks seemed to honestly just kill the momentum and stabilization for NASCAR at the time. Now, I’d still easily say NASCAR is one of the bigger sports in America, but it’s been a rough 15 or so years for the sport of NASCAR. Thankfully since 2018, NASCAR has seemed to find a good stabilizing point and honestly seem like it’s going in a good direction for the future to come, but with all this said, only the future can tell where we’ll be!
Dodge leaving and Toyota coming to the sport drove alot of people
And their political correctness didn't help, also the manufacturers should determine the body style, but I know make all body's the same to keep cost down but teams just use that money elsewhere.
Nascar drove Dodge away with their bullshit. From the beginning of time itself, Nascar and Dodge have never gotten along. Remember Dodge left at the end of the 70s and didn't come back till the turn of the century because of a nassive disagreement between them. Nascar and Dodge just don't get along. Plain and simple. There's nothing the fans can do about it.
I like the COT cars the cars look so cool
One thing that really shocked me in this video was Jaret claiming that NASCAR in early 2015 was still the second most popular sport in the US. I don't remember it at the time being that popular, I know it was coming off a stabilization period, and there was tons of talk coming off of the fantastic season that was '14, but I thought that other sports had surpassed the popularity stock-car racing amassed. I don't know if those claims are true or false, I've never heard of NASCAR being that massive in the mid 2010s, I'm gonna need some proof via stats & comparisons. Hard to believe tbh.
By the way, what really explains the initial ratings drop in '07 on the FOX portion of the season? I understand that certain circumstances pushed that scenario to happen, as listed in the video, but that to me doesn't explain too much. I want to know more.
Also to note, the things said in this video makes NASCAR's downfall both clearer and more confusing. I get the push on cable and rained-out races, along with bad treatment by ESPN, being contributing factors that were easy to understand why they hurt the sport so much. However, the stabilization period throws a huge wrench into this conversation. NASCAR went from these all-time peaks and then by the 2010s the drop that came afterwards began to flatten. Just bonkers to me.
Not to mention the questions I had to start off the comment-- How was NASCAR ranking against other sporting leagues in '07-'10? Did anyone manage to overtake the number two spot and NASCAR got it back, or was NASCAR there the entire time? TV ratings are really damn confusing. So many questions from what in theory wouldn't be such a hard-pressing topic.
If anyone's willing to answer at least any of these, let alone all of them, I'd be happy, because the confusion in my head surrounding this subject is really freakin' high. Unreal!
It works like football but on steroids, there's only 36 events a year so each event gets more viewership but there's less events than the NBA and MLB have.
I’m not paying for a service required to watch races. Like Hulu live or whatever. That’s because that one race a week is the only time I’d use I. So I stream through twitch.
I wonder how many other viewers do something similar and how that impacts numbers
Nascar has decent ratings. Comparable to all sports except the nfl and ncaa football. It just doesn’t have a big finale like the World Series or nba finals that gets big ratings to end the year.
In the cable vs open channel debate, most countries to have NASCAR (or any motorsport in general) you need to have cable. Here in Brazil in 2020 we only had F1 on open TV. NASCAR, Indy, F-E, local series, etc? Cable. Considering how motorsports each and every day becomes more niche, I believe cable TV in the nearest future (and maybe streaming services on the long run?) will be the rule, not only in the USA, but anywhere on the world.
Anyone know the ratings from the 2021 Bristol Dirt Races? Just out of curiosity, thanks!
I know the Cup race around 3.5 million viewers
@@DepravedCoTApologist 3.5m?
@@IanTheMotorsportsMan_YT What do you mean?
@@DepravedCoTApologist they had 3.5 fans watching?
@@IanTheMotorsportsMan_YT No. 3 and a half million. 3,500,000 viewers. Roughly
I think the new car next year will cause ratings to go up for the next couple of years
I find this funny... because 2007 was the year I came back to the sport after slipping away in the early 2000s... not because of what they were doing... but I was doing different things in my early adult years.
I think whats important is that the Daytona 500 needs to go as schedule because we can get a lot of potential viewers. Because of that rain delay we lost all of those potential viewers that could possibly watch races later in the season.
I can see what happened just by watching the footage in your video. The camera work is TERRIBLE on broadcasts, and they fill the screen with those annoying graphics all the time. They do this with every sport and it's why I don't watch anything anymore. Ads, bad announcers, and you can't see the big picture. The worst seat at the track is a better view, better sound, and the tickets are probably cheaper than cable.
You judge a sport’s popularity by looking at the grandstands… NASCAR is definitely dying. TV rating mean nothing. People watch midday baseball to take a nap… same with NASCAR today.
Do You Fall Asleep During NASCAR Races?
I'll also add that when your biggest race is the first vs something like the superbowl or the world series at the end, not sure how NASCAR expects a 'finale to be the big hit when the big hit is race #1
If it means anything, outside of NASCAR, I stream most of my sports content illegally now. I got TH-camTV but they dont have YES, so I find a stream. Im a Dolphins fan in CT, so I used to watch the local game and follow gamecast stuff but now I have a stream.
Ratings aren’t that important anymore and that goes for everything on TV and around the sports world in this day in age with on demand & digital
And we’re growing, but not like f1 growth, we need to follow the Liberty media path. Just look at how well that has worked out for F1.
Tv ratings don’t rlly matter especially when you can watch FS1 and NBCSN races on twitch for free
@@jayt9274 we just need our version of a drive to survive series to open more eyes.
@@codymifsud2448 F1's social media growth isn't translating to viewership growth
@@ZontarDow your kidding right, just look at Adam stern tweet today. Just on the American viewership, everything is not about ratings anymore, it is developing and building up a established brand to the social media world and etc... I going for a degree for this type of stuff, so social media is huge, but it does affect the needle way more than you think. It increases a fanbase interaction and allows companies to believe they are getting more exposure or “bang for your buck”.
Put factory sheet metal on the cars so the fans can actually relate to the sport. Also stay out of political agendas.
I think people just got tired of seeing Jimmie dominate
Do the younger generations like NASCAR? I’m a UK fan and think the following has lessened as they got older?
I think a small part for the average fan was when drivers were jumping around.
Drivers have always switched tho.
it pretty much dropped off of a cliff when Jeff and Jr left. I stopped watching full races when Jeff left
My guy should look and do videos and stuff on Sub4ra's ADRC Nascar series and his other two series's later in the year.
Here’s why they died: FS1 and NBCSN races. They failed to prioritize the sport.
I have to agree. It was a contract that put more races on cable, right when cord cutting became a thing. Bad timing on that
Their idea by putting it on those channels was to make it worth paying the extra money to the cable company for the packages that include FS1 and NBCSN. For NASCAR this was the worst possible thing to happen TV wise.
TV ratings are complicated.
I was never good in math.
Numbers hate them.