St Pete TV rating

[SarahFan]

Last Sunday’s Honda Grand Prix of St. Petersburg, the first-ever IndyCar Series race on Versus, earned 233,000 viewers. Last year’s IndyCar season opener, the Gainsco Auto Insurance Indy 300 from Homestead-Miami Speedway, earned 1.1 million viewers on ESPN2 on a Saturday night in primetime. That means this year's season opener was down 79%. The '08 race from St. Pete, which was that season’s second telecast, earned 575,000 viewers on ESPN for a Sunday afternoon telecast, representing a drop this year of 60%.


^just read the above on another forum... YMMV

[chuck34]

Comparing to last year's numbers is probably a bit disingenuous since it is on another network that admittadly has some "exposure" issues. Let's keep track of this year's numbers and compare them to next year, and not start a big deal about this right now.

[SarahFan]

with all due respect Chuck... ratings are a big deal

[NickFalzone]

The comparison to ABC is not a valid one as it's a network broadcast, not a cable channel. But ESPN to VS is the comparison that the sponsors will be making this year, as well as the ABC to ABC #'s on their 5 races.

A 60% drop from ESPN to VS is significant. I heard the expection early on that the numbers goal would be about 2/3 of ESPN's ratings, as that's about the coverage that VS' gets. Before we call this a disaster though, you have to wait for the final Nielsen's, as the overnights do not include smaller and rural markets (where VS has a lot of its audience). My guess based on the usual uptick from overnights is we're looking at a 50% drop from St. Pete ESPN to St. Pete VS. That's a real problem, even with a third less households available.

One other question is, how is 300k viewers for VS in that time slot? Good, bad, average?

[NickFalzone]

As a comparison, here are some of the lower ratings from 2008's races according to Wikipedia:

st. pete espn 420k
motegi espn2 190k (rainout)
long beach espn2 510k
nashville espn 500k
kentucky espn2 430k
sonoma espn2 410k

[The instant classic]

my dad works in the funeral business sholud i tell him to order the IRL tomestone?

damn down 60%. its only gonna get wosre from here
i do watch wrestling so i learned about the rating system that way and 60% so a hard thing to come back from

[MDS]

That's about what I expected. I've thought for a while the dedicated IRL fanbase is around 300,000 people, and my bet is that's who found it on verses. Everyone knew there would a dramatic drop off this year, that's why its a long-term contract. So that the Network can grow the sport and sport can grow the network.

For comparasion's sake that's the same audience that Champ Car routinely reached in its last year. It's also about half of what the Truck Series does on Speed. To make matters worse I saw no footage on ESPN, and I thought at least Danica's crash would make the highlight reel.

[disko]

viewers are viewers, no matter where they are from. IRL chose VS and they have to deal with the numbers. It will take a while for vs coverage to catch up to espn.(years)

I think the real number is does the 'better' vs coverage generate better production lead towards interest in the 500. What the 500 number is this year is critical.

As an ad buyer, I'd be doubling down this year with the IRL for next year. The only way is up from here.

[disko]

so what happens to the IRL on vs. if comcast buys sprint?

[SarahFan]

viewers are viewers, no matter where they are from. IRL chose VS and they have to deal with the numbers. It will take a while for vs coverage to catch up to espn.(years)

I think the real number is does the 'better' vs coverage generate better production lead towards interest in the 500. What the 500 number is this year is critical.

As an ad buyer, I'd be doubling down this year with the IRL for next year. The only way is up from here.


problem is those are CC#'s.... right before they closed up shop... twice

doubling down?... or running for the hills?

[chuck34]

We all knew we were trading ratings for quality coverage. Give it time.

The interesting comparison would be Winston Cup at someplace like North Wilksboro on ESPN from like 1984 or something.

Give it time. I'm convinced it'll come up. Just as convinced I am that you (Ken) will save this to feed back to me when the ratings don't come up. :-D

[speeddurango]

Comparing to last year's numbers is probably a bit disingenuous since it is on another network that admittadly has some "exposure" issues. Let's keep track of this year's numbers and compare them to next year, and not start a big deal about this right now.

Down 60 percent is no biggie then what is? It's like even with the merger last year the rating weren't up by this much amount, let alone the rating going down...

[chuck34]

Down 60 percent is no biggie then what is? It's like even with the merger last year the rating weren't up by this much amount, let alone the rating going down...

I never said it was "no biggie". Just that it was expected, by most, and that it also is not the end of the world.

What I am saying is that if they don't pick up during the year, and especially if they don't pick up next year, then it may be the end of the world.

Just don't jump off the cliff after one race!

[the bro]

A comparison to ponder. In the 90's 200,000 people would actually show up for the Indy 500 qualifying, never mind the nationwide TV audience.

[dataman1]

I am glad I am not in sponsorship sales for the IRL.

[SarahFan]

I am glad I am not in sponsorship sales for the IRL.


I'm not worried about the IRL at this point.... Firestone and Izod are clearly buying ad time..


but its the teams and racers trying to finalize and put together deals that are going to feel it... badly...

[Lousada]

I posted this on the race thread:

I know some have a kick for TV-Ratings, so here are the Dutch ratings.
Starting time 20:30, Density 1.5, Share 3.4, Total 226.000.
On that channel it was the second highest show of the day only behind the F1 summary directly preceding it. The deal was only announced last week so perhaps not all racing fans have found it yet. When Doornbos starts getting some results the ratings will get better I think.

So the ICS gets as many viewers in NL as in the US. That's hilariously sad.

[DBell]

I posted this on the race thread:


So the ICS gets as many viewers in NL as in the US. That's hilariously sad.

Maybe it's time for TG to rethink the no international races policy.

[Alexamateo]

FWIW, I don't have Versus yet, so that's one less household that they'd normally have. :)

[The instant classic]

FWIW, I don't have Versus yet, so that's one less household that they'd normally have. :)
im right along with you
makes me think why are we called "indycar fans" if we cant even watch? :confused:

[garyshell]

im right along with you
makes me think why are we called "indycar fans" if we cant even watch? :confused:

Was this also an issue when ESPN relegated some of the races to their "back water" channel ESPN-2 or worse ESPN-CL? Both of which some folks don't get either? Were you unable to be called "indycar fans" then as well?

Gary

[The instant classic]

Was this also an issue when ESPN relegated some of the races to their "back water" channel ESPN-2 or worse ESPN-CL? Both of which some folks don't get either? Were you unable to be called "indycar fans" then as well?

Gary
ESPN did mess around with indycar, but alot of fans still got ESPN, ESPN2 and ESPN-CL, and some races did end up on ABC, and if i cant watch the race cuz its only on VS, i still have speed tv or fox carrying races, unless i live on indycar.com 24/7 i wont know whats going on anymore
not to sounds like im bashing indycar, but if i cant see it on tv i could lose my interest, im sure other fans could say the same,
thats my point of why sholud we be called "indycar fans"