watkins Glen Tv ratings

[SarahFan]

http://sportsmediawatch.blogspot.com/

.9

[SarahFan]

for those keeping score at home... season to date..

.3
.5
.15
4.0
.6
.36
.8
.22
.9

.87 YTD avg with Indy
.55 YTD avg sans Indy

[garyshell]

http://sportsmediawatch.blogspot.com/

.9


How does that stack up against last year's number?

Gary

[Lousada]

How does that stack up against last year's number?

Gary

Last year was a 1.0

[drewdawg727]

Not bad....but not great either.

[ykiki]

At least it was a good race.

[Jag_Warrior]

All things considered, that's actually pretty good.

[NickFalzone]

I believe it was up against the Wimbledon finals on Sunday (I don't watch tennis). So if that was the case, it did OK. But no one should be celebrating about a .9 even if it's about the same as last year. In fact we should be asking why, now a year into unification, the ratings have been at best even and at worst a significant dropoff.

[grungex]

Keep in mind the 0.9 is an overnight rating, so it's likely to end up lower still.

[SarahFan]

I believe it was up against the Wimbledon finals on Sunday (I don't watch tennis). So if that was the case, it did OK. But no one should be celebrating about a .9 even if it's about the same as last year. In fact we should be asking why, now a year into unification, the ratings have been at best even and at worst a significant dropoff.

I dont believe there has been a race that was even this season to last... all down...

pre-season made a season long prediction... based that on the ABC races, besides Indy, all being 1.0's.....none have...I have been one of, if the not the most, critical of ratings this season....and they are underperforming even my expectations

FWIW.....I figured the VS at .4......

[Lousada]

I believe it was up against the Wimbledon finals on Sunday (I don't watch tennis). So if that was the case, it did OK. But no one should be celebrating about a .9 even if it's about the same as last year. In fact we should be asking why, now a year into unification, the ratings have been at best even and at worst a significant dropoff.

They are always against 250+ other programmes. I don't think there is a noticable overlap between Indycar and tennis fans. Most important ratings drags are other racing series. Nascar wasn't on, F1 wasn't on and ALMS wasn't on this weekend.

[SarahFan]

They are always against 250+ other programmes. I don't think there is a noticable overlap between Indycar and tennis fans. Most important ratings drags are other racing series. Nascar wasn't on, F1 wasn't on and ALMS wasn't on this weekend.

Wow

No other racing related compitition and a sub 1 rating.....that is very very telling IMO

[Jacques]

Taken from the article :

Once again, ratings dropped for the IRL on ABC. The Camping World Grand Prix at The Glen, ABC's second-to-last IRL telecast of the year, drew a 0.9 overnight rating (http://www.sportsbusinessdaily.com/article/131510) on Sunday afternoon -- down 10% from a 1.0 last year. All four of ABC's IRL telecasts have had at least a 10% decline in overnight ratings.

[NickFalzone]

This is true, although the reality is that other racing series are also down quite a bit in the ratings. NASCAR is down around 12% this season in the ratings. The difference is that NASCAR has MUCH farther to fall, whereas IRL has basically been bordering on complete insignificance for the last 5 years outside of the 500. I thought, and probably many in IRL management did as well, that unification would get some real excitement about the series again and translate into bigger crowds and tv ratings. We've seen maybe a slight uptick in track attendance in the last 2 years, but tv viewers really just do NOT care about this series anymore. When you're talking 1s and sub 1s, as we have been for the last couple years, it doesn't really matter if it's a .5 on ABC or a .9, it's a terrible rating, in the league of volleyball or motorcross (see the link above). Even if the ratings stabilize next season, I don't know how long the series sponsors will continue to put up with sub 1 ratings. This is something that I think IRL management needs to address, and someone in the press needs to ask them in a public forum. Basically they just need to be praying for a miracle, because nothing ratingswise suggests that popularity is just around the corner.

[SarahFan]

http://thescore.ibj.com/content/?p=1068

final of .87

[Jacques]

This is true, although the reality is that other racing series are also down quite a bit in the ratings. NASCAR is down around 12% this season in the ratings. The difference is that NASCAR has MUCH farther to fall, whereas IRL has basically been bordering on complete insignificance for the last 5 years outside of the 500. I thought, and probably many in IRL management did as well, that unification would get some real excitement about the series again and translate into bigger crowds and tv ratings.
Even with the 500, the IRL is now at CC levels. That cannot be spun into anything good.
If Nascar is falling too, it does not help the IRL any because Nascar will start to squeeze Indy even more.

[NickFalzone]

What's puzzling to me is that the ratings were down last season and are again down this season. Both seasons have done worse in the ratings than the regular IRL seasons BEFORE unification. I have seen very little to no uptick from unification. I guess maybe it lessened the ratings slide the IRL was on and if unification had not happened the ratings would be nonexistant. But it is strange to me that for one, the ratings are as bad as they are on ABC, and two, that the higher rated races the last 2 seasons tend to be the road and street courses (VS audiences not included). IRL oval racing outside of Indy is just a ratings dead zone.

[NickFalzone]

Even with the 500, the IRL is now at CC levels. That cannot be spun into anything good.
If Nascar is falling too, it does not help the IRL any because Nascar will start to squeeze Indy even more.

I think NASCAR is just in a temporary holding pattern while they figure out the issues with the COT and the manufacturers. I could easily see CUP ratings back up in 2-3 seasons from now, assuming things fall their way with the current issues. IRL is in a state of deep depression that is going to take a miracle to get out of.

[CCWS77]

One possible theory is that hope of unification actually attracted some fans because they thought in the future things would improve. When unification happened, and yet virtually nothing about the IRL changed, anyone who thought that might have left.

[Jacques]

I think NASCAR is just in a temporary holding pattern while they figure out the issues with the COT and the manufacturers. I could easily see CUP ratings back up in 2-3 seasons from now, assuming things fall their way with the current issues. IRL is in a state of deep depression that is going to take a miracle to get out of.
Yes, I tend to agree.
Nascar had deep support. It was also wider than Indy's.
Trying to explaing the IRL's inability to prosper, by pointingt to Nascar's "troubles," is just another form of denial. One needs to fix one's house instead of pointing how bad the neighbor's house is.

[FormerFF]

I think NASCAR is just in a temporary holding pattern while they figure out the issues with the COT and the manufacturers. I could easily see CUP ratings back up in 2-3 seasons from now, assuming things fall their way with the current issues. IRL is in a state of deep depression that is going to take a miracle to get out of.

I think that NASCAR has peaked and that the decline is more or less permanent. I believe what happened throught this decade was much like what happened to the NBA during the Michael Jordan/Magic Johnson/Larry Bird years, in that a lot of casual sports fans took a strong interest in the NBA. Eventually, some of them became disaffected, and NBA ratings and attendance went back to something closer to normal. I suspect the same happened for NASCAR this decade.

About five or so years ago, NASCAR (or NASCAR driver) stickers were commonly found on cars in this (Atlanta metro) area. It got to the point where I just about could not stop at a traffic light without seeing a car that had one. Now, I can often go a month without seeing one, and more often than not, it's a memorial to Dale Earnhardt Sr.

The IRL, on the other hand, I think better figure out a way to make its series work without TV money, because I suspect that lousy ratings are going to be more or less permanent. Hopefully, I'm wrong here, but the trend for all programs is lower ratings. I'm not sure that the advertiser supported broadcast model is going to be viable for all that many sports in the future. We may see something like a season subscription that is paid for by the viewer and delivered over an IP connection. Works for me, I'd rather pay for good coverage without interruption than have to put up with the commercials.

[NickFalzone]

Interesting that you mention that because last week I noticed on my Verizon cable box that there's a subscription racing channel that airs (mostly) Atlantics races. I doubt I'd watch Atlantics if it was free, let alone had to pay for it, but it was interesting to me that this kind of niche programming is being offered. I believe it was in HD as well. Personally I don't want to see the IRL go that route because it would be even more niche than Versus, but I agree that is a possibility the series could be facing if things don't pick up.

[Jag_Warrior]

If the IRL ends up in that kind of ultra-niche TV situation, I question how many sponsors would stick around, and how much they'd be willing to pay to decal a car.