This company trains racing professionals and hosts racing events. But the true cause of that fact . Whatever the reason, the fact is that NASCAR is losing TV viewers, struggling to fill stands, and being abandoned by sponsors. The analysis of the popular media depends upon understanding the popularity and de mand for NASCAR and to the structure and history of the sport. In response to its rapidly growing popularity nationwide, NASCAR moved away from the Southeast fans who brought the sport to the dance, and began holding races in places like Vegas, Chicago and Los Angeles. the First, the cars are relatable as the stock cars come from models that people use every day (though heavily modified). Since earning a 7.7 rating and 13. The Xfinity Series at Indianapolis had a rating of 0.67, with 1.249 million viewers, totaling more than F1 Pocono TV Ratings July 26, 2022 Though the couple'shealth insurance has gone from $300 to $800 a month, finances are not the main reason they stopped traveling to events. As one of motorsport's most popular race series, NASCAR has a long and colorful history that dates to the US prohibition erain the 1930s. Which might explain why, despite the denials, the people who are descendants of Big Bill France, the man who started it all, are quietly shopping the company around and hoping to get out while the goings good. People do not want to watch numerous full-screen commercials while green-flag racing is taking place. (WBRC) CHARLOTTE, N.C. (Charlotte Observer) - Dave Fulton compared himself to Mr. Krabs. The #48 team should have been a gold mine. Back in the 90s (and 70s and 80s), NASCAR was relevant only to one corner of the USA. Hamlin, who grew up . We respect your privacy. Its not often noticed, but it was definitely noticed by Jeff Gordon fans: had NASCAR not implemented the Chase, the driver of the iconic #24 could have been the one standing aside Dale Earnhardt and Richard Petty today with seven titles, instead of his protg Jimmie Johnson. Not only is this tolerated by NASCAR but encouraged. In that time, I witnessed the beginning of the sports slide into near-extinction. I also suggested a solutionthat NASCAR emulate how baseball exploded in popularity after the opening of Camden Yards. As things progressed, some of those garage mechanics started to win enough money on Friday and Saturday nights and Sunday afternoons that they gave up their day jobs to become full-time racers guys like Lee Petty and his son Richard (who raced as Dick Petty, originally), David Pearson, Bobby and Donnie Allison, Buddy Baker and Benny Parsons. Meaning that in todays world even the smallest increase in a TV rating is a really big deal when considering how overall viewership is measured. There are just so many things involved, but there are a lot of disenfranchised, disheartened people like us.. Next years championship race will be held in Phoenix, and even though the 2020 race should draw a packed house of 42,000, or 7,000 more than the estimated crowd at Homestead, fans have said they dont like the racing at Phoenix as much. NASCAR scraped bottom. NASCAR blew off fan demand for picture-in-picture commercial breakssomething theyve since embracedwhile Fox Sportss indifference to fans went completely unchecked. Photo credit: royal_broil on Best Running / CC BY-SA I dont often see NASCARs ill-conceived playoff idea as a reason people cite for the decline of NASCAR in articles I read these days, but I promise you, that was not the case when I covered the sport. Photo credit: Zach Catanzareti Photo on Best Running / CC BY Saturday afternoon, they held a round of the NASCAR Xfinity Series there and there were so few people in the stands that they should have introduced them to the drivers instead of the other way around. Still with me? Then you can access your favorite statistics via the star in the header. Formula 1 and IndyCar are on the rise while NASCAR is slowly declining on a weekly and yearly basis. Website (racingnews.co), & SportsBusiness Daily, & Sports Media Watch. And the same is true for NASCAR. Herbst adds that small swings in the numbers show the steadiness of viewership week to week, and thats a very good thing. No longer will teams win titles by dominating speedways; driver skill will be more of a factor, as it should be. Not just limited to NASCAR but to many other sports as well is the gradual retirement of its well-known athletes that were the main draw for people to watch the events. The numbers are based on proportion of searches rather than total searches, so the population of each state is accounted for in the data. While NASCAR scrambles to address its national (and global) popularity problem, we wanted to look at exactly where its core fanbase is. The rise of social media as a tool, pastime, or source of information and entertainment has certainly affected most sports, NASCAR included. Nepotism isnt dead in NASCAR. Their headquarters are located in Daytona Beach, Florida. The NASCAR season is held over 9 months . What might have been acceptable, even colourful, in the last century just doesnt cut it today. Lack of manufacturer identity may have been a reason some hardcore fans left the sport in the early 1990s, but that doesnt seem to me to be a valid reason for the sports popularity plunge since 2005. The various platforms of social media have been a convenient and fast way to obtain information and entertainment on a particular sporting event. Just another site. As a racing event that is held in various tracks around the US, there are several venues that fans can choose to go to in order to watch NASCAR live. Surprisingly, there are no active NASCAR tracks in the Mountain State, but that doesnt seem to dampen the locals enthusiasm for the sport. NASCAR 75. Most die-hard fans of NASCAR are those that have followed it the longest. Usually, ratings tend to drop through the first couple of events due to . It was the insistent implementation of it over loud objections of fans. +40 (724) 307.599 Lu - Vi: 9:00 - 18:00; nascar popularity graph Opinions expressed by Forbes Contributors are their own. Even more so than in baseball, the on-screen product is affected with the layout of a track. Up until the middle of the 21 st century the. 1-800-GAMBLER (NJ, PA, WV), 1-800-9-WITH-IT (IN), 1-800-BETS-OFF (IA), 1-800-522-4700 (NV), 1-800-522-4700 Ricky Rudd, Ken Schrader, Geoff Bodine, Rusty Wallace and Trevor Boys were among several dozen drivers whose names soon became familiar, if not famous. It was another case of costly arrogance; as much as fans loved NASCAR, they didnt love it enough to put up with an endlessly saturated marketing campaign featuring occasional snippets of racing each week. But the sports most dedicated fans were (and are) still in the Southeast, and Southerners are loyal to the core to their heritage. A paid subscription is required for full access. our Terms & Conditions and our Privacy Policy and you confirm that you are 18+. The graph below shows drivers' average 2022 finishes at intermediate tracks in yellow. to incorporate the statistic into your presentation at any time. A Former Reporters Thoughts, Copyright 2023 A Great Number of Things. Statista assumes no "Average Viewership of The Nascar Cup Series in The United States from 2014 to 2022 (in Million Viewers). For instance: The non-stop promotion of Danica Patrick, as if she was the Second Coming (she wasnt), turned off a lot of fans. NASCARs TV ratings began to fall; the once all-mighty numbers began to show not an increase, but a decline. And you hear more and more about this today. The ideal entry-level account for individual users. Along with that came an all-important metric: the Nielsen ratings. Yes, all of those factors might have contributed to the decline of interest in NASCAR, But, in the end, I think the franchise system and the ride-buying are what did NASCAR in. Instead of a midway with souvenir haulers, theres now one merchandise tent area. For NASCAR it meant fewer butts in seats at tracks, and fewer sponsors willing to part with what little revenue they were earning. Complete with official drivers, teams and tracks from the 2021 NASCAR . In case you werent there or dont remember, in 2004 NASCAR welcomed their new series sponsor, Nextel (now Sprint), with a new playoff system called the Chase. Danica turned out to be a huge bustas many people who followed the sport closely, including yours truly, predicted she would be. Register in seconds and access exclusive features. Arguably the best driver never to win a NASCAR Cup Series championship, Mark Martin was an easy pick to the NASCAR Hall of Fame last year. James: Expect the unexpected on restrictor plate tracks. Photo credit: sidehike on VisualHunt / CC BY-SA Kyle Busch, NASCARs black hat, won his second title. The Old North State is probably the the first place most people think of when they think of NASCAR. (Photo by Jonathan Ferrey/Getty Images), Samantha and son Brexton pose with the trophy after winning the Monster Energy NASCAR Cup Series Championship at Homestead Speedway on November 17, 2019 in Homestead, Florida. Here is a full ranking of NASCARs popularity by state: West Virginia is the so-called NASCAR state with the most interest in the motorsport. When you think of the venues that have showcased the most memorable events in the sports history, Daytona, Darlington, and Bristol often come to mind. He . From F1, Rally, Le Mans, Drifting, or Touring Car championships that are broadcast on TV or via the internet, viewers now have even more access to alternative motorsports events that can offer the same level of adrenaline fueled excitement that NASCAR can provide. The NHL audience is the richest of all professional sports. ^ Cited revenue was AUD$1.547B; exchange rate of 1 euro per AUD$1.61 for 2019 season used here. Photo credit: Ford Racing on VisualHunt / CC BY Photo credit: Zach Catanzareti Photo on Visualhunt / CC BY-SA These Are The Reasons Why NASCAR Is Losing Fans, "Bootleggers"- those whoproduce anddeliver prohibited whiskey/alcohol, colorful beginnings to what is now a billion-dollar sporting event, 15 Abandoned And Forgotten NASCAR Race Tracks, 15 Rules Every NASCAR Employee Has To Follow, 10 NASCAR Drivers With The Most Wins (& How Much They Won). This ability to adapt however seems insufficient as NASCAR has recorded a staggering 50% viewership drop in the last 5 years along with substantial admission decline that has varied from 12 -30% percent from 2012 to 2018. Most TV consumption, really all TV consumption of TV of tier one sports properties is down simply because TV consumption just broadly is down. Answer (1 of 29): I was a NASCAR fan for years and can tell you from personal experience why I say WAS a fan. For any fan that needs racing to be dangerous, there are still four restrictor plate races on the schedule. South Carolina, home of Darlington Raceway, follows in third place. It could be just Mike Joy and Jeff Gordon up in the booth, which would sound like a library compared to NBC.). Fan Rewards. Directly accessible data for 170 industries from 50 countries and over 1 million facts: Get quick analyses with our professional research service. The Daytona Road Course averaged 4.750 million viewers during the event. It would have saved a lot of time. Tiger Woods was great for golf. Website (racingnews.co), and SportsBusiness Daily, and Sports Media Watch. With Iowa and Vermont making up the remainder of the top five. It was not a great race. Wallace ranks among the public's most well-known drivers, according to a new Morning Consult poll. [Online]. But after the season finale in 2013, they stopped. Photo credit: Fast Eddie Maloney on Best Running / CC BY-SA The Williamses havent been to a NASCAR race since. NASCAR has struggled with the 18-49 demographic and while IndyCar doesnt have as many overall viewers, the percentage of those viewers being in that demographic is higher. A fairly new challenge that spectator sports now have to contend with is the rise of the various streaming services that offer varied content that is available across a variety of platforms. The cars already were mostly spec at that point, and the sport was doing just finebooming even. The best of the best: the portal for top lists & rankings: Strategy and business building for the data-driven economy: Racing teams of NASCAR ranked by revenue 2017, Revenue of NASCAR's Team Penske racing team 2006-2017, Racing teams of NASCAR ranked by team value 2019, Average TV audience of NASCAR Cup Series 2022, Average U.S. TV audience of NASCAR races 2019, Average TV viewership of selected NASCAR events in the United States in 2019 (in million viewers), Average television viewership of NASCAR events in the United States in 2018 and 2019 (in millions), Total television viewership of NASCAR events in the United States in 2018 and 2019 (in millions), NASCAR average TV rating in the U.S. 2019, Average TV rating of NASCAR events in the United States in 2018 and 2019, TV rating Daytona 500 in the U.S. 2000-2022, TV ratings of Daytona 500 in the United States from 2000 to 2022, Daytona 500 TV viewers in the U.S. 2000-2022, Number of TV viewers of Daytona 500 in the United States from 2000 to 2022 (in million viewers), Average TV audience of NASCAR Cup Series finale 2019, Average viewership of the NASCAR Cup Series finale in the United States from 2015 to 2019 (in million viewers), Average viewership of the NASCAR Cup Series in the United States from 2014 to 2022 (in million viewers), Share of NASCAR fans in the United States in 2016, by gender, Average age of NASCAR TV viewers in the United States in 2006 and 2016 (in years), NASCAR fans in the U.S. 2017, by ethnicity, Share of NASCAR viewers in the United States in 2016-2017, by ethnicity, NASCAR fans in the U.S. 2017, by ethnicity and party, Share of NASCAR viewers in the United States in 2016-2017, by ethnicity and political affiliation, NASCAR fan opinions on who sports fans are in United States in 2017, Opinions of NASCAR fans on what makes someone a sports fan United States in 2017, NASCAR favorability in the U.S. 2018, by political party, Net favorability of NASCAR in the United States in 2018, by political affiliation, Top NASCAR purchases by fans in the United States in 2017, Leading NASCAR related purchases among NASCAR fans in the United States in 2017, Share of NASCAR fans in the United States in 2018, by city, NASCAR drivers with the most social media mentions during the playoffs in 2019, Most mentioned NASCAR drivers on social media during the playoffs in 2019, NASCAR racing teams ranked by revenue in 2017 (in million U.S. dollars), Revenue of NASCAR's Hendrick Motorsport team 2006-2017, Hendrick Motorsport team (NASCAR) revenue from 2006 to 2017 (in million U.S. dollars), Team Penske racing team (NASCAR) revenue from 2006 to 2017 (in million U.S. dollars), Revenue of NASCAR's Roush Fenway Racing team 2006-2017, Roush Fenway Racing team (NASCAR) revenue from 2006 to 2017 (in million U.S. dollars), Revenue of NASCAR's Front Row Motorsports team 2014-2017, Front Row Motorsports team (NASCAR) revenue from 2014 to 2017 (in million U.S. dollars), Most valuable sport event brands worldwide 2019, Most valuable sports events brands worldwide in 2019 (in million U.S. dollars), Brand value of the sports event Daytona 500 from 2012 to 2017 (in million U.S. dollars)*, Most active NASCAR sponsors on Twitter 2019, Most active NASCAR sponsors on Twitter during Daytona 500 in February 2019, by total activity*, NASCAR racing teams ranked by team value in 2019 (in million U.S. dollars), Value of NASCAR's Hendrick Motorsport team 2006-2020, Hendrick Motorsport team (NASCAR) team value* from 2006 to 2020 (in million U.S. dollars), Value of NASCAR's Joe Gibbs Racing team 2006-2018, Joe Gibbs Racing team (NASCAR) team value* from 2006 to 2018 (in million U.S. dollars), Value of NASCAR's Stewart-Haas Racing team 2010-2018, Stewart-Haas Racing team (NASCAR) team value* from 2010 to 2018 (in million U.S. dollars).