In an era of falling TV ratings across nearly every sport, NASCAR has continuously been used as the archetype of this decline. Over the past 10 years, NASCAR has lost nearly 7 million viewers in the sport’s most popular race, the Daytona 500. While the 2019 NASCAR TV ratings still appear to be in a slight decline, there is a silver lining; a majority of races increased in TV viewership from this time last year.
2019 NASCAR TV Ratings
Starting from the Daytona 500 on February 17 to the Coca-Cola 600 on May 26, there have been 15 races completed so far this year – if you include the Monster Energy All-Star Open separately from the All-Star Race, which occurred on the same day. With nearly half of the 38 total races of the season already completed, NASCAR has been almost perfectly consistent with the disappointing TV ratings from 2018.
The total viewership of the 15 completed races in 2019 was 55.267m. This is just shy of the 55.278m total viewership at the same time in 2018, equating a total loss of 11k viewers. In terms of millions of viewers however, this difference comes out to a minuscule loss of just 0.0199%. While the TV ratings are still technically declining, the radical drop of NASCAR viewership over the past decade appears to have drastically slowed. More importantly, a majority of races increased in TV viewership so far, rejuvenating hope for the remainder of the 2019 season.
2019 NASCAR Races
- Daytona 500: Fox | 5.31 Nielsen | 9.170m Viewers
- Atlanta – Fold of Honor QuickTrip 500: Fox | 3.10 Nielsen | 5.067m Viewers
- Las Vegas – Pennzoil 400: Fox | 3.05 Nielsen | 5.115m Viewers
- Phoenix – TicketGuardian 500: Fox | 2.86 Nielsen | 4.794m Viewers
- Auto Club 400: Fox | 2.51 Nielsen | 4.178m Viewers
- Martinsville – STP 500: FS1 | 1.51 Nielsen | 2.455m Viewers
- Texas – O’Reilly 500: Fox | 2.25 | 3.652m Viewers
- Bristol – Food City 500: FS1 | 1.71 Nielsen | 2.806m Viewers
- Richmond – Toyota Owners 400: Fox | 1.73 Nielsen | 2.787m Viewers
- Talladega – GEICO 500: Fox | 2.79 Nielsen | 4.521m Viewers
- Dover – Gander RV 400 (Postponed): FS1 | 0.56 Nielsen | 798k Viewers
- Kansas – Digital Ally 400: FS1 | 1.20 Nielsen | 2.177m Viewers
- Charlotte – All-Star Open: FS1 | 0.77 Nielsen | 1.206m Viewers
- Charlotte – All-Star Race: FS1 | 1.4 Nielsen | 2.441m Viewers
- Charlotte – Coke 600: Fox | 2.6 Nielsen | 4.1m Viewers
Increased TV Viewership
Although NASCAR is currently suffered a slight overall loss in viewership for 2019, a majority of the 15 races actually experienced an increase in TV viewership compared to last year. There has been a total of 9 races that have experienced improved viewership this year, with only 6 suffering a decline.
Of the 15 races completed, there were 9 broadcasted on Fox and 6 on Fox Sports 1 at this time in both seasons. Naturally, races broadcasted on Fox will see a larger viewership compared to their sister channel, FS1. There was one more Monday race in 2018 that was postponed due to weather however, totaling two postponed races compared to only one in 2019.
When comparing TV ratings, a postponed race on a Monday will clearly suffer more decline in viewership than a race that occurs on its scheduled Sunday time slot. With 3 races that saw improved viewership this year however, one extra postponed race would not alter 2019 from claiming a majority of races that increased TV viewership.[one_half padding=”20px 20px 20px 20px”]
Races that Improved in Viewership
- Pennzoil 400: +383k
- TicketGuardian 500: +218k
- Auto Club 400: +149k
- STP 500: +545k (Postponed 2018)
- O’Reilly 500: +829k (FS1 2018/Fox 2019)
- Food City 500: +806k (Postponed 2018 Fox/FS1 2019)
- Digital Ally 400: +139k
- All-Star Open: +59k
- Coke 600: +10k
[/one_half][one_half_last padding=”20px 20px 20px 20px”]
Races that Declined in Viewership
- Daytona 500: -127k
- Folds of Honor QuickTrip 500: -542k
- Toyota Owners 400: -246k
- GEICO 500: -225k
- Gander RV 400: -1.976m (Postponed 2019)
- All-Star Race: -33k
[/one_half_last]
Analyzing the Declined Ratings
When examining the 2019 races that declined in viewership versus those that improved, it’s obvious that the most popular races suffered the greatest. In fact, 3 of the 5 most watched races suffered a loss in viewership. While it was one of the smallest losses in total viewership, the Daytona 500 is the most popular race in NASCAR every year, so any loss in viewership is severe.
Although attendance increased, the GEICO 500 at Talladega is a legendary race in NASCAR that declined in viewership this season. Most staggering however is the major decrease in viewership for the Folds of Honor QuickTrip 500 at Atlanta. As the third most watched race so far in 2019, losing over 500k viewers from last year was a huge blow.
Promising 2019 NASCAR Season
While some of the more popular races declined in viewership compared to last season, most of the middle-tier NASCAR races all increased in 2019. This is promising because these are the races with less hype and watched more often by season-long NASCAR fans rather than inconsistent or fair-weather fans.
With the minuscule decline in 2019 NASCAR TV ratings compared to last year and the majority of races actually increasing in TV viewership, 2019 could very well see an increase in the sport overall. Believe it or not, the NACAR TV decline might finally be coming to an end.
