The Indianapolis market saw a big increase: from 13.8 last year to 15.0 this year. The national number wasn’t so kind to IMS and NASCAR. There was a decrease in overnight rating, from 3.4 last year to 3.2 this year. Last year’s final national rating was 3.6. That information will be available Tuesday.(Indianapolis Star).(7-29-2014)
UPDATE: ESPN’s live telecast of the Brickyard 400 NASCAR Sprint Cup Series race at Indianapolis Motor Speedway on Sunday, July 27, earned a 3.4 U.S. rating, averaging 5,196,000 viewers, according to Nielsen Media. The rating and viewership were down from the 2013 race, which earned a 3.6 rating and averaged 5,460,000 viewers, but were up from 2012, when the telecast earned a 3.3 rating and averaged 5,055,000 viewers. Indianapolis led the nation’s metered markets with a 15.0 rating, up from a 13.7 rating last year, while Greenville/Spartanburg/Asheville was second with a 9.4 rating. North Carolina’s Greensboro/High Point/Winston-Salem market was third nationally with an 8.7 rating while Charlotte and Richmond tied for fourth at 7.7. The rest of the nation’s top 10 markets for the race were Louisville, 6.9; Nashville, 6.5; Birmingham and Raleigh-Durham, 6.3; and Tampa/St. Petersburg and Orlando, 5.5. ESPN’s live telecast of Saturday’s NASCAR Nationwide Series race at IMS earned a 1.3 rating, averaging 1,988,000 viewers. Viewership was up over last year’s race, which averaged 1,913,000 viewers with a 1.4 rating.(ESPN) See past 2014 race ratings, 5-yr comparison chart and past news on the 2014 TV Ratings page.(7-29-2014)
