The first NASCAR race on NBCSN was not much of a draw, but it held steady with last year. NASCAR Sprint Cup racing from Kentucky drew a 2.0 overnight rating on NBCSN Saturday night, even with last year and down 17% from 2013 (2.4), both on TNT. It was the first telecast of the season on cable to avoid a decline in the metered markets. The 2.0 is tied as the second-lowest overnight for a Sprint Cup race this season, matching Michigan last month and ahead of only Kansas in May (1.5) – both of which experienced rain delays. Those races aired on Fox Sports 1. Saturday’s race was the first NASCAR telecast on NBCSN (previously VERSUS and OLN). NBCSN was in 81.6 million homes as of February, fewer than FS1 (84.8M), and the least for a NASCAR broadcaster since FX in the early 2000s.(Sports Media Watch)(7-14-2015)
UPDATE: The first NASCAR race on NBCSN sank double-digits compared to last year on TNT. NASCAR Sprint Cup racing from Kentucky drew 3.2 million viewers on NBCSN Saturday night, down 10% from last year (3.6M) and down 19% from 2013 (4.0M), both on TNT, and the smallest audience in the history of the race (dates back to 2011). The race ranks as the second-least watched of the season on any network, ahead of only rain-delayed coverage from Kansas on Fox Sports 1 (2.5M). Excluding delayed and postponed races, it ranks as the least-watched Sprint Cup telecast in at least eight years – and likely much longer than that. All seven Sprint Cup races on NBCSN and FS1 this season have declined double-digits from last year’s comparable races, which aired on FOX and TNT. Though low for NASCAR, Sunday’s race did quite well for NBCSN. Only Games 3 and 4 of the Stanley Cup Final drew a larger audience on the network this year (4.0M for each). Prior to Sunday, its top motorsports audience was a mere 642,000 viewers for a 2011 IndyCar race.(Sports Media Watch / ShowBuzz Daily)(7-15-2015)
