Overnight ratings dropped again for NASCAR’s Chase For the Cup, but Talladega scored the sport’s top overnight rating in over six weeks. NASCAR Sprint Cup racing from Talladega, the sixth race in the Chase For the Cup, drew a 2.5 overnight rating on NBCSN Sunday afternoon – down 7% from last year and 2013, when coverage aired on ESPN (2.7 both years), and the 17th of 18 races on cable this year to have a decline in overnights. Despite the decline, the 2.5 overnight is the highest for any NASCAR race since Darlington on Labor Day weekend, which aired on the NBC broadcast network (3.4). The previous mark over that span was a 2.2 for Kansas the week before, which also aired on NBC. The 2.5 is also tied as the second-highest overnight for NASCAR on cable this season, matching Pocono in August and Martinsville on Fox Sports 1 in March. The only race to have a higher overnight on cable was the Brickyard 400, which drew a 2.9 on NBCSN in July. Head-to-head, NASCAR on NBCSN more-than-tripled competing coverage of the Formula 1 U.S. Grand Prix on NBC (0.7).(ShowBuzz Daily / Sports Media Watch) See past race TV Ratings, five-year comparison chart and more on the 2015 TV Ratings page.(10-27-2015)
UPDATE: NASCAR hit another set of historical lows for Sunday’s race at Talladega, but the numbers were more than good enough for NBCSN. NASCAR Sprint Cup racing from Talladega, the sixth race in the Chase For the Cup, drew a 2.6 final rating and 4.2 million viewers on NBCSN Sunday afternoon – down 13% in ratings and 11% in viewership from last year (3.0, 4.8M) and down 16% and 14%, respectively, from 2013 (3.1, 4.9M), both of which aired on ESPN. Joey Logano’s third straight win ranks as the lowest rated fall Talladega race since at least 2000 and the least-watched since at least 2001, each falling below the marks set last year. All 18 NASCAR races on cable this season have either hit a record-low in ratings and viewership or the lowest marks in at least ten years. Though low historically, Sunday’s race performed well for NBCSN. It tied the third-highest rating ever on the network (previously VERSUS and OLN), trailing only the 2014 Canada/USA Olympic hockey semifinal (2.7) and this year’s Brickyard 400 (3.0). It also scored the fourth-largest audience in network history, trailing NASCAR from the Brickyard (4.7M), Michigan (4.3M) and Pocono (4.3M). The race also ranks as the highest rated and most-watched of this year’s Chase For the Cup, topping the previous highs of 2.5 and 4.0 million for Kansas on the NBC broadcast network, and the top race overall since Darlington on NBC Labor Day weekend (3.7, 5.9M).(Sports Media Watch)(10-29-2015)
