NASCAR ratings took a hit on the fullest sports weekend since March.
NASCAR Cup Series racing from New Hampshire averaged a 1.4 rating and 2.21 million viewers on NBCSN Sunday, marking the lowest rated edition of the race since at least 1998 and the least-watched since at least 2000.
Brad Keselowski’s win declined 18% in ratings and 21% in viewership from last year (1.7, 2.79M) and a tick and 11% respectively from 2018 (1.5, 2.50M). As recently as five years ago, the race had a comparable strong 2.4 and 3.67 million.
Keep in mind the race had to contend with unusually high levels of competition for mid-summer, including NBA and NHL games. While NASCAR topped Blazers-Celtics on ABC (1.1, 1.66M) and Flyers-Bruins on NBC (0.8, 1.42M) head-to-head, those games still represented far tougher competition than last year, when ABC and NBC aired no competing live sporting events.
AND: NBCSN earned 2.2 million viewers for Sunday’s Cup race at New Hampshire Motor Speedway.
The number is down from last year’s race.
.@NBCSN earned 2.2 million viewers for Sunday's #Foxwoods301 @NHMS, down from 2.8 million for last year's race.
➖ Sunday's race, the fourth most-watched sports event of the weekend, did face stronger-than-usual competition by going up against live NBA, NHL and PGA Tour action. pic.twitter.com/MqeuLx9HiI
— Adam Stern (@A_S12) August 4, 2020