For the fifth straight week to start the season, NASCAR suffered declines in ratings and viewership.
NASCAR Sprint Cup racing from Fontana (CA) earned a 4.0 final rating and 6.8 million viewers on FOX last Sunday afternoon, down 7% in ratings and viewership from last year (4.3, 7.3M) and down 9% and 4%, respectively, from 2014 (4.4, 7.1M). Ratings and viewership rank as the lowest for NASCAR from Fontana in four years, since rain-shortened coverage in 2012 (3.8, 6.2M).
Ratings and viewership have now declined for every NASCAR Sprint Cup telecast this year, including exhibition events such as the Sprint Unlimited and Duel at Daytona. The past four races have set or tied a multi-year low in at least one measure.
On a more positive note, Sunday’s race was the third straight to decline by a single-digit percentage — an improvement over the opening races from Daytona and Atlanta, which both fell by double-digits.
The race also topped most of its competition, ranking as the top sporting event of the weekend outside of the NCAA Tournament. It ranked comfortably ahead of ABC’s Warriors/Spurs NBA game the previous night (3.1, 5.2M).
(Wknd. numbers via Sports Business Daily)
