NASCAR’s Truck Series hit a five-year viewership high last weekend. In other news, the NHRA could not match last year’s strong performance, and TNT’s penultimate NBA doubleheader declined from last year.
NASCAR Truck Series Hits High on FOX
- NASCAR Truck Series racing from Martinsville (Va.) had a 1.1 final rating and 1.6 million viewers on the FOX broadcast network last Saturday, up 38% in ratings and 35% in viewership from last year (0.8, 1.2M) and up 57% and 45% respectively from 2015 (0.7, 1.1M), both of which aired on Fox Sports 1. It was the most-watched Truck Series telecast on any network since the 2012 Daytona race on Speed Channel (2.0M), with the caveat that very few air on broadcast TV.
NHRA Drops From Last Year’s High
- Airing directly after the NASCAR Cup Series race from Martinsville, last Sunday’s NHRA eliminations from Las Vegas scored a 0.6 final rating and 1.0 million viewers on FS1 — down 25% in ratings and 21% in viewership from last year (0.8, 1.3M) but up 50% and 74% respectively from coverage on ESPN2 in 2015 (0.4, 589K). Keep in mind last year’s race was, at the time, the most-watched NHRA telecast since 2002.
Fewer Viewers For TNT NBA Doubleheader
- Celtics-Hawks scored 1.3 million viewers on the NBA on TNT Thursday night, down 17% from last year (1.6M) and down 23% from 2015 (1.7M), both of which were Bulls-Heat games. Ratings fell 21% year-over-year (from 1.07 to 0.85). The T’Wolves-Blazers nightcap had 1.0 million, down 70% from Spurs-Warriors last year, Golden State’s 70th win of the season (3.4M), and down 44% from Blazers-Warriors in 2015 (1.9M).
(Numbers via Fox Sports 4.4, ShowBuzz Daily 4.4, 4.7, Programming Insider 4.7)
