For the first time all season, NASCAR ratings increased on cable.
The NASCAR Cup Series playoffs from Martinsville (Va.) earned a 1.7 rating and 2.8 million viewers on NBCSN, up a tick in ratings and 4% in viewership from last year (1.6, 2.7M) but down 15% and 17% respectively from 2015 (2.0, 3.4M).
It was the first NASCAR race on cable all season to post an increase in ratings or viewership (18 telecasts) and snapped a streak of seven straight double-digit declines on NBCSN.
Regardless of network, Kyle Busch‘s win was just the fourth Cup Series race to increase in ratings and the sixth to do so in viewership.
Two of the past three races have posted an increase, with Talladega two weeks ago up 32%. That race moved up the dial from NBCSN to NBC. Overall, the past three races have averaged 3.5 million viewers across NBC and NBCSN, up 9% from the same three races last year.
Adding in streaming viewership had no notable impact on the numbers, which remained at 2.8 million.
Despite the increase, Sunday’s race topped only last year as the lowest rated edition of the race since at least 1999 and the least-watched since at least 2001.
[Wknd. numbers from NBC Sports PR 10.31, ShowBuzz Daily 10.31]
