ABC’s final NASCAR race for the foreseeable future was the latest to have a decline in ratings and viewership.
NASCAR Sprint Cup racing from Charlotte, the fifth race in the Chase For the Cup, had a 3.1 final rating and 5.1 million viewers on ABC Saturday night — down 9% in ratings and 8% in viewership from last year (3.4, 5.6M) and down 3% and flat, respectively, compared to 2012 (3.2, 5.1M). The 3.1 rating is the lowest for the race since 2001, when coverage moved from NBC to TNT due to breaking news coverage (2.2).
Coverage of Saturday’s race was delayed by the conclusion of the TCU/Baylor college football game on ABC. The final quarter-hour of TCU/Baylor, which led directly into the race, earned a 5.0 rating.
Despite the lower numbers, Saturday’s race ranks as easily the highest rated and most-viewed of the Chase For the Cup. No other race has managed to crack even a 2.5 rating or 4.0 million viewers.
After airing every Chase For the Cup race from 2007-09, ABC aired just one per year from 2010-14 — all from Charlotte. Those five races rank among the ten highest rated Chase telecasts over that span (45 telecasts), with Saturday’s race tied for 9th.
Charlotte continued a season-long trend of declines for NASCAR. Of the 27 Sprint Cup races that can be compared to last year, 22 have had declines in ratings and 21 have had declines in viewership. Every race on broadcast this season (FOX, ABC), had declines in both measures.
(Charlotte numbers from ESPN)
