No Olympics and no rain, but NASCAR ratings sank all the same.
Sunday’s NASCAR Cup Series from Las Vegas earned a 2.9 rating and 4.7 million viewers on FOX, down 19% in ratings and 21% in viewership from last year (3.6, 6.0M) and down 34% and 35% respectively from 2016 (4.4, 7.2M).
Kevin Harvick‘s win ranks as the lowest rated Las Vegas race ever (dates back to 1998), falling below the previous low set last year. It was the least-watched at the track since at least 2001. Ratings and viewership have declined in three straight years.
A decade ago, the Las Vegas race had a 7.1 rating and 12.1 million viewers — part of a stretch from 2005-09 in which it topped a 6.0 and 10 million each year. As recently as 2012, it had a 5.2 and 8.5 million.
The numbers were not just low by Las Vegas standards. The 2.9 rating is tied as the fourth-lowest ever for any Cup Series race on FOX.
All three Cup Series races this season have declined double-digits. Two of the three — Daytona and now Vegas — have posted record-low ratings. Notably, while Daytona aired opposite the Olympic Games and Atlanta was delayed by rain, Las Vegas faced no such obstacles.
Despite the lower numbers, Sunday’s race was the highest rated and most-watched sporting event of the weekend. It beat the #2 event, the PGA-WGC Mexico Championship, head-to-head (2.55, 3.9M). In adults 18-49, NASCAR’s 0.9 rating ranked third for the weekend behind the previous night’s North Carolina-Duke (1.1) and Celtics-Rockets (1.0) basketball games.
NASCAR Viewership, First Three Races of Season
[Wknd. numbers via ShowBuzz Daily 3.6]
