The Monster Energy NASCAR Cup Series is seeing a 23% TV viewership drop heading into the All-Star Race this weekend. For race telecasts across Fox and FS1, the Cup Series is averaging 4.23 million viewers (excluding rainouts at Martinsville and Bristol), down from 5.59 million viewers at the same point last season (excludes last season’s spring Bristol race due to rainout). The decline comes after the series saw a 9% decline last year for the complete season across Fox, FS1, NBC and NBCSN. While viewership on TV continues to slide, data from NASCAR shows that race day social media engagements are up 38% year-over-year, while video views on NASCAR’s digital platform were up 58% in Q1. NASCAR Fantasy Live also has seen a 135% increase in players this season to date.
ROAD SIGNS: ABC aired the fifth IndyCar Grand Prix on Saturday afternoon, drawing 780,000 viewers. That figure is the lowest yet for the road race at Indianapolis Motor Speedway, and down 37% from 1.24 million viewers for the first iteration in ’14.
|
INDYCAR GRAND PRIX VIEWERSHIP TREND ON ABC
|
|
YEAR
|
VIEWERS (000)
|
|
'18
|
780
|
|
'17
|
969
|
|
'16
|
905
|
|
'15
|
1,000
|
|
'14
|
1,244
|
PLAY ON PLAYERS: After strong numbers from The Players Championship, NBC this season is now having its best weekend PGA Tour viewership in 16 years (3.53 million average viewers for weekends to date). Sunday’s coverage of The Players, which saw Webb Simpson win by four strokes, averaged 5.81 million viewers for TV+digital, marking the tourney’s best final round since ’13, when Tiger Woods won (7.66 million viewers). Woods made a run up the leaderboard to 2nd place at one point Sunday before faltering late and finishing tied for 11th. Last year, Si Woo Kim’s win by three strokes delivered 3.7 million viewers. Next season, The Players moves back to March.
The chart below lists viewership figures from select recent sports telecasts.
| TELECAST |
DATE
|
NET
|
TIME (ET)
|
RAT.
|
VIEWERS
(000)
|
NBA Eastern Conference Finals:
Cavaliers-Celtics: Game 1 |
5/13
|
ABC
|
3:31-6:00pm
|
4.3
|
7,216
|
NBA Eastern Conference Semifinals:
Celtics-76ers: Game 5 |
5/9
|
TNT
|
8:13-11:01pm
|
3.7
|
6,018
|
NBA Eastern Conference Semifinals:
Cavaliers-Raptors: Game 4 |
5/7
|
TNT
|
8:37-11:15pm
|
3.6
|
5,944
|
| PGA Tour: Players Championship: Final Round |
5/13
|
NBC
|
2:00-7:00pm
|
3.6
|
5,766
|
NBA Western Conference Semifinals:
Warriors-Pelicans: Game 5 |
5/8
|
TNT
|
10:34pm-12:57am
|
3.2
|
4,989
|
NBA Western Conference Semifinals:
Rockets-Jazz: Game 5 |
5/8
|
TNT
|
8:00-10:34pm
|
2.6
|
4,113
|
| PGA Tour: Players Championship: Third Round |
5/12
|
NBC
|
2:00-7:00pm
|
2.3
|
3,363
|
| "Inside the NBA Playoffs" |
5/9
|
TNT
|
11:01-11:53pm
|
1.8
|
2,672
|
| "Inside the NBA Playoffs" |
5/7
|
TNT
|
11:15pm-12:05am
|
1.7
|
2,601
|
NHL Western Conference Finals:
Golden Knights-Jets: Game 1 |
5/12
|
NBC
|
7:06-10:02pm
|
1.4
|
2,344
|
NHL Eastern Conference Semifinals:
Capitals-Penguins: Game 6 |
5/7
|
NBCSN
|
6:58-10:03pm
|
n/a
|
2,240
|
Liga MX: Clausura semifinal:
Santos Laguna-Club America: Leg 2 |
5/13
|
Univision
|
7:55-10:00pm
|
1.0
|
2,167
|
Monster Energy NASCAR Cup Series:
KC Masterpiece 400 (Kansas) |
5/12
|
FS1
|
7:54-11:33pm
|
1.2
|
2,038
|
NHL Eastern Conference Finals:
Capitals-Lightning: Game 2 |
5/13
|
NBCSN
|
8:02-10:59pm
|
1.1
|
1,925
|
| "NBA Countdown" |
5/13
|
ABC
|
3:00-3:31pm
|
1.2
|
1,866
|
NHL Western Conference Semifinals:
Jets-Predators: Game 7 |
5/10
|
NBCSN
|
7:58-10:50pm
|
n/a
|
1,556
|
Liga MX: Clausura semifinal:
Santos Laguna-Club America: Leg 1 |
5/10
|
Univision
|
8:02-10:30pm
|
0.8
|
1,473
|
Verizon IndyCar Series:
IndyCar Grand Prix (IMS) |
5/12
|
ABC
|
3:30-6:00pm
|
0.6
|
780
|
| EPL: Liverpool-Brighton & Hove Albion |
5/13
|
NBC
|
10:00am-12:00pm
|
0.5
|
768
|
| World Surf League: Founders' Cup (taped) |
5/13
|
CBS
|
5:00-6:00pm
|
0.4
|
517
|
| "World of X Games: Best of Minneapolis" |
5/12
|
ABC
|
2:30-3:30pm
|
0.4
|
462
|
| Bundesliga: Hoffenheim-Dortmund |
5/12
|
Fox
|
9:30-11:30am
|
0.3
|
329
|
