As NASCAR industry executives gathered last week in Las Vegas to put a bow on the season, the consensus was that 2015 may have been a turning point.
Reeling for years as it tried to recover from a financial recession that disproportionately ravaged arguably its biggest fan base, blue-collar workers, NASCAR saw an attendance uptick at a majority of its racetracks, according to COO Brent Dewar, as well as TV viewership that’s been praised by both of its media partners. The sport also avoided the sponsor exodus that doomsayers have been warning of for years.
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The season finale at Homestead was the most-viewed Chase race since 2006.
Photo by: GETTY IMAGES
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Of course, the search for a series title sponsor to replace the departing Sprint looks destined to stretch into a second year. Sprint will be in its final year in 2016.
But after a season finale on NBC that drew an average of 7.6 million viewers, the most-viewed Chase for the Sprint Cup race since 2006, industry leaders are bullish about the sport’s future.
“I think 2015 will be looked back on as a sort of turning-point year,” said Marcus Smith, CEO of Speedway Motorsports Inc., which is one of the two major track operators in the sport. “I think it’s the return of an upswing.”
NASCAR’s Sprint Cup TV viewership dropped from an average of 5.3 million viewers in 2014 to 5.1 million this year, according to NASCAR, continuing a downward trend that has gone on since the sport reached its heyday in recent years. However, the sport is seeing gains on digital and social media, and a significant number of NASCAR races that were shown on ESPN last year appeared on less widely distributed channels Fox Sports 1 and NBC Sports Network this year.
Executives from both networks said the slight declines were within their projections.
“It was a tremendous first year for the whole NBC Sports Group with the NASCAR partnership,” said Jon Miller, president of programming for NBC Sports, which returned to the sport this year after a nearly decade-long absence. “We were ecstatic with the results — the ratings, acceptance, quality of production — and are big believers in the sport. … The fact that we had weather plaguing our season and then NBCSN is in 10 million fewer homes — we’re only down single digits, which to us is a big, strong growth story.”
| SEASON |
NETWORKS |
NO. OF RACES |
NO. OF VIEWERS (000s) |
| 2015 |
NBC/NBCSN |
10 |
3,800 |
| 2014 |
ABC/ESPN |
10 |
4,477 |
| 2013 |
ABC/ESPN/ESPN2 |
10 |
4,225 |
| 2012 |
ABC/ESPN |
10 |
4,224 |
Note: Includes two rain-delayed races in 2015 and one in 2013
Source: Austin Karp, SportsBusiness Daily |
Executives from Fox Sports, which aired the first half of the Cup campaign plus the entire Camping World Truck Series schedule and the yearlong studio show “Race Hub,” agreed.
“I thought it was a great season for Fox,” said Pat Crakes, Fox senior vice president of programming, research and content strategy. “NASCAR is such an important property for us.”
Despite the drop on television, NASCAR’s digital platforms did see notable upticks in metrics this year — including a 2 percent jump in race-day unique visits, a 12 percent rise during the Chase and a 52 percent gain in social media impressions across Facebook and Twitter, according to NASCAR.
“We were very pleased with how the year went, both on and off the track,” said Steve Phelps, NASCAR’s executive vice president and chief marketing officer. “Thrilled with our television partners, thrilled with how we’re doing on the digital side and social side — all those metrics are up.”
Executives in the sport largely saw things the same way.
“I hesitate to put it as a banner year, but I think all things considered, from a TV performance standpoint they did a lot better than I thought they were going to do this year with the [network] switch,” said Mark Coughlin, CEO of motorsports marketing agency Motorculture and a former executive vice president of Octagon. “They were unfortunately hampered by rain on more than a few of their network broadcasts, but the recovery was great.”
Other highlights of the year included Darlington’s throwback weekend, Fanatics’ debut of its trackside merchandise tent and seeing Toyota and Mars win their first championships in the sport via Kyle Busch. There also is the prospect of big change on the horizon, with a possible charter system that would allow owners to accrue long-term value for the first time.
Still, despite the positive momentum, not everything went perfectly this year. A few longtime sponsors, including GoDaddy and Aaron’s, announced that they won’t sponsor a team in 2016, and the series couldn’t find a new Cup title sponsorship partner quickly enough to let Sprint avoid a lame-duck year.
But there were enough positives to give industry leaders something to build on.
“I’m excited about the future for the sport overall,” Smith said, “and also by the significant things that are going to happen.”
