Broadcast of the IndyCar race at Sonoma on Aug 28 on VERSUS drew a 0.3 TV rating with 431,000 viewers, according to information tweeted by John Ourand (@Ourand_SBJ) for the Sports Business Journal.
The IndyCar race at Hampshire on August 14 got a 0.9 rating on ABC with an average of 1,277,000 viewers.
VERSUS coverage of the race at Mid-Ohio Sports Car Course on Aug. 7 got a 0.2 rating with 309,000 viewers.
Thanks pressdog, dutifully posted in the TF racing biz section for the inevitable 7 page thread about ratings and why they suck
Posted by: Tim in Independence | August 30, 2011 at 01:06 PM
Ouch, but in a way if there was one race no one needed to see, it was this one.
It would be interesting to find out what the viewership range across the show - that's where the really intriguing stuff lies.
Posted by: Leigh O'Gorman | August 30, 2011 at 01:17 PM
I started to watch the prerace, but after Robin Miller came on I stopped and deleted the recording and found something entertaining to watch.
Posted by: Marc | August 30, 2011 at 01:28 PM
I think that the best possible outcome for that "race" was for nobody to be watching it. You figure that many seasoned Indycar fans opted out because they knew that it was going to be a festival of no passing. Their fandom was not damaged by sitting through the race. You certainly didn't want to have the sought after new or casual fan stumble onto that dreck - you don't want that to be their impression of the Indycar series. So you ended up with 400K worth of optimistic existing Indycar fans that chose to watch the race over reality show reruns or Little League baseball.
Posted by: Savage Henry | August 30, 2011 at 03:51 PM
2009 Sonoma- 362,000 viewers
2010 Sonoma- 386,000 viewers
This year's race drew 431,000 viewers, a 12% increase over 2010 and a 19% increase over 2009.
Considering Sonoma is the worst race on the schedule year in/year out, I'd say that's a good number.
Posted by: Damon | August 30, 2011 at 04:33 PM
Damon, that sucks.
Sucked in 2009, sucked in 2010 and sucks in 2011.
You continue to get .3's and there won't be a sport left to watch.
And for those that actually did watch that turd of a race...I hope they fell asleep and missed most of it. That product is not one that screams out "must see TV" for the future.
Posted by: Jack The Root | August 30, 2011 at 05:55 PM
I watched every minute of the IndyCar race because I'm an IndyCar fan who finds racing much more appealing than slow, boring stick-and-ball sports. I saw a few minutes of golf on NBC, and I couldn't figure what attracts viewers to THAT. SO much inactivity in golf and Little League and on and on, unlike a race in which drivers are continuously racing until the Chinese rookie drove off-course.
I'm not a short-attention=span member of the Nintendo generation who needs to see fenders banging every lap and hopes to see a spectacular crashes.
If Team Penske isn't cheating, blame the other teams for their lack of competitiveness rather than blaming the race track.
I do not know why the third-tier teams are at each race, rolling around a lap behind, with no hope of ever winning a race. That mystifies me.
Posted by: Brian McKay | August 30, 2011 at 11:50 PM
You're right Root, a double digit increase in viewership for ANY race sucks.
Posted by: Damon | August 31, 2011 at 07:24 AM
This is so funny. I thought we weren't going to hear from you for three days and everytime I refresh, there's a new fun post!
Posted by: keylogger for Mac | April 04, 2012 at 10:32 PM
So you ended up with 400K worth of optimistic existing Indycar fans that chose to watch the race over reality show reruns or Little League baseball.
Posted by: web filter | April 05, 2012 at 10:44 PM