Maybe the headline should have read, “Jersey Shore” out draws NASCAR on TV, because it did, by hundreds of thousands of people. Last weekend’s NASCAR event at New Hampshire Motor Speedway was the lowest rated “Chase for the Cup” kick-off event ever, dropping more than one million viewers from the 2009 race.
More than 5-million people tuned in to the race in 2009, but last weekend only 3.677 million people flipped the race onto their television sets to check the action in New Hampshire. We’re thinking that the networks who air the races, the same networks that paid four billion dollars for the honor are starting to wonder what they bought into.
The “Chase” was derived to prevent this type of thing from happening. It was designed to create a playoff system essentially that kept the racing and points totals close through the end of the year. The NHRA’s “Countdown to One” functions in much the same way and has had much the same effect on television ratings. The drag racing system came about after the most thrilling season finish in the modern history of the sport. That sure was a clear sign the system was broken…not!
The action is on the Monster Mile at Dover, Delaware this weekend. We’re interested to see if this trend continues or reverses itself at that race (where Danica will be).
Source — BleacherReport.com — NASCAR Suffers Big TV Ratings Drop to Start Chase
