Thread by @cindymeliyen

🧵 #NASCAR ratings recap 2021 - How did NASCAR perform this season in terms of viewership?

Before we start:
- I use viewership (2mil) instead of ratings (2.4) because ratings are difficult to understand
- This is an analysis, which means that I'm using data to support an opinion

2021 brought a bunch of new changes to the schedule, all of which have affected viewership in some way. To recap:
- Condensed speedweeks
- New tracks: COTA, Road America, Nashville, Indy Road
- More road courses
- Bristol Dirt
- Texas all star
- Limited practice/qualifying

Overall, how did NASCAR do in 2021?

- The year (purple) started off lower, but NASCAR started matching previous year's race numbers in the middle of the season
- NASCAR ended the season pretty on par with 2020

Based on all the regular season races, the average viewership this year is the lowest so far.

- The delayed Daytona 500 definitely hurt FOX's portion of the season
- However, FS1 saw its highest average viewership since 2017

If we remove weekday races and the Daytona 500, the numbers look a bit more favorable:
- FS1 had higher avg viewership this year than 2018 and 2019
- NBCSN had higher avg viewership than 2020

NASCAR had two weekday races this year - Bristol dirt (FOX) and Talladega (NBC->NBCSN).

Let's go bit by bit through the season.

Speedweeks started on a different note this year, with the Clash running on the road course and this and qualifying happening on weekdays.

The #Daytona500 was rain delayed many hours, leaving it with an avg 4.83mil viewers

Good to note, the start had 8.480mil viewers.

Meanwhile, the 2020 Daytona 500 had 10.943mil at the start. Monday's portion of that race had 7.026mil viewers.

The day after the scheduled start date is President's Day (holiday). A Monday start is better than 9pm.

2021 started off down compared to the last few years. Perhaps some of it can be attributed to the delayed Daytona 500, but we do know that fewer fans are tuning in every year for other reasons.

The next few races were a mixed bag, and NASCAR having some races on FOX when they were previously on FS1 and moving Saturday races to Sunday probably made viewership seem better than usual.

(Note that this graph is a bit unfair due to race numbers not lining up year over year)

Some callouts:
- Spring Dega got 4.7mil in 2021. 2019 had 4.521mil, 2018 had 4.746mil
- Mother's Day at Darlington, previously a Kansas Sat race, got 3.091mil
- Coke 600 got 4.06mil in 2021. 2019 had 4.258mil, 2018 had 4.09mil

Overall FOX's portion ended on par with prev years.

Next, we'll look at the first half of NBC's schedule.

- NBCSN started off strong with Nashville as their opener (2.59mil). This is comparable to Chicagoland being their opener, with 2.548mil in 2018 and 2.407mil in 2019 (rain delay)
- NBC faltered in mid-summer (thx Olympics)

There are 3 things I want to highlight on this portion of the schedule. First, July 4th.

- Road America had less viewers than prev Daytona races (2019 was rain delayed to Sun)
- It had less viewers than 2020, but covid had a role
- RA fell on July 4 and deserves another chance

Another controversial move was the move to the Indy road course from the oval.

- It's hard to compare year over year b/c different dates each year
- 2021 somewhat matched the cutoff race in 2019
- Road course fatigue + long red flag probably played a role in 2021 viewership

Small tangent: is road course fatigue a thing?
Out of the 7 courses this season, for viewership:
- 1 ranked in top 10 (Daytona, but 2nd race of the year)
- 3 ranked in 11-20 (all on NBC)
- Sonoma 22nd, COTA 27th, Glen 30th

I think it's worth thinking about cutting some out.

If you're wondering how I got those rankings, I made a dashboard that ranks it in order. Just switch to the "Trend" tab and change the parameter to track type. public.tableau.com/app/profile/ci…

Let's talk race 26.

- The cutoff race at Daytona almost got 4mil viewers.
- You'd get a few hundred thousand more if you put it on July 4th weekend, but I think Daytona as the cutoff race is here to stay
- It's a good idea. Keep it there.

Finally, let's talk about the playoffs.

NASCAR's 2021 playoffs started off strong. The first 4 races were constantly higher than 2020 and beat previous year's race to race comparisons (note that 2018/2019 started playoffs a few weeks later)

And then Talladega happened. (race 31)

After Talladega, viewership started falling compared to 2020. Having one of the highest viewed races moved to Monday hurt.

But interestingly, 2019 had the same problem and didn't have their decrease compared to 2018 until race 34!

So, what happened between races 32 and 35 this year? (And what happened in 2019 that made this difference?)

The tracks were pretty much the same. Was is the drivers in the playoff rounds? Were people tired of Larson winning?

Anyway, NASCAR was able to rebound for the championship race with 3.214mil viewers, more than 2020! Huzzah!

But it's less than Phoenix 2018 and less than Homestead 2018/19.

I know that Phoenix paid $$ to become the last race. But was it a good move for NASCAR? Maybe not...

There's a lot to look forward to next year:
- New car
- Some schedule changes
- The start of NASCAR on the USA Network (more households have USA)

I'm hopeful that NASCAR has reached the "bottom" this year and the only way to go is up. BUT more people cut the cord each year...

The future of NASCAR viewing:
One of the biggest areas that NASCAR is looking into is streaming. Peacock simulcasted 3 of the last 4 races, which is something that NASCAR might do more of next year.
(Not sure if this # is for Peacock or all streaming)
nbcsportsgrouppressbox.com/2021/11/10/nas…

NASCAR has a few years left on their TV contract, but discussions are starting now. They need the TV money, but also a better way to reach the younger generation.

Here are some ideas I have in order to achieve this:

Final thoughts on #NASCAR 2021 viewership:
- NASCAR had a lot of new ideas this year and I applaud them for trying new things
- Additionally, viewership is just one piece of the puzzle. Sports Media Watch says that share has actually increased

sportsmediawatch.com/2021/11/nascar…

Overall, in terms of viewership, I would give the #NASCAR effort for the 2021 season an OK.

- There is room for improvement
- But there were positives this season, specifically the spring FOX stretch where we were matching 2018/2019 and the first few playoff races

🏁

And I posted the wrong screenshot for this tweet. This is the correct screenshot.