NASCAR Atlanta TV Ratings down

UPDATE As predicted, the final 'national' TV rating for last weekend's NASCAR Sprint Cup race at Atlanta, was a 3.4, not the 3.9 cable only version put out by the ESPN PR machine. Even though the two ratings are different (3.4 vs. 3.9) the number of viewers are the same. The difference is that the national overall rating includes all the TV households, not just the cable TV households. Similar the Nationwide race TV rating was a 1.2, not a 1.4 as previously reported by ESPN.

09/08/10 ESPN’s live telecast of the NASCAR Sprint Cup race at Atlanta Motor Speedway on Sunday night, Sept. 5, earned a final national household coverage rating of 3.9 (will probably go lower as this is a cable national rating), averaging 5,516,601 viewers, according to the Nielsen Company. Last year’s race, the first Labor Day weekend event at Atlanta, earned a 4.1 rating 5.9 million viewers. In other words they lost 400,000 viewers in one year. Ouch.

The NASCAR Nationwide Series continued its run of ratings success this season with Saturday night’s Atlanta race earning a final national household coverage rating of 1.4 on ESPN2, averaging 1,893,361 viewers. Last year’s race also earned a 1.4 rating. Six of the last 10 Nationwide Series races have seen ratings growth over the corresponding event last year, while the other four were even.