Weekend USA TV Ratings (2nd Update)

UPDATE The AAA Texas 500 at Texas Motor Speedway, broadcast this past Sunday on NBC, earned a 2.7 'final' rating and 4.551 million average viewers – down from last year on ESPN, where the race garnered a 2.8 rating with 4.749 million viewers. To have a network rating come in lower than a cable rating has to send shivers down the back of NASCAR and NBC execs.

11/10/15 A move from cable to Network TV gave NASCAR's Chase For the Cup a bump in the overnights. NASCAR Sprint Cup racing from Texas, the eighth race in the Chase For the Cup, earned a 2.6 overnight rating on NBC Sunday afternoon – up a tick from last year (2.5) and up 13% from 2013 (2.3), both on ESPN – a lowly cable channel.

The 2.6 is the highest for the fall Texas race since 2011 (2.8). The 2.6 is also the highest for any Chase For the Cup telecast this year, topping the previous high of 2.5 for Talladega on NBCSN, and the highest for any Sprint Cup race overall since Darlington on NBC over Labor Day weekend (3.4).

All four NASCAR races on NBC this season have had an increase in overnight ratings, with the caveat that the comparable races last year each aired on cable. With that said, the numbers are not spectacular for broadcast television. The last time the Texas race aired on broadcast, 2009, it had a 3.1 on ABC. The last time it aired on NBC, 2006, it had a 4.0 so things are not looking good for NASCAR on NBC. ShowBuzz Daily / Sports Media Watch

11/09/15