Versus remains a noose around IndyCar’s neck

UPDATE #3 Just when you thought it could not get any worse, it did. Versus posted a 0.2 final U.S. rating for last Sunday's Izod IndyCar Series Honda Indy Grand Prix of Alabama. The 0.3 previous published was a Cable TV rating. When the final numbers came in counting all households that have a TV, the final was a horrible 0.2. And the Versus noose around IndyCar's neck tightens……. In our opinion IndyCar needs to do a deal to put all races on network NBC TV starting in 2013 with Versus doing qualifying and other ancillary stuff. With a result of 0.2 that is all they are good for. While the league may have to pay money to NBC to begin, the investment will bring more sponsorship money into the paddock and the payback will be five-fold. You can't grow IndyCar on the back of 0.2 ratings.

04/13/11
The Honda Grand Prix of Alabama drew a TV rating of 0.3 on Versus, a drop of 25% from last year's 0.4 rating on Versus. One ratings point represents 1 percent of the potential viewers, or approximately 1.1 million people.

IndyCar CEO Randy Bernard said prior to the race at Barber Motorsports Park that he hoped the rating would be 0.6, a 30 percent increase from the 2010.

04/10/11 A reader writes, Dear AR1.com, If you think IndyCar has a bad TV deal the ALMS has a deal that will probably kill the series. When I was at Sebring I heard everyone complaining and was wondering why. I found out the next day when my friends on the west coast were supposed to see the one and half hour condensed version on ABC and got to watch tennis. Whoever agreed to this package is nuts. Doug Ferguson

04/10/11 Although Versus is supposed to be the TV partner with IndyCar, and their stated goal is to grow TV ratings, the Versus IndyCar website has a video talking about the next race – St. Pete.