NASCAR Texas TV rating

UPDATE ABC’s coverage of the Dickies 500 NASCAR Sprint Cup Series race at Texas Motor Speedway earned a final national rating of 3.7, the same as last year’s race, the network reported Thursday. Through eight races in the Chase for the Sprint Cup, ABC’s ratings are basically even with last year, averaging a 3.7. Ratings for the males ages 35-54 demographic have seen an increase of 4 percent, according to the network. Coverage of the Nationwide Series O'Reilly Challenge earned a 1.2 household coverage rating, down 7.7 percent from the 1.3 for last year’s race. Both races aired on ESPN2.

11/03/08 The NASCAR Sprint Cup Dickies 500 on ABC Sunday earned a 3.3 overnight TV rating, down 8.3% from last years overnight of 3.6 (also on ABC) and down 17.5% from the overnight in 2006 on NBC. NBC consistently had higher ratings than ABC now has. NBC refused to re-bid the money losing deal so we can only imagine how much ABC is losing given their ratings are dropping – hence lower TV ad revenue.

In the same time slot Sunday the Cowboys vs. Giants NFL game garnered a 16.8/31 share overnight rating making NASCAR's 3.3 look rather anemic, sending more sponsors for the exit given the high asking price for sponsorship in NASCAR.