May The Good News Be Yours
By All Accounts, The 2019 NASCAR Season Has Been A Good One
Although Les Nessman from the TV show WKRP would sign off each of his newscasts with this article’s title, the content of his news wasn’t always as positive (or correct for that matter.)
Much like news about NASCAR over the last few years that hasn’t been so optimistic. There’s been plenty of press on the attendance, sponsorship, and television ratings concerns surrounding the sport.
However, 2019 has been full of good news regarding ratings, ticket sales, and fan engagement for NASCAR. So, when you’re faced with a client that tells you “NASCAR just isn’t what it once was” or “NASCAR is dying” or any other number of negative takes on the sport, you can use the following good news items to defeat those objections and get to the real root of their hesitation to buy.
TV Viewership
Ratings for the first half of the 2019 schedule, covered by Fox Sports, was up 3%. The second half of the season covered by NBC Sports was up 4%. Overall, coverage for the season will end up 4% as well.
The same can’t be said for live sports on TV. In general, ratings for television coverage of live sports is down in 2019 by about 10%.
Here’s a snapshot across the live sports spectrum:
• NASCAR Up 4%
• NBA Down 7%
• NHL Up 2%
• MLB Down 3%
• PGA Down 16%
My intention is not to highlight other sports in a negative light, but to put NASCAR in the proper perspective. If you look at NASCAR vs. the live sports world, NASCAR is outpacing the other sports by 14%. That’s great news no matter how you slice it. NASCAR is still the second most watched sport on TV after the NFL (who's season numbers aren't available yet), as it has been for years.
In 2019, 17 of the 35 events broadcast (with data for the final races remaining to be tabulated) have had increased or flat viewership vs. 2018 and double digit percentage growth in viewership for five events (Texas spring, Charlotte spring, New Hampshire, Michigan fall, and Kansas fall.)
Attendance
There have been 7 sell outs in the past thirteen months. More than 75% of the races this year have been at 85% capacity or greater. Darlington & Watkins Glen saw an 27% increase in new fans attending this year helping contribute to their sell outs in 2019. Watkins Glen and the Daytona 500 have sold out for the past 5 consecutive years. ISM Raceway’s fall race has sold out the past two years. The Kansas spring race was up 18% in new fan attendance and there were an estimated 100,000 fans at the Bristol night race this fall. 100,000 is far from capacity at a track that has 160,000 seats, but I’m told they sold the more tickets to that event this year than they have since 2008.
Fan Engagement
MRN.com has eclipsed its 2018 total views by a 2.5 million. The MRN social media channels continue to grow as well, with our biggest growth on Twitter, YouTube, & Instagram.
MRN Social Media Trends
• Facebook – 164,462 followers (mostly flat)
• Twitter – 126,200+ followers (up 5,464)
• Instagram – 9,391 followers (up 1,720)
• YouTube – 3,050+ subscribers (up 542)
• Podcasts – 1,854,823 listens/downloads YTD
The Instagram and YouTube numbers are reflections of what we are known for, audio, so people have been slow to follow us on these mainly visual platforms. But there has been some real growth this year there.
Encouraging, and trending in the right direction.
This is positive news to share with your NASCAR sponsors to help reaffirm they are spending their money wisely by reaching the most loyal, sponsor-friendly fans in all sports.
Happy selling!
Bob Quick - Manager, Radio Partnerships - Sales
|
