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After dip, NASCAR's
again in high gear
Ratings resume their climb under new rules
By Sean Leahy
The puzzle about NASCAR, as it
reached beyond its traditional Southern habitat, was always just
when its growth would slow. Last season it seemed it had, with TV
ratings flat or down in several key demographics and flat ratings in
2003.
Consider it a temporary blip.
With the new racing season now well under way, ratings are back
on their climb.
Just why isn’t
entirely clear, but it appears part of it is the delayed effect of
new championship rules introduced last year. At first many fans were
unhappy with the new playoff-like format, but this season they seem
to have embraced it.
Another reason for the bump may be the bad fortunes of love
‘em or hate ‘em driver Dale Earnhardt Jr., who’s struggling
this year. That opens up the field for other drivers and gives fans
someone to root against.
All this excitement over NASCAR has given a big boost to
advertising. Rates are up and many races are sold out, with an
increase in new and more mainstream advertisers. Coors,
Office Depot, FedEx, State Farm, and Paramount Pictures are among
the new advertisers on Fox this season.
“Advertisers are looking because, in this fragmented
society, when you get an audience the size NASCAR delivers, that
doesn’t happen all that much anymore,” says Robert Thompson, the
director of Center for the Study of Popular Television at Syracuse
University.
Fox Sports vice president for communications Lou D’Ermilio
says the network is coming close to selling out all ad spots for its
broadcasts and that prices have gone up in the mid to high single
digits. Last year, Fox
charged $124,435 for a 30-second spot, according to John Mansell of
Kagan Research.
NASCAR itself has gained new corporate
sponsors, including UPS, Gulfstream, Allstate, Gillette and Domino’s
Pizza.
“It’s ahead of its time on how they have put product
placement in the forefront,” says Brad Adgate, senior vice
president and director of research at Horizon Media.
A big factor is the drivers themselves.
“These drivers come across as real people,” he
says.
“They come across as genuine. They do a lot of promos, they don’t come across as elite,
uppity athletes. They
come across as your next-door neighbor, not someone who’s your
typical high-salaried athlete. That’s
why they get the endorsements.”
Season-to-date Fox has averaged a 6.1 household rating for its coverage
of NASCAR’s Nextel Cup Series, up 5 percent from
2004.
The network has
set or tied ratings records for six of its 12 races, including a 10.9 rating for the Daytona 500. Cable household ratings for Nextel Cup races on FX are up 18 percent.
Fox is projecting that, with its final two races
factored in, NASCAR will average a record 5.9 rating before racing
moves to NBC on July 2 for the second half of the season.
Last year
averaged a 4.9 in households for the full season but was down among men 18-34 and
flat among men 18-49, according to Magna Global USA analysis of
Nielsen data. Household ratings were flat in 2003 compared with
2002.
The biggest
gains, in terms of markets, have been outside the South, reflecting
the continuing nationalization of the sport. Ratings
have gone up in eight of the nation’s top 10 TV markets for the
Fox telecasts, including Chicago
(up 9 percent), Boston (up 15 percent), and San
Francisco (up 15 percent), according to Nielsen Media
Research.
These new racing fans make the sport increasingly attractive to advertisers. The median household income of NASCAR fans is $50,000, which
is higher than the NBA, NHL and Major League Baseball, according to
Nielsen data provided by Fox Sports.
And Thompson believes that NASCAR still has a lot of room to grow.
“Eventually it’s got to reach a saturation point,” he
says. “But all
indications are it’s still on an upward swing and not yet found
its ceiling.”
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June 22, 2005
©
2005
Media Life
-Sean Leahy is a
Baltimore writer.
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