Versus killing off the IRL
08/04/09 Back to the go-to channel idea – how long has Speed TV been in business? It still is not a go-to channel and never will be. Nielsen Household Ratings for the NASCAR Camping World Truck Series stand-alone race from Nashville were up 59 percent year-to-year, as three-time series champion Ron Hornaday Jr. captured his record-setting fifth consecutive victory of the season Saturday on SPEED. Even if it is up 59% the ratings are still a pathetic 0.59 (434,000 households) and peaking at 0.83 (614,000 households), the race broadcast topped last year’s average rating of 0.37 (268,000 households) and peak of 0.51 (368,000 households). It is rare they get a rating of 1.0 for anything, and usually they are around 0.5 or less. So where does that leave the IRL on Versus? Does that give one confidence that the ratings will ever be respectable again. At least the ABC races were getting 1.0 ratings +/- (and a 1.0 network rating is better than a 1.0 cable rating because network TV reaches more households) so there needs to be more races on ABC and less on Versus going forward.
08/03/09 As predicted the day the deal was signed, IndyCar racing would become invisible and fade into oblivion on Versus. Not that Versus isn't trying hard, they are, but we don't care how hard they try, it is not going to work and the IRL signed a 10-year death sentence with them.
It was said that the Indy Racing League promos aired during the Tour de France would help the open-wheel racing series’ TV ratings. Think again. On the heels of the most watched Tour in four years, the Nielsen ratings for the IRL race July 26 in Edmonton were dismal….again.
Versus pumped its IRL coverage early and often during its hours-long daily Tour de France coverage in the month of July, sometimes once every 15 minutes or so.
And even with all that, national ratings for the Edmonton race were 0.24. That means 279,000 TV households tuned in across the USA. In the Indianapolis market, the race earned a 0.73 Nielsen rating, meaning 8,000 TV households watched.
The Edmonton ratings were slightly higher than the previous race aired on Versus. The Richmond race June 27 earned an even worse 0.22 national rating and 0.67 in the Indianapolis market.
The IRL has its next six races air on Versus, but it won't matter because Versus is not a go-to channel for TV viewers like a network channel is or well established ESPN are. With hundreds of TV channels now available at each and every TV viewers fingertips it is impossible for any new channel to ever become a go-to channel, the numbers are just spread too thin now.
Versus will continue to do a fantastic job and the hard core fans will like it, but as for high TV ratings and the sponsorship that would bring into the IndyCar series – isn't going to happen.