NASCAR Busch Ratings up…but really down
03/14/07 [Editor's Note: Let's be clear, last year the Las Vegas Busch race was on cable TV and this year on Network TV, so of course the rating would be up. The ESPN2 broadcasts have seen TV ratings plummet from last year (on a competing cable channel to ESPN2) so this press release is very misleading.]
After four races of ESPN's new NASCAR agreement, the Busch Series is averaging 2,234,000 households, including a big jump from last year's audience for Saturday's race from Las Vegas, the first of six in 2007 to be aired on ABC. The broadcast earned a 2.4 rating and averaged 2,699,000 households, an increase of 58% compared to the same race in 2006 (1,713,000 homes). Also, ESPN2's three races are the network's top three ratings of 2007. The telecast of the season-opening event from Daytona International Speedway was ESPN2's most-viewed auto racing telecast ever with 2,200,600 household impressions (2.4 rating). It was the seventh-most-viewed telecast overall in ESPN2 history, with a larger audience than anything the network aired in 2006. ESPN's eight-year NASCAR agreement provides benefits far beyond the race telecasts and television alone. This past weekend, the motorsports section of ESPN.com enjoyed 79% more traffic than the same weekend a year ago (739,000 page views, up from 414,000). For the season to date, racing content has generated nearly double the number of page views per day than 2006 (up 98%, from 199,000 to 393,000). The NASCAR Busch Series will continue Saturday at Atlanta Motor Speedway on ABC with NASCAR Countdown at 2:30pm/et. ABC will also televise the March 24 event from Bristol Motor Speedway. ESPN PR