A lackluster run in the ratings for NASCAR on TNT concluded with record lows for the Lifelock.com 400.
TNT drew a 2.8 U.S. rating and 4.608 million viewers for the Lifelock.com 400 on Saturday night, down 7% in ratings and 4% in viewership from last year (3.0, 4.814 mil), down 13% and 10%, respectively, from 2008 (3.2, 5.129 mil), and down 30% and 28%, respectively, from 2007 (4.0, 6.365 mil).
This marks the lowest rated, least-viewed edition of the Lifelock.com 400 in the nine-year history of the race.
As recently as 2005, the race drew a 5.7 rating and 8.958 million viewers. Ratings and viewership have declined each successive year.
Three of the six TNT races this season drew less than a 3.0 rating. To put that in perspective, only once in the previous three seasons did any regularly scheduled NASCAR race — regardless of network — dip below 3.0.
Four of the six TNT races drew less than five million viewers. By comparison, only two races dipped below five million all of last season (again, regardless of network).
Five of the six races had declines in ratings and viewership, and all of the races were down from 2008. Overall, twelve of the seventeen regularly scheduled NASCAR races on FOX and TNT this season have had declines in ratings compared to last year, and every single race is down compared to 2008.
Some races drew their lowest numbers in several years. The Michigan race was the lowest rated since at least ’96, the Infineon and New Hampshire races were the lowest rated since at least ’98, the Pocono race was the second-lowest rated since at least ’00, and even the Daytona race — the only race on TNT to have an increase from last year — was the second-lowest rated since ’98.
Despite the lower numbers, Saturday’s race finished as the 10th-most viewed program of the week on cable.
Ratings For NASCAR on TNT Since 2008
(Media Life Magazine, TV By The Numbers)
