IRL TV ratings gaining speed

#1

July 17, 2009

Indy Racing League TV ratings aren’t exactly burning rubber, but they
are accelerating.

Sunday’s race at Toronto, which started at 1 p.m., earned a 1.0
rating, which equates to 1.1 million television households nationwide,
according to Nielsen Media Research. That’s higher than the .87
national rating the race at Watkins Glen earned a week earlier. Start
times were the same and both aired on ABC.

The Toronto race also beat the national ratings for the IRL’s races in
Milwaukee (.6) on May 31 and Iowa (.8) on June 21 (which both aired on
ABC), making the Honda Indy Toronto the most watched race of the year,
not including the Indianapolis 500.

The national rating for the Honda Indy Toronto was double what
Sunday’s Formula One race earned, starting at 3 p.m. on Fox. According
to Nielsen, the German GP earned a .5 rating, with 628,000 TV
households tuning in.

In Indianapolis, the IRL’s Toronto race earned a 3.3 rating, with
37,000 TV households watching. That was higher than the 2.74 (31,000
TV households) the Watkins Glen race tallied locally. Sunday’s F1 race
scored a 1.6 rating (18,000 TV households) in the Indianapolis market.

Honda Indy Toronto was the IRL’s last of five races on ABC. The
remaining seven races will be broadcast on cable channel Versus,
starting with the Edmonton race July 26. The green flag drops at 5
p.m.

Versus has been promoting the race heavily during its Tour de France
coverage this month. With Lance Armstrong’s return to the Tour and
ratings for that event on the rise, it could mean an increase to the
meager cable ratings the IRL has earned so far this season.

http://thescore.ibj.com/content/?p=1082#comments

#2

scottscottscott wrote

Quote:

Versus has been promoting the race heavily during its Tour de France
coverage this month. With Lance Armstrong?s return to the Tour and
ratings for that event on the rise, it could mean an increase to the
meager cable ratings the IRL has earned so far this season.

Versus NHL coverage apparently sucks, I watch CBC's Hockey Night in Canada.
The longest running sports program on television in the world.

Racing belongs, at least, on a channel that shows racing. But the racing
channel we see is Speed, and it shows shit like "Pinks". And a lot, way too
much, NASCAR stuff. You should go on to the website of the European version
of Speed. That's what I want. They actually show a lot of races, not
"fill". Stupid, dumb "reality TV" crap.

Bottom line, Versus in the USA is junk. And so is Speed TV.

They both suck wind.

And, so you know. I live in Canada, and before we had Speed, we would see
some great racing on "The Nashville Network", like SCCA Trans Am and things.

Speed, when it started, was OK. But Fox bought it and suddenly "Bingo". It
was all NASCAR. I used to watch Wind Tunnel, but I can't stand it any more,
I can't even watch "Speed's" Sunday racing show.

It's all about NASCAR. And NASCAR is fine, if you like it.

But, I like several variants of racing, and NASCAR isn't one of them.

#3

Quote:

But the stuff like "Pinks" really bothers me, on two
levels. *One is that it wastes air time that could have been used for
something decent. *The other is that there are people who actually
watch and enjoy that crap. *And they're running around loose,
unsupervised.

I enjoyed "Pinks" the first time I watched it.

#4

"Berf" <berf1 (AT) live (DOT) ca> wrote

Quote:

scottscottscott wrote
Versus has been promoting the race heavily during its Tour de France
coverage this month. With Lance Armstrong?s return to the Tour and
ratings for that event on the rise, it could mean an increase to the
meager cable ratings the IRL has earned so far this season.

Versus NHL coverage apparently sucks, I watch CBC's Hockey Night in
Canada.
The longest running sports program on television in the world.

Racing belongs, at least, on a channel that shows racing. But the racing
channel we see is Speed, and it shows shit like "Pinks". And a lot, way
too
much, NASCAR stuff. You should go on to the website of the European
version
of Speed. That's what I want. They actually show a lot of races, not
"fill". Stupid, dumb "reality TV" crap.

Bottom line, Versus in the USA is junk. And so is Speed TV.

They both suck wind.

And, so you know. I live in Canada, and before we had Speed, we would see
some great racing on "The Nashville Network", like SCCA Trans Am and
things.

Speed, when it started, was OK. But Fox bought it and suddenly "Bingo".
It
was all NASCAR. I used to watch Wind Tunnel, but I can't stand it any
more,
I can't even watch "Speed's" Sunday racing show.

It's all about NASCAR. And NASCAR is fine, if you like it.

But, I like several variants of racing, and NASCAR isn't one of them.

Vs hockey coverage is fine.
and it doesn't need a clown like Grapes to entertain the viewers , the game
is enough.

#5

Ray O'Hara wrote

Quote:

"Berf" <berf1 (AT) live (DOT) ca> wrote in message
news:MPG.24caf20f68fa23ad98a0af (AT) News (DOT) Individual.NET...
scottscottscott wrote
Versus has been promoting the race heavily during its Tour de France
coverage this month. With Lance Armstrong?s return to the Tour and
ratings for that event on the rise, it could mean an increase to the
meager cable ratings the IRL has earned so far this season.

Versus NHL coverage apparently sucks, I watch CBC's Hockey Night in
Canada.
The longest running sports program on television in the world.

Racing belongs, at least, on a channel that shows racing. But the racing
channel we see is Speed, and it shows shit like "Pinks". And a lot, way
too
much, NASCAR stuff. You should go on to the website of the European
version
of Speed. That's what I want. They actually show a lot of races, not
"fill". Stupid, dumb "reality TV" crap.

Bottom line, Versus in the USA is junk. And so is Speed TV.

They both suck wind.

And, so you know. I live in Canada, and before we had Speed, we would see
some great racing on "The Nashville Network", like SCCA Trans Am and
things.

Speed, when it started, was OK. But Fox bought it and suddenly "Bingo".
It
was all NASCAR. I used to watch Wind Tunnel, but I can't stand it any
more,
I can't even watch "Speed's" Sunday racing show.

It's all about NASCAR. And NASCAR is fine, if you like it.

But, I like several variants of racing, and NASCAR isn't one of them.

Vs hockey coverage is fine.
and it doesn't need a clown like Grapes to entertain the viewers , the game
is enough.

Grapes only comes on during the 1st intermission. The CBC's coverage is
pretty first rate, but that's what they're all about. Hockey Night In Canada
is the longest running telivised sports broadcast in North America. I believe
that it started around 1955 or so for TV and dates back to the 1930's on
radio. The camera crews invented most of the commonly accepted methods of
coverage used in the sport everywhere today. They even cooked up the first
use of the "instant replay" in sports, which back in the mid 1950's was done
using kinescope. Allowing footage of goals that were scored within 30 seconds
of them happening to be replayed for the TV viewer.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Instant_replay#History

#6

Ken Plotkin wrote

Quote:

NASCAR used to be really good. Mechanical innovation, great drivers.
Bill France's arbitary rulemaking "For the good of the sport" gave
every bit as much political fun as F1. He also knew that he was in
show business. Unfortunately, his grandkids seem to think that means
WWF.

And the WWF is not as popular as the Ultimate Fighting Championship these
days!

What's that tell you?

#7

On Jul 19, 8:17*pm, Berf <be... (AT) live (DOT) ca> wrote:

Quote:

Grapes only comes on during the 1st intermission. * The CBC's coverage is
pretty first rate, but that's what they're all about. * Hockey Night InCanada
is the longest running telivised sports broadcast in North America....(canuck stuff
truncated as an act of mercy for Americans)

If they're so smart, why does hockey suck on TV?

The only people who can follow a hockey broadcast have actually played
the game at some time.

#8

"Berf" <berf1 (AT) live (DOT) ca> wrote

Quote:

Ray O'Hara wrote

"Berf" <berf1 (AT) live (DOT) ca> wrote in message
news:MPG.24caf20f68fa23ad98a0af (AT) News (DOT) Individual.NET...
scottscottscott wrote
Versus has been promoting the race heavily during its Tour de France
coverage this month. With Lance Armstrong?s return to the Tour and
ratings for that event on the rise, it could mean an increase to the
meager cable ratings the IRL has earned so far this season.

Versus NHL coverage apparently sucks, I watch CBC's Hockey Night in
Canada.
The longest running sports program on television in the world.

Racing belongs, at least, on a channel that shows racing. But the
racing
channel we see is Speed, and it shows shit like "Pinks". And a lot,
way
too
much, NASCAR stuff. You should go on to the website of the European
version
of Speed. That's what I want. They actually show a lot of races, not
"fill". Stupid, dumb "reality TV" crap.

Bottom line, Versus in the USA is junk. And so is Speed TV.

They both suck wind.

And, so you know. I live in Canada, and before we had Speed, we would
see
some great racing on "The Nashville Network", like SCCA Trans Am and
things.

Speed, when it started, was OK. But Fox bought it and suddenly
"Bingo".
It
was all NASCAR. I used to watch Wind Tunnel, but I can't stand it any
more,
I can't even watch "Speed's" Sunday racing show.

It's all about NASCAR. And NASCAR is fine, if you like it.

But, I like several variants of racing, and NASCAR isn't one of them.

Vs hockey coverage is fine.
and it doesn't need a clown like Grapes to entertain the viewers , the
game
is enough.

Grapes only comes on during the 1st intermission. The CBC's coverage is
pretty first rate, but that's what they're all about. Hockey Night In
Canada
is the longest running telivised sports broadcast in North America. I
believe
that it started around 1955 or so for TV and dates back to the 1930's on
radio. The camera crews invented most of the commonly accepted methods
of
coverage used in the sport everywhere today. They even cooked up the
first
use of the "instant replay" in sports, which back in the mid 1950's was
done
using kinescope. Allowing footage of goals that were scored within 30
seconds
of them happening to be replayed for the TV viewer.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Instant_replay#History

Instant rply as we know it is a American invention.

and what else is there in Canada to televise.
next you'll be claiming the Zamboni as a Canuck invention.

#9

Quote:

and what else is there in Canada to televise.

The sweet science of the stone and the broom: curling!

I approve of any sport you can play while smoking a cigarette.

#10

"Nickname unavailable" <scottrevision (AT) yahoo (DOT) com> wrote

Quote:

and what else is there in Canada to televise.

The sweet science of the stone and the broom: curling!

I approve of any sport you can play while smoking a cigarette.

ROTFL!