The state of NASCAR on TV is complicated, to say the least.
The average viewership per race is down more than half of what it was, say a decade ago. Of course, numbers like these are going to be concerning to a lot of folks, and Steve Letarte, an analyst for NASCAR on NBC, said as much during a recent appearance on the Awful Announcing podcast.
“Absolutely, it’s concerning. It always is,” Letarte told host Brandon Contes. “I think it was more concerning when it was dropping. It is definitely down. When we came on in 2015, 2016 — I’m not a big ratings guy — so, let’s say there were 4-5 million on average. Now, there’s say, 2, 2.5, 3 million on average…So, the decline was more concerning than the new floor. Right, because we’ve been very consistent now. Fox had a really good first half. We had a really good second half; we’re hoping for a really big championship weekend.”
Letarte said it’s hard because it’s right up against the “gorilla in sports,” meaning the NFL and college football. And right in the middle of the season at that.
“I think the decline was concerning, but now that it’s flattened out, now it’s allowed everybody to say, ‘OK, if this is the viewership what does that look like for scheduling and planning and talent and production budgets,'” he said. “You know, I think now we have the ability to deliver the correct broadcast for the number of viewers that we have. There’s been some really big highlights. We did the Chicago Street Course and it got a monster rating, which is fine. My bosses would hate me, but I’m not a TV-rating(s) guy. If you tune in, I’m gonna tell you the stuff. How you tune in is not really my deal.”
The Chicago Street Race garnered NBC’s largest NASCAR audience since 2017.
The July race averaged a 2.5 rating and 4.63 million viewers, per Nielsen fast-nationals, giving NBC their biggest NASCAR audience since the 2017 season finale at Homestead-Miami, which garnered 4.66 million viewers. That number hit 4.8 million when you include 164,000 people watching on Peacock and the other NBC digital platforms.
Not counting the Daytona 500, it was the most-watched NASCAR race in over two years.
“More importantly for me, the weather couldn’t have been worse,” Letarte said of the Chicago Street Race. “I mean, I think it rained inches in Chicago — and it was electric. We brought racing into an urban setting…like some remarkable number were first-time ticket holders. Those are the things that excite me because I’m confident we can keep going back to the same venues forever and be the same forever. But, the fact that this NASCAR brass is not afraid a couple of times a year to put us in a different area, I think that’s what excites me.”
In Letarte’s mind, that’s what has stopped the decline and helped it flatten out. And he thinks that NASCAR is getting ready to go the other way.
“I really believe it has a lot of potential,” he said.
That begs the question, does NBC help NASCAR to reach younger demographics and younger sports fans?
Every year what Letarte does is different. He always broadcasts the race, but then, what else?
NASCAR on NBC is not doing a 30-minute daily show like it did 7-or-8 years ago. Now, it’s more like Letarte appearing on the Awful Announcing podcast.
“To your point, we’re now asked to do more casual things like this,” he told Contes. “Like, it doesn’t have to be suit-and-tie, go to the booth. That Sunday is important, but if we have a big announcement, or last year when Ross Chastain rode the wall at 160 miles an hour. Everyone’s head kind of exploded, it was the craziest thing I’d ever seen, you know we get right online and we interact with the people online.
“I love it because back to the crowd I’m talking to, my son is at college and in a fraternity. They are my sense of the younger crowd. A couple of weeks ago, we were in Miami for the playoff race and he texts me, not about the race, ‘Dad, the grimace and hamburglar car is awesome.'”
Letarte takes a breath and he laughs, but that matters.
While it’s so easy to get caught up in the nuts and bolts of racing, you have to lean into it and make it fun. Or in other words, show the frat kids the grimace and hamburglar car.
The full episode of The Awful Announcing Podcast with Steve Letarte will be released Friday morning. Subscribe to the show on Apple Podcasts, Spotify, and wherever you get your podcasts. For more content, subscribe to AA’s YouTube page.
