Monday, January 10, 2011

Let's Pump the Brakes on This a Bit...


OK, with an commentary in the most recent Dirt Sports magazine on the boffo ratings generated by the LOORRS CBS broadcast on 11/28 the world of Short Course racing seemed to believe it had turned a bit of a corner in terms of national recognition...Maybe that was overstating things a bit because this past weekend's ratings were right back down where they have been historically--in the 0.5 or thereabouts range, vs. the 1.2 rating seen back in late November. The 0.5 rating this past Saturday, 1/8, equates to 560,000 TV sets and a conservative estimate of 616,000 viewers for the broadcast.

Factors acting against the broadcast were its early starting time (a 1PM for a broadcast aimed at a decidedly non-East coast audience?? Really?) and its lack of a decent lead-in as in most markets the broadcast was preceded by either children's cartoons or the mid-day news broadcast (uhhh...yeah...)

The '10 season for short course broadcasts can be best summed up as "two steps forward, one step back" as TORC had its innovative and focused broadcasts on HD Theater while LOORRS had some acceptable and one outstanding ratings broadcast on CBS. Here's hoping to an expanded and continued LOORRS and TORC broadcast schedule in '11.

"ESPN Sports Saturday" 1/8 ABC 4:00-6:00pm--0.6
Racing: Lucas Oil Challenge Cup (taped) 1/8 CBS 1:00-2:00pm---0.5
NCAA Women's Basketball: Connecticut-Notre Dame 1/8 CBS 2:00-4:00pm---0.9
NCAA Women's Basketball: Ohio State-Iowa 1/8 CBS 4:00-6:00pm---0.5
U.S. Army All-American Bowl 1/8 NBC 1:00-4:00pm---1.7
NFC Wild Card: Saints-Seahawks 1/8 NBC 4:30-8:00pm---18.3
AFC Wild Card: Jets-Colts 1/8 NBC 8:15-11:00pm---20.8
"The NFL Today" 1/9 CBS 12:00-1:00pm---4.7
AFC Wild Card: Ravens-Chiefs 1/9 CBS 1:00-4:15pm---18.8
NCAA Basketball: Kansas-Michigan 1/9 CBS 4:30-6:30pm---1.8
"Fox NFL Sunday" 1/9 Fox 4:00-4:30pm---13.3
NFC Wild Card: Packers-Eagles 1/9 Fox 4:30-7:45pm---24.4
PBR: Built Ford Tough Series: MSG Invitational 1/9 NBC 2:30-4:00pm---0.6
Progressive Skating & Gymnastics Spectacular (taped) 1/9 NBC 4:00-6:00pm---1.1


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