Global RallyCross and Lucas Oil Offroad Racing Series 11/15-11/16 TV Ratings

These are from the weekend of 11/15 and 11/16.  The LOORRS broadcast had the more favorable slot in that it was shown on Saturday, up against significantly weaker college football broadcasts vs. the 11/16 GRC show which faced off against nationally televised NFL football.  The GRC broadcast was a showdown between Joni Wiman and Ken Block for the 2015 driver's title with Wiman coming out on top by finishing second to Block and garnering enough points to retain first place for the year (though his lack of a single win on the year will likely drive a change in the way GRC scores points for each event in '15)

Neither show fared that well, though the LOORRS show was no worse than its typical ratings.  GRC's 0.3 rating ties for its worst of the year and shortest of its brief existence.  This will wrap up GRC's programing for the year I would imagine and so I'll recap their ratings for their events below, prior to the weekend's full ratings.  Their high for the year was a 0.5, equating to 578,000 households and some 636,000 actual viewers and the low was a 0.3, equating to 350,000 and 382,000 viewers.  Overall this puts Global RallyCross a bit behind the Lucas Oil Off Road Racing Series shows as we will recap in the future.  Of note is the recent F1 ratings on NBC for the Brazil event which grabbed a 0.5 rating and two weeks prior a 0.7 rating for the USGP in Texas.  NBC paid $3 Million to acquire the rights to F1 in the US (prior to any production, talent, coverage costs), so to have LOORRS and GRC somewhat equaling those ratings with what is essentially a paid advertisement, costing the networks nothing, both can be viewed as being successful on their own terms.  Though when you compare the measly $3 million paid for F1 to the $2.4 billion Fox paid for NASCAR (not completely an apples to apples comparison but you get the idea) you understand how far behind in the Q ratings sports like F1, RallyCross or short course are from NAPCAR.

Global RallyCross 2015 Ratings:

5/24--0.4
6/22--0.3
7/20--0.5
7/26--0.3
8/03--0.3
9/20--0.5
9/21--0.3

NFL: Eagles-Packers (84%)	11/16	Fox	4:25-7:30pm	17.1
"Sunday Night Football": Patriots-Colts	11/16	NBC	8:30-11:15pm	13.6
NFL: (singleheader)	11/16	CBS	1:00-4:05pm	11.7
NFL: (regional)	11/16	Fox	1:00-4:15pm	10.1
College Football: Mississippi State-Alabama	11/15	CBS	3:30-7:15pm	6.6
College Football: Florida State-Miami	11/15	ABC	8:00-11:45pm	6.1
"Football Night in America"	11/16	NBC	7:30-8:15pm	5.4
College Football: Ohio State-Minnesota	11/15	ABC	12:00-3:30pm	4.3
"Fox NFL Sunday"	11/16	Fox	12:00-1:00pm	3.5
"The NFL Today"	11/16	CBS	12:00-1:00pm	2.8
College Football: Nebraska-Minnesota	11/15	ABC	3:30-7:15pm	2.3
College Football: Northwestern-Notre Dame	11/15	NBC	3:30-8:00pm	2.0
"Courage in Sports"	11/16	CBS	5:00-6:00pm	1.5
"College Football Today"	11/15	CBS	3:00-3:30pm	1.0
College Football: Texas-Oklahoma State	11/15	Fox	7:30-11:00pm	1.0
College Football: Washington-Arizona	11/15	Fox	3:30-7:15pm	0.9
ISU Grand Prix of Figure Skating: Russia	11/16	NBC	4:00-6:00pm	0.9
"Fox College Saturday"	11/15	Fox	3:00-3:30pm	0.5
Ironman World Championship	11/15	NBC	1:30-3:00pm	0.5
"Notre Dame Football Pre-Game"	11/15	NBC	3:00-3:30pm	0.5
Lucas Oil Off Road Racing	11/15	CBS	1:00-2:00pm	0.4
"College Football's Open Season: Vanderbilt"	11/15	CBS	2:00-2:30pm	0.4
"College Football's Open Season: Arkansas"	11/15	CBS	2:30-3:00pm	0.4
"World of X Games: ASP Surfing"	11/16	ABC	5:00-6:00pm	0.4
"The Grantland Basketball Hour"	11/16	ABC	4:00-5:00pm	0.3
Global Rallycross: Las Vegas	11/16	NBC	1:30-3:00pm	0.3
Spartan Race: Vermont	11/16	NBC	3:00-4:00pm	0.3

9/20-9/21 LOORRS and GRC Weekend TV Ratings

Lots of good offroad motorsports events on Network TV this past weekend. NBC had two "live" GRC broadcasts from Los Angles where the results were Scott Speed (VW), Wiman (Ford), Block (Ford) on Day I and Rhys Millen (Hyundai), Block (Ford) and Wiman (Ford) on Day II. CBS meanwhile had a LOORRS broadcast of the Pro 2 and Pro 4 races from the Wild West Motorsports Park in Sparks, NV.

The Saturday broadcasts had an easier time of it only having to compete against a smattering of fairly uninteresting college games while the Sunday GRC show had to face off against the NFL. True to form the Saturday LOORRS and GRC shows pulled significantly higher ratings at a 0.5 for each (578,000 households and about 636,000 people viewing)than the Sunday GRC event that only generated a 0.3 rating (347,000 households and about 381,000 people viewing). Of note is that the weekend's NASCAR event from NH on Sunday saw a 2.2 rating (3.1 million viewers) and the Tudor United Sports Car Championship event at Circuit of the America's drew a 0.9 rating (1.1 million viewers), both running against the NFL.

From a historical perspective the 0.5 ratings for LOORRS and GRC on Saturday represent recent highs for both series and solid improvements from recent shows. The result is not however outside the "norm" for either series and can be considered a good but not spectacular result and at least the Sunday GRC broadcast beat out the European cycling event and canned golf preview show!!

TELECAST DATE NET TIME (ET) RATING
NFL: Broncos-Seahawks (89%) 9/21 CBS 4:25-7:30pm 16.9
"Sunday Night Football": Steelers-Panthers 9/21 NBC 8:30-11:30pm 12.3
NFL: (singleheader) 9/21 Fox 1:00-4:05pm 12.2
NFL: (regional) 9/21 CBS 1:00-4:25pm 11.1
College Football: Florida-Alabama 9/20 CBS 3:30-7:00pm 5.1
College Football: Clemson-Florida State 9/20 ABC 8:00-11:30pm 4.9
"Football Night in America" 9/21 NBC 7:30-8:15pm 3.3
"Fox NFL Sunday" 9/21 Fox 12:00-1:00pm 3.2
"The NFL Today" 9/21 CBS 12:00-1:00pm 2.9
College Football: Oklahoma-West Virginia 9/20 Fox 7:30-11:30pm 1.9
College Football: (regional) 9/20 ABC 3:30-7:00pm 1.7
MLB: (regional) 9/20 Fox 1:00-4:45pm 1.5
"College Football Today" 9/20 CBS 3:00-3:30pm 1.2
Tudor United SportsCar Championship:
Lone Star Le Mans (COTA) 9/21 Fox 5:00-6:00pm 0.9
PBR: Cooper Tires Desert Showdown 9/20 CBS 2:00-3:00pm 0.7
EPL: West Ham-Liverpool 9/20 NBC 12:30-2:30pm 0.7
Boxing: Fight Night 9/20 NBC 3:00-5:00pm 0.6
"World of X Games: Best of Austin" 9/20 ABC 2:00-3:30pm 0.5
Lucas Oil Off Road Racing Series 9/20 CBS 1:00-2:00pm 0.5
"Premier League Goal Zone" 9/20 NBC 2:30-3:00pm 0.5
Global Rallycross 9/20 NBC 5:00-6:00pm 0.5
STIHL Timbersports Series 9/21 ABC 5:00-7:00pm 0.5
Diamond League Track & Field 9/21 NBC 2:00-3:00pm 0.4
"World of X Games: Big Wave Hellmen Preview" 9/21 ABC 4:00-5:00pm 0.3
Women's Rugby World Cup 9/21 NBC 3:00-4:00pm 0.3
Global Rallycross 9/21 NBC 5:00-6:00pm 0.3
"Road to the Ryder Cup" 9/21 NBC 1:30-2:00pm 0.2
Cycling: Vuelta a España 9/21 NBC 4:00-5:00pm 0.2
.

LOORRS Ratings From 9/13

Back on the weekend of 9/13 and 9/14 we saw a single offroad racing related broadcasts on Network TV.  On Saturday 9/13, CBS broadcast from 1:30-2:30 PM the LOORRS Pro2 and Pro4 racing at Glen Helen.  Positioned as a lead in for the days’ College Football broadcasts on CBS the program produced a 0.4 rating, with about 462,000 households tuned in and about 508,000 people viewing from home.  In comparison to other broadcasts this weekend this was the same rating as ABC’s “World of XGames: Real Ski Backcountry” show the following day from 5-6PM and was about half the audience of the weekend’s regional Fox MLB game.  The weekend’s #1 sports broadcast was the Chiefs-Broncos game on CBS that saw a 14.6 rating, about 17 million households turning the game on and at least 19 million viewers.

TELECAST	DATE	NET	TIME (ET)	RATING
NFL: Chiefs-Broncos (56%)	9/14	CBS	4:15-7:30pm	14.6
"Sunday Night Football": Bears-49ers	9/14	NBC	8:30-11:45pm	14.0
NFL: (singleheader)	9/14	Fox	1:00-4:05pm	12.3
NFL: (regional)	9/14	CBS	1:00-4:15pm	9.9
College Football: Georgia-South Carolina*	9/13	CBS	5:00-8:45pm	4.2
"Football Night in America"	9/14	NBC	7:30-8:15pm	4.1
"Fox NFL Sunday"	9/14	Fox	12:00-1:00pm	3.2
"The NFL Today"	9/14	CBS	12:00-1:00pm	2.7
College Football: Tennessee-Oklahoma	9/13	ABC	8:00-11:45pm	2.2
College Football: UCLA-Texas	9/13	Fox	8:15-11:30pm	2.1
College Football: Purdue-Notre Dame	9/13	NBC	7:30-11:15pm	2.1
College Football: (regional)	9/13	ABC	12:00-3:00pm	1.9
College Football: Arkansas-Texas Tech	9/13	ABC	3:00-6:30pm	1.9
"College Football Today" (extended)	9/13	CBS	3:45-5:00pm	1.9
PGA Tour: The Tour Championship: Third Round	9/13	NBC	2:30-6:15pm	1.8
PGA Tour: The Tour Championship: Final Round	9/14	NBC	1:30-6:00pm	1.7
"College Football Today"	9/13	CBS	3:00-3:45pm	1.1
College Football: Illinois-Washington	9/13	Fox	4:15-7:30pm	1.0
MLB: (regional)	9/13	Fox	1:00-4:15pm	0.9
EPL: Liverpool-Aston Villa	9/13	NBC	12:30-2:30pm	0.8
LPGA: Evian Masters: Final Round	9/14	NBC	12:00-1:30pm	0.6
"Inside College Football"	9/13	CBS	2:30-3:00pm	0.5
Lucas Oil Off Road Racing Series	9/13	CBS	1:30-2:30pm	0.4
"World of X Games: Real Ski Backcountry"	9/14	ABC	5:00-6:00pm	0.4

Down Weekend for Offroad Motorsports on Network TV...

Well, that's not progress...

Global Rallycross has not generated any appreciable growth over the course of '14 and has actually regressed in terms of ratings over the past two events and LOORRS has continued its regular broadcasts on CBS but its ratings have stayed flat to marginally down over the past two years.

Now I'm not on the inside of the companies paying for these events to be broadcast on Network TV so in truth I really have NO IDEA whether perhaps even at the current ratings levels that their producers are happy.  It is certainly a possibility that NBC and CBS sell their airtime to Lucas and GRC at a low enough level that they can sell their advertising spots at a rate for them to turn a profit...maybe.

What I can tell you is that I've been tracking these ratings on a general basis for a number of years now, dating back to the old CORR days.  While its been great to see offroad motorsports (primarily short course) appear on network TV on a regular basis over the past few years, the ratings generated from it have not moved.  We now regularly see short course, Baja events, rallycross, stage rally, motocross, Best in the Desert and more on Network and near network (see NBCSN, CBS Sports, etc.) sources yet the broadcasts most accessible to the America public (the over the air broadcasts) have stagnated in terms of ratings/viewers.  There is a core audience here and these broadcasts are reaching this audience but they aren't bringing in a growing audience of viewers.  You can debate the reasons but the facts by now are fairly clear.

There is a lot to be said for the inconsistency and "random" nature of these broadcasts.  If you are a NASCAR fan you KNOW that pretty much every weekend there is a race (which is often EVERY weekend) you can sit down around 1PM Eastern and catch the race.  If you are a football fan (college or NFL) you KNOW that every Saturday or Sunday the games will be on during the season.  For offroad motorsports??  Well, there you can look up the schedule on any one of a dozen or more websites for the various series and see if the event is shown on a Saturday or a Sunday, early afternoon, late afternoon or if it will be another month before another broadcast is available (often the case), is it on CBS?  CBS Sports?  MavTV?  Do I get MavTV?.  This is just the nature of the beast with offroad racing at this point.  Its not NASCAR with live events taking place every weekend at the same time on the same channel and thus it has an uphill battle to to fight just in terms of getting casual viewers to watch.

For this past weekend, GRC saw a 0.3 rating on NBC which tied for the weekend's lowest rated sporting event on Network TV with the LOORRS which it faced off directly against in the same time slot over on CBS from 2-3PM Eastern.  Perhaps you could make the argument that either show's ratings would have been higher if they hadn't been facing off against one another and instead were competing for viewers against say...gymnastics or golf or the like.  Certainly I've made a case here before of combining the audiences of offroad motorsports that are shown at the same time, so I'll do so here again for the sake of positivity.  During this time period there was a combined 0.6 rating for offroad motorsports on Network TV equating to some 694,000 households and 763,000 people watching offroad racing of some kind during this period.  Now this doesn't help the advertisers who paid only to be on one broadcast or the other and got their message in front of "only" about 350,000 households and 382,000 people during this time.

The NBC broadcast of the Red Bull Hare Scramble which followed the GRC broadcast beat out both of the "car" oriented race shows with a 0.4 rating grabbing about 460,000 households and 510,000 viewers.  This holds true to another long term trend that I've noticed--whether its motocross, supercross or various Red Bull motorcycle events, they do usually out-rate the offroad "car" racing.  I would have a tendency to attribute that to the larger fan/participation rate of motorcycle racing.  While an extreme minority of people have ever driven in a SCORE, BITD, or Rally event of any kind you can show up in nearly any geographic region in the country on any weekend and find a number of motocross tracks, hare scrambles, trail rides, etc.  The sheer participation rate of offroad motorcycle riders dwarfs that of any combination of desert/shortcourse/rally drivers by what has to be many magnitudes and thus its a lot easier to find an individual who is familiar with jumping their motorcycle through the woods or over a tabletop, flipping through the channels and staying with one of these shows than it is short course, desert or rally.  That said, these motorcycle event ratings are never MASSIVELY better than these other offroad broadcasts...just marginally better...

TELECAST	DATE	NET	TIME (ET)	RATING
"World of X Games: Women of Action"	7/26	ABC	3:00-4:00pm	0.3
"ESPN Sports Saturday"	7/26	ABC	4:00-6:00pm	0.5
Lucas Oil Off Road Racing	7/26	CBS	2:00-3:00pm	0.3
PGA Tour: RBC Canadian Open: Third Round	7/26	CBS	3:00-6:00pm	0.4
Guinness Int'l Champions Cup: Manchester United-AS Roma	7/26	Fox	4:00-6:00pm	0.5
"UFC on Fox 12": Prelims	7/26	Fox	6:00-8:00pm	0.8
"UFC on Fox 12": Robbie Lawler-Matt Brown	7/26	Fox	8:00-10:00pm	1.6
Global Rallycross	7/26	NBC	2:00-3:00pm	0.3
Red Bull Hare Scramble	7/26	NBC	3:00-4:30pm	0.4
Asics World Series Of Beach Volleyball	7/26	NBC	4:30-6:00pm	0.5
"Road to the PGA Championship"	7/27	CBS	2:00-3:00pm	0.5
PGA Tour: RBC Canadian Open: Final Round	7/27	CBS	3:00-6:00pm	1.8
Tour de France review show	7/27	NBC	2:00-3:30pm	0.4
Asics World Series Of Beach Volleyball	7/27	NBC	3:30-5:00pm	0.6
Breeders' Cup Challenge Series: Haskell Invitational	7/27	NBC	5:00-6:00pm	0.8

Global Rallycross TV Ratings 7/20/14

Benefiting from Red Bull's ongoing relationship with NBC, the NYC round of the 2014 Global
Rallycross season appeared as a live broadcast at 2PM this past Sunday.  This is the third time GRC has appeared on the primary NBC broadcast during the traditional network weekend sports block.  I am going to try and go back and see what the ratings were on these prior broadcasts (6/22 as a live broadcast and 5/24 on a delay).

The 0.5 rating seen below compares quite favorably to recent "offroad" oriented broadcasts on network TV.  First off, it did fairly well as compared to the rest of the weekend's sporting events, besting the UFC and Dew Tour shows while equaling the Tour de France broadcast.  The WNBA All Star game over on ESPN also drew a 0.5 though it is not reflected here.  GRC did fall a bit short of an XGames related recap and did not draw as well as some old guys golfing...but not many (any?) non-NASCAR motorsports do.

Also not shown here but broadcast over on ESPN in this same time frame was the NHRA's Mello Yello series which generated a 0.7 rating.  Which makes you wonder--the NHRA has been on the decline in terms of attendance, revenue, interest and ratings for some time with the series long rumored to be about to fold--how GRC and the other "offroad" motorsports survive on Network TV while the NHRA is relegated to ESPN or ESPN2.  Food for thought....

With each full rating point equating to 1,156,000 TV "households" being tuned into a broadcast, the 0.5 seen by the GRC show means there were some 578,000 "houses" watching the broadcast (which doesn't include the rebroadcast over on NBCSN on 7/23).  With a conservative estimate of 1.1 viewers per "household" this should mean that there were at least 636,000 individual viewers of this past Sunday's GRC event.  This is a bit ahead of the 0.4 ratings seen with the Mint 400 and AMA Motorcross events shown on the 7/5 weekend and significantly ahead of the 0.3 rating for the LOORRS broadcast that same weekend.

Update--
Prior GRC broadcast ratings:
6/22 Live from D.C. generated a 0.3, 347,000 households and an estimated 381,000 viewers
5/24 Tape Delayed from Barbados generated a 0.4, 462,400 households and 509,000 viewers

TELECAST	DATE	NET	TIME (ET)	RATING
"World of X Games: 20 Years, 20 Firsts"	7/19	ABC	2:00-3:00pm	0.7
"The Open Championship Today"	7/19	ABC	3:00-6:00pm	1.2
"UFC's Road to the Octagon"	7/19	Fox	5:00-6:00pm	0.4
Tour de France: Stage 14	7/19	NBC	2:00-3:00pm	0.5
Golf: American Century Championship	7/19	NBC	3:00-6:00pm	0.6
"The Open Championship Today"	7/20	ABC	3:00-6:00pm	1.3
Dew Tour: Best of Ocean City	7/20	NBC	1:00-2:00pm	0.4
Global Rallycross	7/20	NBC	2:00-3:00pm	0.5
Golf: American Century Championship	7/20	NBC	3:00-6:00pm	0.7

Mint 400, LOORRS and AMA Motocross TV Ratings From 7/5 and 7/6

 
Well, this was certainly a busy weekend for offroad motorsports fans.  Just on full Network TV there was the AMA Motocross race at Red Bud in Buchananm MI on Saturday from 3-4PM with NBC, then there was an hour worth of LOORRS coverage on CBS on Sunday and the big event of the weekend was the two hour broadcast of Mad Media's presentation of the '14 Mint 400 within the Red Bull Signature Series on NBC from 2-4PM.

The ratings for all three are right in line with historical offroad racing on the big networks.  The lowest rated broadcast was the LOORRS event on CBS that grabbed a 0.3 rating, equaling the Nick Faldo golf program also on CBS this weekend for the lowest rated sports event in the period but still equating to a 347,000 households viewing the show and close to 400,000 viewers of the program and its advertising.

The AMA Motocross event from RedBud on Saturday had a 0.4 rating.  I haven't really tracked motocross ratings in the past so I'm not sure how this compares historically but I will try and note their ratings going forward.  The 0.4 equates to some 462,000 households watching the rhythm sections and tabletops with in excess of 509,000 pairs of eyeballs tuned in for the broadcast.

The two hour long Mint 400 broadcast on NBC from 2-4PM on 7/6 produced a 0.4 rating, similar to that of the Motocross event with 462,000 households and 509,000 (conservative estimate) viewing the event.  Of note here is that the first hour of this broadcast overlapped with the LOORRS broadcast over on CBS.  There is certainly a crossover factor here the likely drew viewers away from each show depressing the ratings for each.  Viewed in aggregate for offroad motorsports however, it shows a solid audience of like minded viewers.  On this past Sunday afternoon there were at least 810,000 households and just shy of 1,000,000 people watching either shortcourse offroad racing or desert racing at the same time across the country--an amount that equals or exceeds the number of people viewing either the Men's or Women's Wimbeldon finals or Tour de France highlights.

That's pretty damn cool...

ELECAST	DATE	NET	TIME (ET)	RATING
FIFA World Cup quarterfinal: Argentina-Belgium	7/5	ABC	12:00-2:00pm	n/a
"SportsCenter"	7/5	ABC	2:00-3:00pm	2.0
Wimbledon: Ladies' Final: Petra Kvitova d. Genie Bouchard (replay)	7/5	ABC	3:00-6:00pm	0.7
"Faldo Series: The Time Is Now"	7/5	CBS	2:30-3:00pm	0.3
PGA Tour: Greenbrier Classic: Third Round	7/5	CBS	3:00-6:00pm	1.1
MLB: (regional)	7/5	Fox	7:00-10:15pm	1.6
Tour de France: Stage 1 highlights	7/5	NBC	2:00-3:00pm	0.4
AMA Motocross	7/5	NBC	3:00-4:00pm	0.4
World Series of Fighting	7/5	NBC	4:00-6:00pm	0.5
Wimbledon: Gentlemen's Final: Novak Djokovic d. Roger Federer (replay)	7/6	ABC	3:00-6:00pm	0.7
Lucas Oil Off Road Racing	7/6	CBS	2:00-3:00pm	0.3
PGA Tour: Greenbrier Classic: Final Round	7/6	CBS	3:00-6:00pm	1.8
Red Bull Signature Series: Mint 400 (off-road racing)	7/6	NBC	2:00-4:00pm	0.4
Tour de France: Stage 2 highlights	7/6	NBC	4:00-6:00pm	0.5

Throwback Thursday: CORR Bully Dog Nissan Titan

Hopefully this can be a new trend for the site going forward, ripping off 10,000 other "throwback Thursday" items.  Here we'll try to highlight a single old school Nissan/Datsun, particularly a motorsport/dirt related vehicle.

Here we have the old BullyDog/CORR Nissan Titan.  Nissan was a title sponsor of the CORR events for a handful of years, also sponsoring Carl Renezeder and the pace truck as well in conjunction with aftermarket ECU tuner BullyDog.  The last I knew, Mike DeFord of BullyDog was still in possession of this vehicle and may have tried to sell it at one point.  The suspension setup has a number of PRG components including rear leafs and Sway-Away shocks and bumpstops.

Bryce Menzies Coming to GRC...

Saw this in a UNLV article today.  It appears as if Bryce has signed on with Travis Pastrana's racing team to run in the Global RallyCross events in '13.  Its a good fit for both as Bryce is also backed by Red Bull and has been a Dodge driver for some time as well.

It will be interesting to see how the GRC schedule fits with his short-course and desert racing schedule and if there is a conflict, which one gets dropped (I'm betting GRC).  Certainly the Menzies have the financial backing to support his effort and put him near the top of the field in terms of on site resources.  Bryce is no slouch behind the wheel either with time spent at O'Neil's Rallyschool and being declared one of the best drivers to come through that facility by its lead instructor.  It will be interesting to see what a full season (or nearly so) of time behind the wheel of the GRC Dodge Dart at a primarily an asphalt based series (if its in any way similar to the courses set up in '12) will produce for Bryce.

The other interesting part here is Bryce's interest in the Dakar.  Given that the winners (car and bike), on a combined points basis, of the Baja 500 and Reno 500 later this year will receive a free entry to the '14 Dakar for the first time, I'm betting that this is what Bryce is aiming for.  Additionally, I'm sure Red Bull would be a big fan of his entrance into the Dakar as a young, up and coming American racer.  Regardless, it should be a busy year for the Menzies crew trying to support a short course, SCORE, BITD, and now GRC efforts (with Dakar possibly thrown in for S's and giggles).  You certainly can fault them for sitting on their laurels!

UNLV Article...

Mud and Flight

A great new video by Nissan corporate featuring Casey Currie and Carl Renezeder and their Nissan Frontier and Titan (respectively) trucks.  Currie and Renezeder are on the top rung of Nissan sponsored offroad racers and its nice to see Nissan putting some PR efforts behind them.  The video is shot well with lots of crisp slow motion photography.  Hopefully Nissan will keep this up through the introduction of the next generation Titan and Frontier.

LOORRS TV Ratings 11/24...

Like I said in my previous post, it has been a while since I took a look at some of the short course ratings on network TV.  I missed this one initially but have gone back and seen what the 11/24 broadcast generated.

Unfortunately it was at the low end of ratings at a 0.3 equating to an audience of 343,000 households tuned in and about 380,000 viewers.  The interesting thing here is that this is one of the few (only in my memory) instances of where a recent TORC broadcast has out rated recent LOORRS broadcasts (comparing the 11/24 LOORRS broadcast to the 12/29 TORC broadcast).  Its not an apples to apples comparison certainly but it will certainly be interesting to see how the '13 Stadium Super Trucks series performs on NBC.

NCAA Football: Michigan-Ohio State	11/24	ABC	12:00-3:30pm	6.3
NCAA Football: Florida-Florida State	11/24	ABC	3:30-7:15pm	5.6
NCAA Football: Notre Dame-USC	11/24	ABC	8:15-11:45pm	10.0
Lucas Oil Off Road Racing	11/24	CBS	1:30-2:30pm	0.3
"College Football Today"	11/24	CBS	3:00-3:30pm	0.9
NCAA Football: Auburn-Alabama	11/24	CBS	3:30-6:45pm	2.2
NCAA Football: Baylor-Texas Tech	11/24	Fox	2:30-6:30pm	1.0
NCAA Football: Stanford-UCLA	11/24	Fox	6:30-10:00pm	1.7
NCAA Football: Grambling-Southern	11/24	NBC	2:30-6:30pm	0.7
"The NFL Today"	11/25	CBS	12:00-1:00pm	2.6
"NFL on CBS": (single)	11/25	CBS	1:00-4:05pm	10.5
Figure Skating: Kaleidoscope on Ice	11/25	CBS	5:00-6:00pm	1.4
"Fox NFL Sunday"	11/25	Fox	12:00-1:00pm	3.2
"NFL on Fox": (regional)	11/25	Fox	1:00-4:15pm	8.7
"NFL on Fox": 49ers-Saints (93%)	11/25	Fox	4:15-7:30pm	16.5
"The OT"	11/25	Fox	7:30-8:00pm	9.3
Skiing: Aspen Winternational	11/25	NBC	1:00-2:00pm	0.5
Figure Skating: ISU Grand Prix	11/25	NBC	2:00-4:00pm	0.8
Figure Skating: Holiday Moments on Ice	11/25	NBC	4:00-6:00pm	1.2
"Sunday Night Football": Packers-Giants	11/25	NBC	8:30-11:30pm	13.5

TORC Red Bull Signature Series Ratings...

Been a while since I've done one of these but with the broadcast of the two hour long TORC Red Bull Signature series this past weekend I figure I'd bring it back.  Ratings for this event were in line with what we have typically seen from short course offroad on broadcast TV.  The 0.5 rating means that about 571,000 TV owning households in the US were tuned into this broadcast.  Using my typical, conservative, 1.1 viewers per TV equates to about 628,000 viewers for this broadcast.  This puts the show at the high end of recent LOORRS broadcasts over on CBS which have fallen in the 0.3-0.6 rating spreads

"ESPN Sports Saturday" 12/29 ABC 4:00-6:00pm 0.7

"75 Years of March Madness: Behind the Mic" 12/29 CBS 2:00-3:00pm 0.5

"75 Years of March Madness: A Coach's Perspective" 12/29 CBS 3:00-4:00pm 0.5

NCAA Basketball: Kentucky-Louisville 12/29 CBS 4:00-6:15pm 1.6

Red Bull Signature Series 12/29 NBC 2:00-4:00pm 0.5

Tyco Golf Skills Challenge 12/29 NBC 4:00-6:00pm 0.7

"The NFL Today" 12/30 CBS 12:00-1:00pm 2.8

"NFL on CBS": Texans-Colts (64%) 12/30 CBS 1:00-4:15pm 11.1

"NFL on CBS": (regional) 12/30 CBS 4:15-7:30pm 8.1

"Fox NFL Sunday" 12/30 Fox 12:00-1:00pm 3.8

"NFL on Fox" (regional) 12/30 Fox 1:00-4:15pm 10.8

"NFL on Fox" Packers-Vikings (82%) 12/30 Fox 4:15-7:30pm 16.4

PGA Tour Year-in-Review 12/30 NBC 3:00-4:00pm 0.2

Tyco Golf Skills Challenge 12/30 NBC 4:00-6:00pm 0.5

"Football Night in America" 12/30 NBC 7:30-8:15pm 5.5

"Sunday Night Football": Cowboys-Redskins 12/30 NBC 8:30-11:30pm 18.3