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Martinsville Ratings Drop on ESPN on ABC

Oct 27, 2007 – 2:13 PM
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SportsBusinessDaily reports that ABC's broadcast of last Sunday's Subway 500 NASCAR Nextel Cup race at Martinsville Speedway earned a final Nielsen Media Research rating of 3.7--down from 4.1 when NBC aired the race last year.


Yeah ... failing to air the race in the second largest market in the country will have that effect.

When your race broadcast gets preempted for local coverage and the network hasn't ensured that local affiliate has a backup plan or backup station to move the breaking news coverage, you get fewer eyeballs watching the race.

On the other hand, the Craftsman Truck Series Martinsville race enjoyed an 18% increase in viewership on The Speed Channel--you might be familiar with the network where more than one of their commentators actually know a thing or two about NASCAR.

Get a clue, NASCAR! It's time to kick ESPN/ABC to the curb and partner with Fox and Fox-owned Speed TV for the entire season.
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