TNT Numbers Show Promising Start (Updated)

The six summer races on TNT might go by quickly, but this tech-savvy group usually leaves behind some lasting impressions. Apparently, despite the fact that Pocono is not perhaps the most exciting racetrack, the TNT television coverage and website applications started off with a bang.

Here is the TV data:

According to Nielsen Fast Nationals, TNT’s race coverage delivered a 3.3 US rating and 5,344,000 Total Viewers, becoming the #1 program of the day on ad-supported cable in Households, Total Viewers, Adults 25-54, Men 18-49 and Men 25-54.

TNT’s Sprint Cup Series racing from Pocono delivered more households (3,778,000) than the Stanley Cup Finals on NBC (3,750,000) and MTV Movie Awards (3,274,000)

The more detailed rating specifics will be out later this week, but that certainly brings a little positive news to NASCAR's TV struggles.

A big part of the overall Turner appeal was that the online applications were available to all users for free on Sunday. RaceBuddy, Raceview and Trackpass are all accessed through the NASCAR.com website.

Here are the online numbers during the Pocono race:

NASCAR.COM had over one million unique visitors, an increase of +13% vs. the Pocono race in 2009.

The site received about 7.4 million page views, an increase of +25% vs. the 2009 race at Pocono.

There were 1.5 million visits to the site which is an increase of 16% vs. the 2009 Pocono race.

Total video streams on Sunday (on demand + live) were up 227% YOY to 724,000 streams including the 2010 debut of RaceBuddy, a multiplatform experience which features four camera angles and a mosaic view.

As we have discussed many times, perhaps the biggest hole in Sprint Cup Series exposure is the fact that the pre-race, live race and post-race coverage already done by the existing TV partners is not made available for streaming to desktop and laptop computers. The closest fans can come are the four cameras offered by RaceBuddy. Even the paid NASCAR.com applications have no video features.

When the Turner folks say video streaming was up over two hundred percent, what that really reflects is the rapidly changing demand for online technology and the fact that NASCAR continues to fundamentally fail in this area.

Think about it. We just finished the entire NASCAR on FOX portion of the season without any online video. A feeble attempt late in the season by FOX to provide online post-race video coverage only came after bad national reviews.

Once TNT is done, there are no plans for ESPN to continue RaceBuddy or work with the online rights holder (Turner Sports) to make any additional video content available online. Five races until the online curtain falls yet again for the season.

In today's on demand world, there is simply no excuse for NASCAR, Turner Sports and the NASCAR TV partners not to hammer out an agreement to serve the fans. It should only take ESPN one shining moment to remember what the NFL regular season did to NASCAR on TV last year. RaceBuddy should be the immediate response.

Update: The extended ratings information is out and reveals a slight drop in total number of viewers vs. last season. Targets like men, age groups and cable competition remained the same.

Here is the information from Scene Daily:

TNT averaged a 3.1 final U.S. rating for the Gillette Fusion ProGlide 500 Sunday at Pocono Raceway, down 8.8 percent from the 3.4 national rating a year ago, according to Street & Smith’s SportsBusiness Daily.

The race drew 3.614 million households on TNT on the same day as the NBA Finals on ABC (which drew 10.545 million households), the NHL Stanley Cup Finals on NBC (3.75 million) and the MTV Movie Awards (3.274 million), according to the SBD figures from Nielsen.

The race, which delayed by one and forty minutes due to rain, was Sunday’s top telecast on cable among men 18-49 and 25-54.

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Tuesday TV/Media Notes

Here are some items of note this week in the NASCAR TV/media world:

Jimmy Spencer's return to SPEED was certainly interesting. On both the RaceDay and Victory Lane programs from Pocono, Spencer returned to his blunt "take no prisoners" style. Most of the email was about Spencer's post-race comments. Here are his words while reviewing the incident on pit road.

"This is interesting. There is Joey Logano's dad. He's telling him...he is antagonizing! That is a (NASCAR) fine in my eyes! Mr. Logano, you did that wrong. You should never have enticed your child to go over there because that could have been a very, very big incident. I blame Mr. Logano for that."

"I know he is young, but damn it dude, you don't never go after a person's wife or family members. You got a lot to learn, bud. Two wrongs don't make a right. You costs yourself a great finish. What you said afterward, not good."

Larry McReynolds appeared on SPEED's Race Hub Monday to discuss the same incident and instead told host Krista Voda that he is one of Tom Logano's best friends. It was nice to see a NASCAR TV personality making this disclaimer before answering a question on national TV about a touchy topic.

The Sprint Cup Series moves on to Michigan next weekend. Spencer will return to SPEED in New Hampshire. It will be FOX's Darrell Waltrip joining Kenny Wallace and John Roberts on the RaceDay panel next Sunday. Waltrip will also appear on the Trackside program Friday night.

Waltrip's new SPEED deal is for him to replace Kyle Petty at a total of four races. Waltrip will handle Michigan, Sonoma, Daytona and Chicagoland. On those weekends, Waltrip will also call Sprint Cup Series practice and qualifying. Jeff Hammond, now bumped out of the booth, will appear on SPEED's Victory Lane on those four dates.

Dale Jarrett gets the weekend off and Rusty Wallace returns to the ESPN2 TV booth as the Nationwide Series goes to Kentucky Speedway. Wallace has Marty Reid and Andy Petree alongside. Allen Bestwick handles the infield studio with Brad Daugherty.

World Cup Soccer programming means no NASCAR Now on ESPN2 this Thursday. Nicole Briscoe hosts shows at 6PM on Tuesday, 5PM on Wednesday and 6PM ET on Friday. She will also host the Sprint Cup Series preview version of the program at a new time of 8:30AM ET on Sunday.

NASCAR confirmed Monday that Sprint Cup Series owner and Camping World Truck Series TV analyst Michael Waltrip will drive the #55 entry for PRISM Motorsports at Michigan. This puts Waltrip in a "start and park" car that MWR helps prepare for Sprint Cup Series owner Phil Parsons.

As you may know, Parsons is Waltrip's fellow TV analyst on the truck races for SPEED. They will call the Saturday race at MIS. Parsons will then be a pit road reporter for TNT on Sunday, in the very race where Waltrip is "starting and parking" his car. Just how many lines of NASCAR media fairness can two men cross in one weekend? This might be a record.

There is no official word out on SPEED fixing the Monday night line-up. There is still a gaping hole at 8PM where This Week in NASCAR lived for over fifteen years. The 9PM Fast Track to Fame show is also apparently over, so there are two key hours to fill. Hopefully, some new and innovative NASCAR-themed TV programs will appear.

Finally, click here for reporter Michael Smith's story on the ill-fated NASCAR Wives program concept that never got off the ground last year. Instead of the reality of racing life, it seems that the TLC network wanted to create fake controversy and conflict. Imagine that. Did we mention earlier that SPEED has two hours open on Monday nights for NASCAR programming?

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Your Turn: Sprint Cup Series From Pocono On TNT

Sunday was the first of six Sprint Cup Series races on TNT. The new music theme was "TNT" from AC/DC.

Lindsay Czarniak, Larry McReynolds and Kyle Petty started the show from the infield stage. The pre-race show contained a mix of features, live interviews and a discussion among the analysts.

Weather was threatening and hit on the pace laps. The race was red flagged and Czarniak and McReynolds moved to an indoor studio location that TNT would not disclose. They hosted the rain delay, despite experiencing an audio problem for several minutes.

The pit reporters were Ralph Sheheen, Marty Snider, Matt Yocum and Phil Parsons. These four arranged a lot of interviews with drivers and TNT mixed them with several features that were repeated, including "Wally's World" during the rain delay.

Once things got underway, it was Adam Alexander, Kyle Petty and Wally Dallenbach Jr. in the booth. This was the first outing for Alexander in this role. Alexander was calm in his approach, but kept the facts straight and did a good job of directing traffic.

Petty and Dallenbach had an on-going conversation. These two kept things upbeat, despite the fact that the race had long stretches with limited passing and few storylines. The booth did not mention the "start and park" cars. Before the restart with XX laps to go, the trio in the booth came back on camera for a recap.

TNT worked the pit reporters, but also offered a dedicated pit reporter (Jim Noble) for online viewers watching RaceBuddy at the NASCAR.com website. This four camera feed with some added features is a TNT creation and will be on all six races.

The network continues to add some additional graphics like plylons that mark pit out and other areas of the track. There was only one graphics crawl on the screen and it stayed consistent for the race. Additional graphics highlighted individual cars with live information.

This is a great opportunity for you to tell us how you liked the TNT coverage and the RaceBuddy application. To add your comment, just click on the comments button below. This is a family-friendly website, please keep that in mind when posting.

After this very long day, thank you for taking the time to stop by The Daly Planet with your comments.