Thankyou so much for doing this, my husband and I who have been fans for 15 years cannot take the commercials anymore. I have never seen so many. Do you turn your statisitics into NASCAR? Don’t know if they would care but maybe they could see how bad it is. Keep up the good work

this is more and more disgusting. Heck, I couldn’t even enjoy just relaxing and watching the race as I had to be so diligent with my channel flipping away from all this nonsense. Nascar made a fan of me about 10 years ago when for some reason I lost interest in the NFL. Seriously, I am close to losing interest in Nascar now because of this. There is no quality of content anywhere that can withstand the onslaught of commercialism the Nascar suits seem intent to stuff down our throats. well, they can’t do it to me.

Now, if you could keep track of how many minutes the broadcast spent on any driver that was NOT in the top 11, you could have saved yourself a lot of time.

Only way it will ever get better is when everyone stops watching…that is when the ratings will go down, and advertisers won’t want to buy time.

Thanks for doing all the work. I have often thought of doing it but usually fall asleep. After being a fan for 15 years I am losing interest. Too many commercials and too much Nascar contol!

Outstanding job! I don’t know which is worse, FOX/FX or NBC/TNT but I do know there are twice as many commercials as there needs to be. It’s sickening.

I recorded Green to Ckecker ONLY & came up with 117min 37sec racing & 60min 3sec commercials & promos & I may have missed a couple short promos. So over 1/3 is junk. Also for DELL, I did the same a while back with FOX & it was worse. The ratings ARE going down.

WOW!!! You did a really wonderful job on tracking the race vs commercial time. Way to much time is spent away from the race. If NASCAR wants to ever become the #1 spectator sport, they are going to have to find away to show more of the action. In the NFL how many plays are missed due to commercials? I know they can’t stop the race for t.v. time-outs, how-ever the split screen that ABC/ESPN wants to use could be a good place to start. Thankfully I didn’t have to endure the commercials for the Chevy Rock and Roll 400, I was there. Now I look forward to Charlotte when I can once again avoid the t.v. to see the race. Once again THANKS Cheryl for a job well done!!!!!!!

Hi,

I was at the race last night and have a scanner and while I was listening to the TV broadcast (while people at home are watching commercials people at the track with a scanner hear the announcers talking to each other about what they are going to talk about in the next segment)and Wally Dallenbach said “we are going to miss 10 laps of racing before we get back” He was not very happy it seemed with how long the commercial breaks were.

I get so mad that commercials are so repetative and rediculous. I have always said that the advertising industry has definitely cornered the market on stupidity and I can’t imagine that all the advertising people actually went to school to learn the work that they do. From the looks and sounds of the commercials nowadays the wasted their money because it is pretty evident that they didn’t learn a thing. I have a MUTE button on my remote that is used every time a race goes to commercials. I don’t have time for stupidity.

Keep up the good work. Had to turn the channel. I guess i will just have to enjoy the races when i attend them

Thank goodness for Tivo I dont even watch them live on TV anymore. I record it, then go thru all the crap for the 4 or 5 laps they show before going away for something else. Their “going thru the field” is a joke. Half the time they dont even go thru the cars on the lead lap.let along the entire field.TNN use to do it and would show EVERY car at least once. NBC seems to forget the guys in the back of the pack have fans too.I was at the IRL race today in Chicago and watch it on ESPN/ABC. Lets hope when NA$CAR goes there next year, they do the same thing as the IRL broadcasts and keep showing the race while running the commercials.Remember everyone. next week there will be 43 cars out there, not just the 10 Bill Weber will only talk about ad nausem.

Awesome job of quantifying every nauseating moment of commercials. I know that commercials pay for the broadcast, but COME ON!!!! This is like watching the friggin’ Superbowl every weekend, and the person who is lining his pocket is Brian France. He’s killing the golden goose, and I have to say that I won’t be watching the races on TV anymore if this continues. The saturation of NA$CAR has arrived, and now they are succeeding in driving out more fans than they have managed to court in recent years. I love racing, but I hate being robbed a hell of a lot more!

Thanks for doing this. I really noticed the lack of race coverage during the chase last year. I literally cannot watch it anymore. That half hour towards the end, I thought I was going crazy with commercials every three minutes, but your analysis proves it. I was raised on NASCAR when it wasn’t “cool”, but I am quickly losing patience. Maybe things will change with ESPN, but I am done watching for the season now. Thanks again.

Please send this to NASCAR and TNT/NBC and whoever else has the power to change it. What is especially telling is the ammount of time racing is shown before a commercial. If i read that correctly, only TWICE was the race on for more than 10 minutes between commercials…

Wow! Thanks for doing all of the heavy lifting – my husband tried to keep track of 1/2 hour’s worth of programming & got fed up.

Sadly NASCAR and the networks are far more aware of how many commercials there are, and their frequency, and they’re not about to change a thing no matter how much we complain. It’s all about lining their own pockets at this point, fans be damned.

God Bless Wally D. for being upset about it.

Excellent work on compiling your statistics; it truly is insane how many commericals are out there and I’m glad someone like you is keeping track!

What really gets me personally are the breaks that happen within the last 1/4 of the race, especially if it’s under green!

You’d probably get a kick out of these lyrics I made at my blog a while back, summing up a slew of 79 NASCAR commercials into the song “We Didn’t Start The Fire:”

http://nascarpoetry.blogspot.com/2006/08/seventy-nine-commercials-in-five_25.html

well i miss the old back feeds from years ago..

We’ve recorded the races and watch them later. It really saves time! We’ve also tried listening to the radio broadcast instead of nbc. Bill Weber is definitely not a race fan and it comes across in the broadcast. I’ve emailed nbc, but never a response and they obviously think he’s doing a good job. What a waste. We are also losing interest in Nascar, especially during football season.

I thought when we got 21 mins of racing to start the race, we might be treated to something special! It is obvious that NASCAR wants fans ticked off about commericals so they buy the pay per view that is offered.

Dennis

We all understand what the NASCAR and network’s economy is about; but I am taken back with the culture they think they are reaching – such as trailers for “Kill Bill” and “Jackass #2.” That is almost as bad as Bill Weber reading his que cards on their “Countdown to Green” or, better known as the Gordon and Johnson (Frick and Frack) show. By the way, why is it always “Jimmy Johnson” instead of just “Johnson?”

At least the commercials-to-racing content ratio is staying fairly consistant. A few years back when that one website used to keep track of the minutes of commercials per hour (remember the old Victory Celebration Station?), commercials took up 19-23 minutes of every hour, IIRC.

At one time I thought TNT was the best for the time they spent after the race interviewing every driver in the top 5 or so. But lately the commercials have taken complete control.
And what is with Bill Webber, surely NASCAR can get a better man for the broadcast booth. And Mark Martin we know you are proud of your fans, but enough is enough. I have been an avid NASCAR fan since my first visit to Daytona in 1987, and 19 years later, this is utterly out of control.

Thank you so much for doing this….I was also so stressed about the commercials that it was difficult to relax and enjoy the race. In fact, I just had to get up and do something else, listened for the roar of the cars and then came back. The companies that pay for advertising are not getting the viewers to watch their 59 minutes of fame.

thank-you this is great information it only going to get worse once nbc takes over since this is their last year they have nothing to lose

Anyone who followed the sport for the last 20 years knows and understands that a key component of NA$CAR is the promotion. But Brian France and his cronies have crossed the line by allowing this level of commercialism. The France family controls NA$CAR and only they can put an end to this ludicrous level of non-racing action during the broadcast. The root of the problem is with the networks and they pay NA$CAR for the right to broadcast; NA$CAR is in a win-win situation and they don’t have to or need to care, they get paid anyway. Unfortunately until NA$CAR feels some financial pain the true fan will have to simply endure or find an alternate sanction to feed their need for speed. I say TiVo NA$CAR, skip the commercials and remember to support your local short track.

For the past few weeks, I have seen articles where the races tv ratings are down. I wonder why. Maybe they should be looking at these stats and quit worrying about the almighty dollar. Fans have been screaming for years about commercials. And now we have a chance to have side by side screens and Nascar says NO!!!! They claim the fans don’t want it.

wow you must have no life

I haven’t been able to deal with the TV coverage for awhile now….I watch the race on MRN! These stats made me realize why…thanks for doing all the hard work

Isn’t it ironic that the one sport that shouldn’t need commercials has the most. NASCAR is a commercial. With sponsor logos plastered on every available space from the car, driver, crew, pit road wall, pit boxes etc.. Heck even we as race fans come to the track decorated with our favorite driver and his sponsors from head to toe. So I say why not cut the commercials out all together and have the “sponsors” pay the networks for guaranteed TV time. If nothing else it would let those of us who’s favorite driver is not in the top 10 get to watch something besides the ticker scrolling across the top (in between the commercials of course)

What a JOKE!!! the Rock and Roll 400 was. Too many commercials not enough of racing. At one point in the race 10 laps had gone by during one commercial. Tell Nascar they are losing fans.They do the same thing during qualifying,which I refuse to watch now.Indy car racing is beginning to look good. When ESPN/ABC go to a commercial they use split screens so you can still see the action. And thanks for doing a great job!

thay would also come back from a commerical and bill webber would say what lap it was and go back to a commerical if Nascar if TNT wants people to stop watching they are doing a good job.
If every one next week would skip watchin the race i sure they would do something

Great job, I have often wanted to do this to see how much garbage was destroying my race coverage. You have done a great job and maybe overloaded me, but that is OK. I knew it was bad, just could not put a number to it. NASCAR is my last professional sport, I gave up on Baseball in the 80’s, Football in the 90’s and Basketball in the New Millenium. The Players and Owners forced me away and it is not likely I will return. But now NASCAR and the Networks GREED forces the TRUE FAN to turn away and may do the same as the PERVERTS, DRUG ADDICTS AND MURDERS have done in the other professional sports.

I have keep track of the commericals at times during the race,but always lost count,the races are boaring enough without watching a commerical every 4 min. I wonder if there are more drivers and cars,besides the top 11 cars and drivers?

How much would you guys be willing to pay for a pay per view option where it is commercial free? I’m not sure how high I would be willing to go, but it would be up there.

Some of you may not know, but the PPV option right now available on Digital Cable in some markets, goes to commercial when the regular broadcast does too. It just gives you in-car options when the race is viewing.

It isn’t even offered in all markets. I live in the Buffalo area and it is not offered here.

I’m getting fed up with it too. For a period of time I would listen on the radio and watch tv at the same time, but I am finding radio has been getting worse too. It often will coincide with TV as well.

If I didn’t like racing so much, I would give up. But I can’t.

I wouldn’t expect to see much change next year either. Its too bad. I say time for a start-up league that competes against Nascar to begin.

Race at some of the old tracks that have been abandoned. Go back to racing, not commercialism. It wouldn’t take much for a lot of us to switch over

I got 3 letters for you D.V.R.!!

GREAT JOB!!!!!
Hope NASCAR takes notice!
I Hate FX the most!!

Thanks for doing such an outstanding job with these stats! I am a long time Nascar fan and I’ve tried to get my wife interested. The first time I got her to sit and watch a race with me she got up and left because of all the commercials. She hasn’t tried it since. I knew it was bad but to see the numbers in front of me is nothing short of a revelation. Good-bye Nascar on t.v., hello local short track! If the powers that be at Nascar are wondering why their ratings are down after seeing these numbers they are in complete denial. Nascar and the networks are out of touch with what the fans want. “Through the Field” is a waste of time and Bill Weber is a waste of a good seat at the races. I personally would like to see less pre-race and more post-race coverage but it looks like I’ll just turn this crap off!

I set TiVo to record the race. I usually start watching the race broadcast about an hour or so after the actual green flag drops to start the race. With a few food and bathroom breaks and skipping commercials, I usually get to the end of the race about the same time the live broadcast does. That’s what’s nice about DVR’s (TiVo in my case), you can watch while you record…

In Canada we have the same amount of commercials….Except ours are the same over and over and over compared to the U.S, still bad, but you have variety….If I have to watch 1-more Castrol Syntec oil commercial…It’s as bad as watching Fomula One…with no commercials….

Great stats. Now if we can get the number of completely obvious things bill weber says….

Thanks for the stats. Ever since TNT took over at halfway, it has been very apparent that the commercial time has gotten sickening. I understand that there needs to be some advertising but, look at ESPN and FOX. They don’t go overboard like TNT and FX. Some posts are blaming Nascar. I don’t think Nascar is at fault here. However, I do think they need to look into how TNT is ruining the sport.

I subscribe to Pit command I can at least follow the cars on my computer screen during the long commercial breaks. I would be willing to subscribe to a pay per view commercial free green flag to checker flag race. And I bet there are many others who would also purchase this kind of product.

It’s so sad to see how much of time is actually spent showing the race. I’ve noticed that the green flag waives and not 5 laps later they break for commercial. I have also noticed that we hardly ever get to see 10 continues laps of coverage. I am glad you put this together because it shows exactly that. Notice that most of the broadcast times are less than 6 minutes. I would not miss a race, both Busch and Cup. This season, I haven’t made it through an entire one due to all of the commercials. I usually get bored and flip the channel. The DVR option isn’t a solution because you are still missing an hour’s worth of racing action.

I’ve tracked since May on my spreadsheet. Glad to see it’s on the web. I know commericals pay the bills…but it’s getting out of hand. Richmond – the most important race of the year – we miss re-starts and get 7-10 laps of coverage before another commerical. The networks simply use NASCAR as a tool for self promotion. Don’t see that happening in other sports coverage.

Thanks for the great job hope this wakes up WWF NASCAR this is why I watch less and less of WWF NASCAR It will be going the way of CART and other openwheel racing. don,t they make enough money on tickets and all the junk they sell for BIG BUCKS

For those of you blaming the networks…remember that they are only trying to recover the RIDICULOUS amount of money they have to pay NA$CAR for broadcast rights (note that IRL actually pays ABC/ESPN to broadcast races). This is why NBC dropped out….they just couldn’t put enough commercials on (even with the ridiculous amount that they do) to turn a buck.

As for the split screen deal with ABC and IRL….that’s a wonderful thing, but NA$CAR has prohibited the networks from doing it with NA$CAR broadcasts.

Any complaints about the commercialization of TV coverage need to be directed at NA$CAR, not the networks.

I can’t watch a race without NASCAR Live Leaderboard up on my laptop computer anymore! It’s the only way I can keep track of what’s going on with the “other drivers”. You know, the guys who aren’t in the Chase that may or may not have a good car this week.

I never did hear what happened to Gilliland at Richmond. He was running in the low 20’s, then all of the sudden he was 3 laps down with a big patch on his drivers’ side door. I talked to a bunch of other people and noone seems to know what happened to him… Like he wasn’t even in the race (for the Chase).

I think Timugen said it correctly. I was really pissed when NASCAR said they would not allow the split screen. Their reasoning is we come right back if something happens, and the fans don’t miss anyting. What idiots

Thanks for keeping these stats, if you keep doing it and Jayski keeps posting them these comments will be read and hopefully we’ll get our point across. I’ve been a fan for a number of years but it’s almost impossible to watch the races on TV because the coverage is so bad. I usually end up muting the TV and listening to MRN for commentary.

I have gotten to the point that I tivo the race and actually start watching at the half way point because of the commercials. Thanks for taking the time to do this. Also the NBC/TNT crew has to go. Wally, Allen, and Benny just make to many bad calls. They don’t appear to know what drivers are in what cars or even what track they are at.

Absolutely incredible work.
Kudos again.

One thing that really ticks me off is when they miss restarts. That’s when most of the action happens. If there was a pay-per-view where we could shut off DW’s microphone and not have commercial breaks, I’d pay whatever they ask.

Did anyone else remember that the whole idea of the big TV deal of a few years ago was designed to get NASCAR off cable and onto broadcast so more people could see it? But the broadcast networks rarely show races, only when there’s nothing else going on, so FX and TNT show almost all of them. And they’re CABLE stations? Who made this deal anyways?

NASCAR should take a hint from Indy Car and do a split screen.
Can’t believe we had to endure 60 minutes of commercials. Good thing I can watch with my Pix in Pix and watch another program to fill the gaps. No wonder I am loosing interest more and more every week!

IF DUPONT AND THE REST OF THE SPONSERS WOULD PUT THERE 20 MILLION IN COMMERCIALS INSTEAD OF THE CAR OWNERS. I DON’T THINK NASCAR WOULD HAVE TO WORRY ABOUT THE TV DEAL. WE WOULD ALL BE BACK AT THE LOCAL SHORT TRACKS ON SAT. NIGHT.

get a life tnt gordy

Great stats. I too miss the Sponsor Celebration Station. Remember when almost every driver thanked God for winning the race? I work on most Sunday’s and end up taping the race. I live in Canada and have a PVR (DVR in US). I do not watch any commercials anymore at all. I have emailed NASCAR many times about a PPV service, but received no response. I would pay big dollars just to watch a race with no commercials. If this happens, who gets all the money?

Thank you for this commercial breakdown…Unfortunately we cannot do anything about all the commercials, my biggest complaint is the timing of the commercials. If they had a majority of the commercials at the middle of the race, I could live with that, as it seems like they do in football. If you don’t count the last 11 mins of air time (only the second 10+ min. interval), from 10pm to 10:39pm, almost 40 mins, HALF was commercials! And that is near the end of the race when everyone, even the casual fan, wants to know what is going on. If anything, change the timing of the commercials, don’t interupt the show when everything starts to heat up on the track and everyone’s trying to make their end-of-race moves.

gee, wonder why NASCAR gets flak for having too many commercials.

great job on the breakdown.