TV Ratings: Pole-Day Qualifying

Pole Day qualifications drew a .35 Nielsen TV rating Saturday (May 9) on Versus. That means about 385,000 TV households nationwide tuned in to the cable channel broadcast. It’s not exactly a Super Bowl type rating, but it’s as good as any Indy Racing League race so far this year.

Well, actually, Pole Day drew just less than the Long Beach race (388,864 households), but better than IRL races in St. Petersburg and Kansas earlier this year. Versus’ broadcast of the second day of Indianapolis 500 qualifications on Sunday nearly did as well, with 322,000 TV households tuning in.
- Source: Indiana Business Journal

It’s a decent rating.  How ratings are calculated are from quarter hours and to maintain a average .35 over 26 quarter hours (6.5 hours / .25) isn’t half bad.  The average means that some parts (for instance Happy Hour) were probably higher than say the periods of 2:00 PM - 4:00 PM but all still averaged to just under what Long Beach did.

The best comparison to make is to other coverage on Versus itself.  The NHL playoffs are probably the highest rated Versus programming and is going on right now.

Versus has not experienced a better NHL postseason to date. The rising cable sports network is seeing all-time highs in viewership. Last Wednesday’s telecast of the Capitals-Penguins Eastern Conference Semifinals Game Three drew 1.489 million fans, making it the most-viewed second-round NHL Playoff game on cable since Detroit-St. Louis drew 1.769 million viewers to ESPN in 2002. Overall, Versus averaged 814,738 viewers for its first ten NHL Conference Semifinal telecasts, up 38% from 590,229 viewers for the same span last year.
- TV By the Numbers

NHL is on Versus for  I believe its 3rd year, it takes time but ratings slowly grow as the fanbase are converted into knowing that this is the channel for NHL.  Indycar fans will do the same over the next couple years.  The NHL doing so well will also help Versus become part of basic packages in other outlets, a win-win situation for Indycar fans.