TV Ratings: Street Outlaws Still Running Strong

Three seasons in, perhaps we’re beginning to sound like a broken record with these ratings updates, but there’s no denying that you folks out there want to see the numbers.

Now, much has been written and said about the Discovery Channel’s “reality” program Street Outlaws both here and elsewhere, and to be honest, there’s really no need to continue that discussion about the social morality of the show’s objective as it pertains to legitimate drag racing, but rather, the purpose here is to display the numbers and make a point.

Following the first season of the show that ran a little more than a year ago (the programming seasons for this, like many other television programs these days, is a scant six weeks in length), we published the numbers to show just how great of a disparity existed between the television ratings of this new primetime show versus the same-day or live programming from the NHRA and ESPN.

Part of Discovery’s “Motor Monday” programming block that actually holds the coveted title of the No. 1 cable network spot for men 25-54, Street Outlaws continues to hold strong as one of the top-watched programs on cable on Monday evenings. Based on the numbers this season, Street Outlaws hasn’t exactly gained any viewership compared to previous seasons, however, it has steadily climbed from 1.5 million viewers for the season premiere to more than two million four weeks in, settling at just under two million a week later with a 1.0 rating in the 18-49 category. This is still short of the 2.2 million that the season to finale drew, but it’s hard to draw an apples to apples comparison with a season televised in the dead of winter with one during the summer travel months.

All other drag racing programming (the NHRA), meanwhile, cannot even be found on the publicly-available ratings reports, with viewership of the Sunday eliminations broadcasts totaling less than 400,000. Do the quick multiplication in your head, and that’s nearly six times the numbers of eyes watching Street Outlaws. This isn’t so much a dig at the NHRA as it is proof-positive that the gear heads are out there, and they’re interested in drag racing programming — it’s just a matter of delivering the programming to them that they want to see, in a format and at an hour that caters to their viewing habits. Whether that’s the NHRA or anyone else, it can be done.