Historical Indy 500 TV Ratings
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| Tony George now |
We go back to 1979, the year CART began, widely considered IndyCar's golden years.
Compare the TV ratings then to what happened once the Split happened in 1996 – Tony George damaged his family's crown jewel and the sport once considered the #1 form of motorsports in America.
| Year | Final TV Rating |
% USA Households Watching TV that are watching race or Viewers |
Net | League | Comment |
| 1979 | 13.5 | 24 Share | ABC | CART | CART's 1st Year |
| 1980 | 13.8 | 27 Share | ABC | CART | IndyCar’s Golden Years |
| 1981 | 12.8 | 24 Share | ABC | CART | IndyCar’s Golden Years |
| 1982 | 12.3 | 25 Share | ABC | CART | IndyCar’s Golden Years |
| 1983 | 14.1 | 27 Share | ABC | CART | IndyCar’s Golden Years |
| 1984 | 12.9 | 25 Share | ABC | CART | IndyCar’s Golden Years |
| 1985 | 9.7 | 18 Share | ABC | CART | IndyCar’s Golden Years |
| 1986 | 8.8 | 31 Share | ABC | CART | IndyCar’s Golden Years |
| 1987 | 11.1 | 36 Share | ABC | CART | IndyCar’s Golden Years |
| 1988 | 8.5 | 29 Share | ABC | CART | IndyCar’s Golden Years |
| 1989 | 7.8 | 28 Share | ABC | CART | IndyCar’s Golden Years |
| 1990 | 7.4 | 26 Share | ABC | CART | IndyCar’s Golden Years |
| 1991 | 8.0 | 27 Share | ABC | CART | IndyCar’s Golden Years |
| 1992 | 9.8 | 31 Share | ABC | CART | IndyCar’s Golden Years |
| 1993 | 9.3 | 31 Share | ABC | CART | IndyCar’s Golden Years |
| 1994 | 9.1 | 31 Share | ABC | CART | IndyCar’s Golden Years |
| 1995 | 9.4 | 26 Share | ABC | CART | IndyCar’s Golden Years |
| 1996 | 6.6 | 19 Share | ABC | IRL | T. George destruction begins |
| 1997 | 5.1 | 14 Share | ABC | IRL | Rating falls below 6.0 |
| 1998 | 6.0 | 19 Share | ABC | IRL | T. George damage continues |
| 1999 | 5.5 | 18 Share | ABC | IRL | T. George damage continues |
| 2000 | 5.5 | 15 Share | ABC | IRL | T. George damage continues |
| 2001 | 5.8 | 17 Share | ABC | IRL | T. George damage continues |
| 2002 | 4.8 | 15 Share | ABC | IRL | Rating falls below 5.0 |
| 2003 | 4.6 | 14 Share | ABC | IRL | T. George damage continues |
| 2004 | 4.7 | 11 Share | ABC | IRL | T. George damage continues |
| 2005 | 6.5 | 18 Share | ABC | IRL | Some CART Teams Participate |
| 2006 | 5.0 | 14 Share | ABC | IRL | T. George damage continues |
| 2007 | 4.3 | 12 Share | ABC | IRL | CART/IRL Merger deal done |
| 2008 | 4.5 | ?? Share | ABC | IRL | A small bump up after merger |
| 2009 | 4.0 | 11 Share | ABC | IRL | Merger can't overcome T. George damage |
| 2010 | 3.6 | 10 Share 5.79M | ABC | IRL | Rating falls below 4.0, <10% of Households |
| 2011 | 4.0 | 6.71M | ABC | IndyCar | T. George damage continues |
| 2012 | 4.34 | 6.86M | ABC | IndyCar | T. George damage continues |
| 2013 | 3.7 | 5.74M | ABC | IndyCar | Viewership falls below 6.0M |
| 2014 | 3.8 | 5.94M | ABC | IndyCar | T. George damage continues |
| 2015 | 4.1 | 6.4M | ABC | IndyCar | T. George damage continues |
| 2016 | 3.8 | 5.86M | ABC | IndyCar | T. George damage continues |
| 2017 | 3.41 | 5.457M | ABC | IndyCar | T. George damage continues |
| 2018 | 3.08 | 4.91M | ABC | IndyCar | T. George damage continues |
| 2019 | 3.41 | 5.414M + 32K Streaming | NBC | IndyCar | First Year for NBC, equals ABC in 2017 |
Share is the percentage of viewers (currently watching TV) that are watching the listed particular program.
NBC on Sunday drew a total audience delivery of 5.446 million viewers for Simon Pagenaud's win in the Indianapolis 500, the first time the net had broadcast rights to the race. Sunday's race is up from a record low last year on ABC TV only, which averaged 4.913 million. The '17 race on ABC drew 5.457 million viewers (slightly more than NBC did this year). Sunday's audience peaked at 6.7 million viewers in the final quarter hour of the race, from 3:45-4:00pm ET. Sunday's race drew a TV-only number of 5.414 million viewers and marks the most-watched Sunday afternoon sporting event on NBC since the Eagles-Bears NFC Wild Card game on Jan. 6 (36.0 million viewers). The 500 was also the most-watched sporting event of the day across broadcast TV (Josh Carpenter, THE DAILY)