Weekend TV Ratings

NASCAR’s Brickyard 400 on Sunday rebounded from record-low viewership last year to post the Sprint Cup event’s best audience since '13, as well as NBCSN's best audience on record writes Austin Karp of Sportsbusinessdaily.com. The race from Indianapolis Motor Speedway also marked the best Cup race on cable TV since the season finale at Homestead-Miami Speedway on ESPN in '14.

NBCSN finished with 5.22 million viewers for the race, up 11% from 4.7 million viewers last year – which at the time was also an NBCSN record – and up slightly from 5.2 million viewers on ESPN in '14. ESPN finished with 5.46 million viewers in '13. Sunday’s audience also is up from 5.06 million viewers in '12, but that race aired up against the London Games.

Channel Series Day Total
Viewers
Viewers
18-49
% Viewers in
'Key Demo'
18-49*
Rating Location
NBCSN NASCAR Sprint Cup Sun. 5,217K 1,561K 29.9% 3.10 Indy
NBCSN Nascar Xfinity Sat 1,591K 0.343K 21.5% 1.04 Indy
NBCSN F1 Racing Sun. 0.477K 0.162K 34.0% 0.31 Hungary
NBCSN AMA Motocross Sat 0.335K 0.098K 29.2% 0.24 N/A
FS1 NHRA Sun. 0.168K 0.041K 24.4% 0.12 Denver

*The key demographic is a term in television ratings that refers to the most desirable demographic group to a given advertiser. Key demographics vary by network, time of day, and programming type, but they are generally composed of individuals who are younger and more affluent than the general public: "Young adult viewers have been TV's target demographic for decades, because they're thought to have less brand loyalty and more disposable income.