IndyCar TV ratings up, helped by extra ABC race

The Izod IndyCar Series is averaging 2.3 million viewers through five races across ABC and Versus, up 28% from 1.8 million viewers through the same point last year (six races – much of the increase is attributable to one more race on ABC and one less on Versus). The series saw its signature Indianapolis 500 telecast average 6.5 million viewers this year, up 12% from last year's record-low 5.8 million viewers. Last Saturday's Firestone Twin 275s from Texas Motor Speedway averaged 525,000 viewers on Versus, making it the net's most-viewed IndyCar telecast since it began airing IndyCar races prior to the '09 season. During the '08 season, the last year that ESPN/ESPN2 aired IndyCar races, only one telecast finished with fewer than 525,000 viewers, an 11:00am ET replay of the Indy Japan 300 that had already aired live the night before.

'11 IZOD INDYCAR SERIES
DATE	RACE	NET	START (ET)	VIEWERS (000)
3/27	Honda GP of St. Petersburg	ABC	12:30pm	1,840
4/10	Honda Indy GP of Alabama	Versus	3:36pm	304
4/17	Toyota GP of Long Beach	Versus	4:13pm	323
5/2	Sao Paolo Indy 300*	Versus	n/a	n/a
5/29	Indianapolis 500	ABC	12:04pm	6,711
6/11	Firestone Twin 275s (Texas)	Versus	8:52pm	525

NOTE: * = Race excluded from '11 figures after rain out on Sunday. Race was run on the following Monday on Versus.

'10 IZOD INDYCAR SERIES
DATE	RACE	NET	START (ET)	VIEWERS (000)
3/14	Sao Paulo Indy 300	Versus	11:54am	411
3/28	Honda GP of St. Petersburg^	ABC	n/a	n/a
4/11	Indy GP of Alabama	Versus	3:49pm	310
4/18	Toyota GP of Long Beach	Versus	4:21pm	490
5/1	Road Runner Turbo Indy 300 (Kansas)	ABC	1:30pm	969
5/30	Indianapolis 500	ABC	1:00pm	5,793
6/5	Firestone 550k (Texas)	Versus	8:04pm	518

NOTE: ^ = Race excluded from '10 figures after rain out on schedule Sunday. Race aired the following Monday on ESPN2. Source: Sports Business Journal