2020 NBC Sports NASCAR TV audience matches 2019

Despite the season being significantly affected by COVID-19 – including a number of rescheduled races and limited fan attendance – NBC Sports’ 2020 coverage of the NASCAR Cup Series matched its viewership numbers from the 2019 campaign, headlined by a 3% viewership gain for races airing on the NBC broadcast network.

NBC Sports’ 2020 NASCAR Cup Series viewership (19 races) across NBC and NBCSN produced a Total Audience Delivery of 2.597 million viewers, according to Nielsen and digital data from Adobe Analytics, matching viewership for the comparable 19 races on NBC and NBCSN in 2019 (2.597 million viewers). This season’s viewership includes the Kansas weeknight race and excludes the weather-impacted Texas race.

Season-long viewership on NBC (8 races) averaged a TAD of 3.234 million viewers, up 3% vs. last season (7 races; 3.147 million). The season was capped by Chase Elliott’s first-career Cup Series championship on NBC last Sunday, which produced a TAD of 3.093 million viewers (1.87 HH rating, 3.063 million TV-only), up 18% from last season’s Phoenix playoff race on NBC (2.588 million viewers). Viewership peaked at more than four million viewers (4.087 million; 6-6:15 p.m. ET) as Elliott crossed the finish line for his first-career title.

The 2020 Cup Series also delivered NBC Sports’ most-streamed NASCAR season record, producing an Average Minute Audience of 27,300 viewers, up 29% vs. 2019 (21,100 viewers).

Greenville-Spartanburg led all markets for the 2020 NASCAR Cup Series on NBC and NBCSN with a 4.2 local rating, followed by Charlotte and Knoxville (4.0). Following are the Top 10 markets for 2020 campaign: