TV News: Weekend USA Motorsports TV Ratings
TV ratings from last weekend’s major motorsports events. NASCAR was in Indianapolis for the Brickyard 400, F1 was in Hungary and IndyCar was in Toronto
–by Mark Cipolloni–
TV Rating Analysis
NASCAR
Sunday’s NASCAR Cup Series Brickyard 400 from Indianapolis Motor Speedway averaged a 2.1 rating and 3.63 million viewers on NBC, up 26% in ratings and 28% in viewership from last year (1.7, 2.84M) and the highest rated and most-watched edition of the race since 2020, the previous year it took place on the traditional oval (2.7, 4.34M).
Kyle Larson’s win, which peaked with 4.5 million viewers in the 5:45 PM ET quarter-hour, moved to USA Network at 6 PM ET and averaged a 1.3 and 2.34 million during its half-hour conclusion.
Saturday’s corresponding Xfinity Series race averaged a 0.65 (+14%) and 1.16 million (+13%) on USA, the network’s most-watched Xfinity Series race since 2022. Friday’s Truck Series race pulled a 0.24 (-4%) and 432,000 (+7%) on FS1, the network’s top sportscast of the week.
Formula 1
Last Sunday’s F1 Hungarian GP, won by Oscar Piastri, averaged 1.1M viewers (peak 1.3M) – up 3% over the 2024 race.
F1 still led comfortably in the all-important 18-49 age group, with 43% of viewers 18-49 and worldwide, over 70 million viewers watch the race.
Formula 1 on ESPN continues its 2024 momentum. Through 13 races, the races have averaged 1.2 million viewers per race, up 7% over 2023 full-season average.
A rather impressive number given the Sunday morning time slots and the fact it is a cable channel.
IndyCar
The IndyCar race from Toronto won by Colton Herta, currently has no published viewership numbers. Last year, IndyCar gave us an excuse that Peacock does not publish its streaming numbers, yet NBC (They own Peacock) publishes the streaming numbers on Peacock when they are decent, like the Indy 500. Hence, one can only conclude that the viewership streaming number for the Honda Indy Toronto must be so bad it’s embarrassing (likely in the 20,000 range). Otherwise, why the silence? We stand to be corrected.
TV Rating Data
| Network | Event | Location | Total Viewers |
18-49 Viewers | Ratio 18-49 Yr Old/ Total Viewers |
2024 Rating |
2023 Rating |
Rating % Chg. |
2023 Network |
2023 Viewers |
2023 18-49 Viewers |
Total Viewers % Chg |
18-49 Viewers % Chg |
| NBC | NASCAR Cup Race | Indianapolis | 3,630,000 | 650,000 | 18% | 2.10 | 1.70 | 23.53% | NBC | 2,838,000 | 468,000 | 27.91% | 38.89% |
| USA | NASCAR Cup Race Finish | Indianapolis | 2,340,000 | 390,000 | 17% | 1.30 | Race did not have to finish on a different network last year | ||||||
| ESPN | F1 Hungarian GP | Budapest | 1,100,000 | 475,000 | 43% | 0.61 | 0.60 | 1.67% | ESPN | 1,035,000 | 429,000 | 6.28% | 10.72% |
| USA | NASCAR Xfinity Race | Indianapolis | 1,160,000 | 200,000 | 17% | 0.65 | 0.60 | 8.33% | FS1 | 1,026,000 | 160,000 | 13.06% | 25.00% |
| FS1 | NASCAR Truck Race | IRP | 432,000 | 70,000 | 16% | 0.24 | 0.20 | 20.00% | FS1 | 404,000 | 65,000 | 6.93% | 7.69% |
| Peacock | IndyCar Race | Toronto | Viewership is so low, Peacock and IndyCar are embarrassed to publish. Too low for Nielsen to measure. They publish streaming numbers when they are decent, like for the Indy 500, but not for a race like Toronto. One can only assume; therefore, they were horrible. | ||||||||||