Sunday’s Race 2 Averaged Total Audience Delivery of Nearly 1.1 Million Viewers, Up 17% vs. 2018 on ABC & Best Race #2 in 3 Years
Four INDYCAR Races on NBC in 2019 Averaging TAD of 2.526 Million Viewers, Up 18% vs. Comparable Races Last Year on ABC
STAMFORD, Conn. – June 3, 2019 – NBC Sports’ INDYCAR doubleheader coverage of the Chevrolet Detroit Grand Prix presented by Lear this past Saturday and Sunday across NBC, NBCSports.com and the NBC Sports app delivered the best combined viewership for the races in three years as well as numerous other milestones, according to Fast National data by Nielsen and digital data from Adobe Analytics.
Race #1 on Saturday and Race #2 on Sunday combined to average a Total Audience Delivery (TAD) of 929,000 viewers across NBC, NBCSports.com and the NBC Sports app, up 10% vs. ABC’s TV-only viewership in 2018 (846,000) and the best combined viewership for the two races in three years (2016; 1.205 million). The two-race TV-only viewership on NBC averaged 924,000 viewers.
Sunday’s Race #2, which was won by five-time NTT IndyCar Series champion Scott Dixon of Chip Ganassi Racing, averaged a TAD of 1.097 million viewers, up 17% vs. vs. ABC’s TV-only viewership in 2018 (937,000) and the best for the Sunday race in three years (2016; 1.397 million). The race peaked on NBC with 1.364 million viewers from 5:30-5:45 p.m. ET as Dixon took the checkered flag. The TV-only viewership for the race on NBC (3:47-5:50 p.m. ET) was 1.091 million viewers, with a 0.71 household rating.
Race #1 on Saturday (3:53-6 p.m. ET) was impacted by significant weather delays and saw Team Penske’s Josef Newgarden win a timed race in the rain. Across NBC, NBCSports.com and the NBC Sports app, Saturday’s race averaged a TAD of 766,000 viewers, up 2% vs. ABC’s TV-only viewership in 2018 (752,000). Viewership peaked on NBC with 1.043 million viewers from 5:45-6 p.m. ET. NBC’s TV-only viewership on Saturday averaged 761,000 viewers and delivered a 0.55 household rating. The final 20 minutes of the race were televised on CNBC and are not included in NBC’s final viewership.
For the season, the four races presented across NBC, NBCSports.com and the NBC Sports app have combined to average a TAD of 2.526 million viewers, up 18% vs. the same four races last season on ABC (2.143 million).
NBC Sports’ coverage of the 2019 NTT IndyCar Series continues this Saturday at 8 p.m. ET on NBCSN with the DXC Technology 600 from Texas Motor Speedway in Fort Worth, Texas.
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The 2019 season is the first of a new media rights agreement that was announced in March 2018 between INDYCAR and NBC Sports Group in which NBC Sports acquired the exclusive rights to all NTT IndyCar Series races, qualifying and practice sessions, and Indy Lights races across its numerous platforms. Prior to this season, NBC Sports only had cable rights to a portion of the season. Click here for more information.
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