Despite rare primetime exposure on broadcast television, IndyCar turned in a tepid performance on Saturday night.
Saturday’s IndyCar Series Firestone 500 from Texas earned a 1.1 overnight rating on ABC, tied as the highest overnight for a non-Indy 500 race on the network* since the Grand Prix of St. Petersburg in March 2011 (1.3).
Despite the two-year high, Saturday’s 1.1 overnight is one of the lowest in memory for a primetime sporting event on broadcast TV. Even Game 3 of the 2007 Ducks/Senators Stanley Cup Finals — one of the worst primetime television draws in U.S. broadcast history — drew a 1.5 overnight.
The IndyCar race was trounced head-to-head by Game 5 of the Kings/Blackhawks NHL playoff series on NBC (2.9) and regional Major League Baseball coverage on FOX (3.2).
In other recent IndyCar news, ABC’s coverage of the Chevy Dual at Detroit the previous weekend earned a 0.6 final rating and 883,000 viewers for the first race and a 0.7 and 1.0 million for the second.
* Excludes the 2011 season finale at Las Vegas, which was halted after 11 laps due to a crash that killed Dan Wheldon.
(Weekend overnights from Sports Business Daily; Detroit finals from Sports Business Daily)
