NBCSN finished a successful IndyCar season on a down note over the weekend.
The season-ending IndyCar Series race from Fontana earned 280,000 viewers on NBCSN Saturday night, down 13% from last year (322K) and the network’s least-viewed telecast of the season. Keep in mind the race began after 10 PM ET.
Saturday’s race was the second straight to have a decline, coming nearly a week after viewership from Sonoma fell by 4%. To put that in perspective, the previous three races each had increases of over 50%.
Despite declines for the final two races, NBCSN had its best IndyCar season in three years. The network averaged 378,000 viewers for 12 races, up 34% from last year’s 13-race average (282K), up 30% from 2012 (292K), and its second-most watched season since acquiring rights.
The top race of the season on NBCSN was Race 2 of the Toronto doubleheader on July 20 (484K), which also ranks as the network’s most-watched IndyCar telecast since 2011.
IndyCar viewership also increased on ABC this season, which averaged 2.4 million viewers across five races — up 14% from last year (2.1M).
(Season avg. from NBC Sports Group Press Box; Fontana viewership from NBC Sports)
