The IndyCar Series was unable to match its strong finish of a year ago.
The IndyCar season finale from Sonoma (CA) had a 0.3 final rating and 536,000 viewers on NBCSN Sunday afternoon, down 40% in ratings and 36% in viewership from last year’s race, which was the most-watched IndyCar telecast ever on the network (0.5, 841K). Compared to 2014, ratings were flat and viewership increased 42% from 377,000. Keep in mind the race had not previously aired on an NFL Sunday.
Despite the decline, it was the second-most watched IndyCar race on cable this year — trailing only coverage from Mid-Ohio in August that aired on both NBCSN and CNBC (929K).
Not including the postponed Pocono race, NBCSN and CNBC averaged 488,000 viewers for IndyCar coverage this season (10 telecasts) — down 4% from last year (507K) but up 29% from 2014 (378K). It was the second-most watched IndyCar season on the NBC family of networks (dates back to 2009), behind only last year.
Overall, the full IndyCar season averaged 1.3 million viewers across the NBC networks and ABC, per Sports Business Daily — up from 1.2 million last year and the largest audience since 2011. ABC made up for the lower numbers on NBCSN, posting an uptick in ratings both with the Indy 500 included (from 1.5 to 1.6) and without it (from 0.7 to 0.8).
(Numbers via ShowBuzz Daily 9/20, NBC Sports Group Press Box 9/21, Sports Business Daily 9/23, ESPN)
