For the fourth time in less than a decade, the Indy 500 fell to a record-low.
The IndyCar Indianapolis 500 drew a 3.4 final rating and 5.5 million viewers on ABC Sunday afternoon, down 13% in ratings and 9% in viewership from last year (3.9, 6.0M), down 19% and 16% respectively from 2015 (4.2, 6.3M), and the lowest rated and least-watched edition of the race.
Takuma Sato‘s win, which peaked with a 4.1 and 6.5 million in the fast-nationals, fell below the previous record-lows of 3.6 in 2010 and 5.7 million in 2013.
Despite the record-low numbers, the Indy 500 defeated the night’s NASCAR Cup Series race at Charlotte by 21% in ratings and 18% in viewership — its largest win over the race since 2000. Keep in mind the NASCAR race was delayed two hours due to rain and ended after midnight. The Indy 500 has now topped the Coca-Cola 600 in three straight years, after losing the head-to-head battle in each of the previous eight meetings.
The Indy 500 was still no match for its true NASCAR competition, the Daytona 500 in February (6.6, 11.9M).
Sunday’s race had a 0.9 rating in adults 18-49, down a tick from last year. It tied the Coke 600 and NBC’s American Ninja Warrior as the day’s highest rated program in the demo.
(Numbers from ESPN, ShowBuzz Daily 5.31)
