2018 was a down year for IndyCar ratings, but the season ended on a bright note last weekend.
Last Sunday’s IndyCar Series finale from Sonoma (Ca.) earned a 0.38 rating and 629,000 viewers on NBCSN, up 15% in ratings and 19% in viewership from last year (0.33, 528K) and up 12% and 17% respectively from 2016 (0.34, 536K).
It was the highest rated and most-watched edition of the race since 2015 (0.53, 841K).
Including streaming, the race had 638,000 viewers — tying the fifth-largest IndyCar audience on NBCSN (previously VERSUS).
Viewership does not include a brief period of bonus coverage during the preceding — and late-running — NASCAR Cup Series race on NBCSN. Including that eight-minute segment, the race had 764,000 viewers, which would rank as the third-largest IndyCar audience ever on NBCSN.
The full IndyCar season averaged 465,000 viewers on NBCSN, down 8% from last year (507K), down 5% from 2016 (492K) and the smallest average since 2014.
NBCSN was not alone in suffering declines this season. ABC averaged a 1.2 rating and 1.82 million viewers for its five races, down 20% and 21% respectively from last year (1.5, 2.31M) and the network’s lowest averages in at least a decade.
Average IndyCar Viewership on Cable, Past Decade
[Numbers from NBC Sports, ESPN, Nielsen via ShowBuzz Daily 9.18]
