NASCAR viewership continues to take a “Big Data” hit on linear TV, with the TNT portion of the season down slightly under the new methodology — and up slightly under the old.
The five NASCAR Cup Series races on TNT Sports averaged 2.0 million viewers per the Nielsen “Big Data + Panel” data that is the official currency, down slightly from a year ago, but 2.1 million per the prior ‘panel-only’ methodology that NASCAR is now publicizing for its races — up 4%.
Both of the linear NASCAR packages this season — on Fox Sports and TNT Sports — posted slightly fewer viewers on a “Big Data + Panel” basis than under the panel-only metric. By comparison, the streaming-exclusive portion of the season on Prime Video averaged a 15% larger audience under “Big Data” than panel-only.
NASCAR chose to stop reporting “Big Data + Panel” figures for its races after the Fox Sports portion of the season, returning to the old panel-only metric, but “Big Data” remains the official currency and is still reported by the series’ partners. With the noted exception of the Prime Video portion of the season, NASCAR has not benefited from the shift to “Big Data” — making it an outlier among sports properties.
The most-watched of the five TNT races was North Wilkesboro on July 19, the first Cup Series points race at the venue since 1996, which averaged a 1.3 and 2.45 million under both “Big Data” (2.447M) and panel-only (2.452M). In both metrics, it was the most-watched Cup Series race since the Coca-Cola 600 on Prime Video in May.
This past weekend’s Brickyard 400 averaged a 1.3 and 2.37 million under “Big Data” and a 1.3 and 2.38 million under panel only, in both measures the smallest audience on record for the race (dates back to 1994).
As was the case last year, TNT’s average was impacted by a rain-delayed race from Atlanta. That race, which was delayed three hours and finished at nearly 2 AM ET, was the least-watched of the five with 1.47 million (“Big Data”) and 1.57 million (panel-only).
