The second season of NASCAR on Prime Video posted an increase in viewership.
Amazon Prime Video averaged 2.29 million viewers for its five-race NASCAR Cup Series package this season, per the Nielsen “Big Data + Panel” data that are the official currency, and 2.0 million per the prior panel-only figures that NASCAR is now publicizing. The 15% gap between “Big Data + Panel” and panel-only is a sharp difference from the Fox Sports portion of the season, in which the “Big Data” figures were actually slightly lower than their panel-only equivalent (3.4 to 3.34 million).
The “Big Data + Panel” average increased 6% from the same data point last year — a rare apples-to-apples comparison given it is official Nielsen policy to compare “Big Data + Panel” to last year’s panel-only results — including a 12% increase among adults 55 or older, who accounted for more than half of the audience (1.27M). (Because the averages both this year and last reflect “Big Data + Panel” and Nielsen’s expanded out-of-home viewing, there are no caveats necessary.)
With older viewers tuning in at a greater clip, Prime had a higher median age this season (57.7) than last (56.1), if still lower than that of the linear networks (63.1). Note that the median age for both Prime (57.4) and the linear networks (61.4) is lower on a panel-only basis than under “Big Data + Panel.”
The increase for NASCAR on Prime this season is in line with the streamer’s “Thursday Night Football” trend, where a double-digit drop for the first season was followed by growth the following year. It should be noted that the “TNF” gain was more pronounced (+24%). Eventually, the “TNF” audience grew enough over time to more than make up for the initial drop (albeit helped along by changes in Nielsen methodology).
Note that three of the five races on Prime had weather delays.
In the Prime season finale, last weekend’s Cup Series race at Naval Base Coronado in San Diego averaged 2.28 million per “Big Data + Panel” basis and 2.15 million on a panel-only basis. The “Big Data” figure increased 9% from last year’s equivalent Mexico City race (2.1M) and the panel-only number rose just 2% (also 2.1M).
The corresponding O’Reilly Auto Parts Series race at the venue averaged a panel-only audience of 1.16 million on CW — up 34% from last year’s Mexico City race (868K) — and the Truck Series drew 611,000.
