The IRL saw big declines in viewership during its first season on Versus.
ABC and Versus averaged 1.2 million viewers for coverage of the IRL during the 2009 season, down 28% from 1.6 million for last year’s races on ABC, ESPN and ESPN2.
In particular, Versus averaged a mere 315,000 viewers for its 12 races, down 60% from 778,000 for 11 races on ESPN/ESPN2 last year. To put that in perspective, the least viewed IRL telecast last season drew 377,000 viewers.
Compared to other sports, the IRL on Versus finished behind the 2008-09 NHL regular season on Versus (330,000) and the Tour de France on Versus (530,000), but topped regular season WNBA games on ESPN2 (269,000) and regular season MLS telecasts on ESPN2 (292,000, through 20 telecasts).
On ABC, five IRL telecasts averaged 2.6 million viewers, off 3% from 2.7 million for seven races last year. That average includes the Indianapolis 500, which drew 6.3 million viewers.
Source: Sports Business Journal
