With the caveat that last year’s race set a historically low bar, Sprint Cup viewership increased for the second straight week.
NASCAR Sprint Cup racing from Kansas delivered 3.1 million viewers on Fox Sports 1 Saturday night, up 27% from last year (2.5M) but down 45% from 2014 on the FOX broadcast network (5.8M). Ratings were not immediately available.
Last year’s race, which finished after 1 AM ET due to a two-hour rain delay, had the smallest Sprint Cup audience since at least 2008 (excluding races that were postponed or moved to another network). This year’s race did not fare much better, with the fourth-smallest audience over that span.
Despite the low numbers, Saturday’s race was the second straight Sprint Cup telecast to have an increase in viewership and just the third of the season, joining Talladega (+6%) and Martinsville (+4%).
Head-to-head, it trailed both the Warriors/Blazers NBA playoff game on ABC (5.8M) and the Penguins/Capitals NHL playoff game on NBC (4.2M) — no real surprise given those events aired on broadcast and, in the case of the NHL, had a lead-in from the Kentucky Derby.
(Sat. numbers via ShowBuzz Daily)
