Airing on broadcast television for the first time, the NHRA did not set any viewership records over the weekend.
Live NHRA racing from Denver scored a 0.6 final rating and 902,000 viewers on FOX Sunday afternoon, up 50% in ratings and 74% in viewership from last year (0.4, 519K) and up 100% and 76%, respectively, from 2014 (0.3, 513K). Both last year and in 2014, coverage aired on tape delay on ESPN2.
Sunday’s telecast ranks as only the fourth-most watched of the season, behind New Jersey in June (1.1M), Atlanta in May (1.4M) and Las Vegas in April (1.3M). All three of those races aired on Fox Sports 1 with a direct lead-in from NASCAR Sprint Cup action.
This week’s race, by contrast, aired directly opposite NASCAR’s Brickyard 400 — which posted a 3.1 rating and 5.2 million viewers on NBCSN.
To put the numbers in perspective, all seven IndyCar telecasts on ABC this season earned a higher rating and more viewers. The season low in that series was a 0.7 and 905,000 for the Grand Prix of Indianapolis in mid-May.
(Sun. numbers via ShowBuzz Daily)
