A roundup of Fourth of July weekend sports ratings, including NASCAR’s Road America debut, Formula 1 and IndyCar, the Nathan’s Hot Dog Eating Contest, and more.
NASCAR Road America debut off from previous Fourth of July races
The inaugural NASCAR Cup Series race at Road America (Wisc.) averaged a 1.8 rating and 3.08 million viewers on NBC last Sunday, down 34% in ratings and 29% in viewership from last year’s Fourth of July weekend race, the Brickyard 400 (2.7, 4.34M). The Daytona “Firecracker 400” took place over the holiday weekend prior to last year and never dipped below a 2.1 and 3.29 million.
Keep in mind previous races have rarely taken place on the Fourth of July itself, a day of reduced TV viewing levels (HUT levels July 4 were down 19% from the comparable Sunday last year, July 5).
Chase Elliott’s win, which peaked with 3.6 million viewers, topped the two other new races this season, both of which aired on cable (COTA: 1.4, 2.36M; Nashville: 1.5, 2.59M).
The previous day’s Xfinity Series race at Road America had a 0.8 and 1.31 million, ranking third for the season behind Talladega (1.60M) and the season opener at Daytona (1.62M) — but down 27% and 22% respectively from last year’s comparable race, the second half of an unprecedented NASCAR-IndyCar doubleheader at Indianapolis Motor Speedway.
F1 continues hot streak
Last Sunday’s F1 Austrian Grand Prix averaged a 0.6 rating and 980,000 viewers on ESPN, up a tick in ratings and 30% in viewership from last year, when it was the first race of the months-delayed season (0.5, 752K), and the largest audience ever at the track. Max Verstappen’s win, which peaked with 1.1 million viewers, delivered the second-largest audience of the season and fourth-largest ever on cable.
F1 races are now averaging 933,000 viewers this season, up a third from the first nine races of last year’s delayed season (674K) and up 36% from the same point in 2019 (685K). Viewership is also up 53% over last year’s full-season average (608K) and up 39% from the full 2019 season (672K).
IndyCar scores top audience at Mid-Ohio in 13 years
Last Saturday’s IndyCar Series race at Mid-Ohio averaged 1.30 million viewers on NBC (including additional streaming data not tracked by Nielsen), up 13% from the Grand Prix of Indianapolis on the same weekend last year (1.15M) and the largest audience at the track since 2008. NBC says the race delivered its largest IndyCar audience ever outside of the Indy 500, but that excludes abbreviated coverage of a Detroit race last month that averaged 1.38 million.
NBC Sports’ IndyCar coverage is now averaging 1.58 million viewers (including additional streaming data), the networks’ best start to a season since acquiring sole rights in 2018.
Plus: Hot dogs, Euros, MLB, golf, SRX
The Nathan’s Hot Dog Eating Contest averaged 1.35 million viewers on ESPN last Sunday, up 40% from last year’s indoor, fanless edition (966K) and down just 1% from 2019 (1.36M). … The UEFA “Euro 2020” quarterfinals averaged 2.02 million across ESPN and ABC, up 16% from 2016 (1.74M), led by 2.53 million for England-Ukraine on ABC last Saturday. The tournament averaged 1.15 million through the quarterfinals (+25%). … A seven-inning Mets-Yankees Sunday Night Baseball game averaged 1.48 million on ESPN last weekend, up 11% from 2019 (Braves-Mets: 1.33M). Padres-Phillies had 357,000 on TBS earlier Sunday, and regional action on FOX the previous night 2.12 million (-3%). Going back to last week, Giants-Dodgers drew 633,000 on ESPN June 29 (-6%). … Last Sunday’s final round of the PGA Tour at Detroit drew 2.53 million on CBS, down 12% from last year (2.89M), but up 37% from 2019 (1.85M). Viewership peaked in the playoff at 3.92 million. Elsewhere, Tuesday’s “The Match” on TNT and TBS had 1.73 million, up 70% from the previous edition in November (1.02M). … The SRX on CBS drew 1.07 million last Saturday, the smallest audience yet for the new racing series.
[Nielsen estimates from NASCAR, ESPN, NBC Sports, CBS, Spoiler TV 7.8 a, b, c, John Ourand/Twitter 7.8]
