IndyCar’s TV Viewership Highest In 19 Years Could Spark Increase In Indianapolis 500 TV Rating

Viewership for the first three IndyCar races this season is the highest in 19 years. That has IndyCar officials led by series owner Roger Penske believing the once-beleaguered series has become a network television property capable of making a strong case to consumer brands and consumer advertisers.

Using Total Audience Delivery (TAD) metrics, which combine traditional linear television ratings on the NBC network along with digital ratings from NBC’s Peacock streaming service have produced some impressive numbers to start the 2022 season.

The TAD is up 13 percent over last year’s NBC network average race, excluding the 2021 Indianapolis 500. Viewership for the 2022 season is averaging 1,148,000 TAD and that marks IndyCar’s best start of the opening three races since 2003.

It’s also up 34 percent from last year.

With 14 of its 17 races on NBC, IndyCar can reach a far bigger audience than when many of its telecasts were on the now shuttered NBC Sports Network (NBCSN).

NBCSN ceased operation on December 31, 2021. NBC moved much of its sports programming to USA Network and to Peacock in the highly competitive streaming game.

What makes IndyCar’s viewership even more impressive, consider that last Sunday’s Acura Grand Prix of Long Beach was in the same TV window as the final round of The Masters on CBS.

Although The Masters was the most watched sports program of the weekend, Long Beach was able to generate a TAD of 1,078,000 – the most watched edition of the Long Beach Grand Prix in NBC Sports history going back to 2009.

Viewership for the IndyCar race at Long Beach peaked with a total audience of 1,251,000.

Streaming uses a different metric tool known as an average minute audience. Using that measurement, Peacock’s average minute audience was 23,000 viewers, the second-highest streaming audience on record for an IndyCar race behind this year’s season-opening Firestone Grand Prix of St. Petersburg on February 27.

On April 14, I talked to Penske Entertainment CEO Mark Miles, who oversees the company’s owners of IndyCar and the Indianapolis Motor Speedway, to discover the reasons for IndyCar’s improved viewership numbers.

“We ended last season with momentum and with growing audiences on NBC and NBCSN on their streaming platform,” Miles said. “That has continued.

“I think the primary driver is more and more race fans’ recognition that IndyCar racing is really entertaining and a great sport. That continues to be true. We’ve had three great races this year. Compelling events.”

Grabbing a Tiger By the Tail

The Masters featured the return of Tiger Woods, the biggest draw on the PGA Tour. Woods was returning to The Masters for the first time since he was involved in a single-vehicle rollover crash outside of Los Angeles on February 23, 2021.

Woods suffered comminuted open fractures to the upper and lower parts of his right leg and significant traumas to his right ankle. Doctors inserted a rod, screws, and pins to help stabilize his leg, according to the Golf Channel.

His appearance at Augusta National in Augusta, Georgia was considered “can’t miss TV” for any sports fan.

But IndyCar had its own drama involving a legend that was taking place all weekend.

Seven-time NASCAR Cup Series champion Jimmie Johnson, who is beginning his second season in IndyCar, sustained a broken right hand from a crash in practice on April 8. The fracture was just below Johnson’s “pinky” finger. Although he was cleared to compete, Johnson had to wear a carbon fiber splint to protect his injured hand.

Johnson would also crash in Saturday’s practice and in Sunday’s race, 10 laps from the checkered flag. He underwent surgery on Monday in Charlotte, North Carolina by Dr. Glenn Gaston, Hand, and Upper Extremity Fellowship Director at OrthoCarolina.

Johnson is expected to make a complete recovery and plans to participate in the INDYCAR test at Indianapolis Motor Speedway on April 20-21^st.

So, how did IndyCar maintain a sizeable audience on NBC while The Masters was winding down on CBS?

“There is a technical occurrence that helped contribute to the increase at Long Beach,” Miles explained. “People were concerned that we were running against The Masters, and everybody would watch The Masters.

“What actually happened is The Masters is such a powerful event that the HUT levels – Households Using Television – were up. There were more total people watching television during the afternoon of The Masters.

“The beginning of the day, Tiger Woods doesn’t make a charge and he will clearly not have a shot at the top of the leaderboard. The leader was pretty far ahead until much later in the tournament.”

Without Woods becoming a key part of Sunday’s storyline, some of The Masters audience reached for the remote.

“Just as a general manner, people during commercials are likely to channel-surf,” Miles continued. “So, you have more people with their television set on and they may have reasons why they are looking around the dial. They see a race on NBC and – boom – It’s a compelling racing and you have a chance to capture them.

“Actually, in a way, being programmed against The Masters may have contributed to the positive outcome, but I don’t think that’s the biggest factor. I think the biggest factor is IndyCar races are exciting and people are understanding that. In this case, while we were programmed against The Masters, we weren’t programmed against other motorsports series, so it ended up being a good window for us.”

IndyCar Is Attracting a Younger Audience on TV

It wasn’t long ago that sports viewership was measured strictly by TV ratings. But with more sports fans consuming the product through streaming services on their computers or smart phones, the Total Audience Delivery (TAD) metric was created.

“The great thing about that is that is a young audience,” Miles explained. “The average age of the streaming audience is in their 30s. It’s very helpful. They are tech savvy and that is the way they like to watch sports and IndyCar. They are helping us grow our audience.

“The TAD gives us a truer indication of who is watching our races. It’s important because there are more and more people watching through streaming, so the calculated total audience makes all of kinds of sense. We are growing on both linear and streaming front.”

That has given IndyCar additional clout with sponsors and other partners who are looking for a return on investment (ROI).

“This is really good news on a number of levels,” Miles said. “One strategic level we think about is that with 14 of 17 events on network, with these kinds of numbers and the growth that you described, we have become a network sport with a case to be made to consumer brands and consumer advertisers.

“Hy-Vee is an example of that. So is Carvana. When we get sponsors who are invested in the sport and in a number of assets of the sport – car, event, race, NBC time, and others – we are more potent as a promoter of the series.”

More Interest Could Increase Indianapolis 500 Viewership

There are many reasons why the Indianapolis 500 generates the largest IndyCar rating of the season. It’s one of the world’s most famous sporting events and is held in the same regard as the Kentucky Derby, The Masters, Wimbledon, the World Series, and the Super Bowl.

This year, there are even more storylines including the return to full capacity at the Indianapolis Motor Speedway with a crowd approaching 300,000 spectators. One year after joining AJ Foyt, Al Unser and Rick Mears as the only drivers to win the Indianapolis 500 four times in a career, Helio Castroneves is attempting to become the first five-time winner of the event.

Also, Johnson and former Formula One star Romain Grosjean will compete in the Indy 500 for the first time in their careers.

With viewership already on an upswing, and the addition of those key storylines, Penske and Miles are hopeful of an even bigger viewership number for the 106^th Indianapolis 500 on May 29 on NBC.

“Every year we want the 500 to have a bigger audience than it had the year before,” Miles said. “In 2022, we expect that will be the case in comparison to 2020 and 2021.

“How high is up? Time will tell. We think we have great stories to tell. NBC does a super job with the programming. We think the audience we are building with five IndyCar races before the 500 will be helpful.

“We have a lot of tailwind, and we hope for a big number.”