NBC Sports Delivers Most Watched IndyCar Series Season In 12 Years

In a television sports landscape where ratings are continuing to drop, NBC and IndyCar are bucking that trend by delivering an impressive increase.

NBC Sports released data on September 13.

NBC Sports delivered the most-watched IndyCar Series season in 12 years. The 2023 season was the most-watched IndyCar season on record for the network and the third-consecutive years there has been a viewership increase across all of NBC Sports’ platforms.

“The 2023 NTT IndyCar Series season delivered seven different race winners and world-class competition from our teams and drivers,” IndyCar owner Roger Penske told me. “It was amazing to see the engagement from our fans at the track and across our broadcast, streaming and digital platforms throughout the season. Thanks to the passion and support from IndyCar fans and partners, all of our metrics rose significantly in 2023. Our sport has tremendous momentum and we can’t wait to carry that forward into next season and beyond.

“The good news is with Michael Montri and Mark Miles looking at the schedules, things we have done with Hy-Vee in Iowa is some great stuff. The promotions have been great.

“It’s my understanding coming out of the office that every one of the tracks has seen a bigger increase in their fan base in 2023, which is very positive going into next year.”

The 2023 season was also the most-streamed IndyCar season on record on Peacock.

“IndyCar is a compelling sport,” Penske Entertainment CEO Mark Miles told Forbes. “Exciting racing and great athletes. NBC has provided us great reach and partnered with us on more strategic scheduling. It’s no wonder our fan base and viewership continue to grow.”

The 2023 season, headlined by Alex Palou’s second career series championship and Josef Newgarden’s Indy 500 victory, averaged a Total Audience Delivery (TAD) of 1.32 million viewers across NBC, USA Network, Peacock, and NBC Sports digital platforms. This ranks as the most-watched season for the IndyCar Series season since 2011 (1.39 million viewers, NBCSN/ABC) and the best in NBC Sports history, up 2% vs. last year’s then-record viewership (1.30 million viewers, NBC/USA Network/NBC Sports Digital). TAD is based on data from Nielsen and Adobe Analytics.

Half of the season’s 16 races on television delivered a TAD of more than 1 million viewers, tying last year for the highest mark since 2008. NBC’s 13 races posted a TAD of 1.47 million viewers, up 4% vs. last year’s coverage on NBC (1.42 million, 14 races).

Overall viewership was led by the 107^th Running of the Indianapolis 500, which delivered a TAD of 4.93 million viewers across NBC and Peacock. The race also had a 13 share (percentage of homes watching television at the time of the race), its best in 15 years (2008; 13 share).

Led by comprehensive streaming coverage on Peacock, including the platform’s exclusive presentation of the Honda Indy Toronto on July 16, the 2023 season ranked as the most-streamed IndyCar season on record with an Average Minute Audience (AMA) of 58,000 viewers, up 15% vs. 2022.

“We look at all the fan metrics for IndyCar, itself,” Miles said. “They are all up. We will see what happens with the linear and total audience delivery and metrics for the final race, but so far, we are ahead of any year back to 2008. We have to be really pleased about that.”

Locally, Indianapolis led all markets with a 3.26 rating for the season. Following are the Top 10 markets for the 2023 NTT IndyCar Series season:

1 – Indianapolis, 3.26 rating

2 – Knoxville, 1.82

3 – Louisville, 1.52

4 – Greenville, 1.39

5 – Fort Myers, 1.36

6 – Dayton, Ohio, 1.30

7 – Milwaukee, 1.23

8 – Cincinnati, 1.20

9 – Detroit, 1.18

10 – Richmond-Petersburg, 1.18