NASCAR and IndyCar weekend TV ratings

UPDATE #3 The final rating for the IZOD IndyCar race at St. Petersburg on March 25 was 0.9, down 25% from the 1.2 final rating for the same race on ABC a year ago. IndyCar had two big events to compete against. There also was an NCAA basketball game that day that drew a large audience. Golf did very well with Tiger Woods in the hunt.

03/29/12 Hampered by rain, airing directly against the NCAA Tournament on CBS and a Tiger Woods fueled PGA event on NBC, NASCAR Sprint Cup Racing on FOX posted a 3.8/9 (6.2 million viewers) on Sunday for the Auto Club 400 from Auto Club Speedway. That’s down -17% from last year’s 4.6/10 (8.1 million), and ranks as the lowest-rated race this season on FOX. Season-to-date, NASCAR Sprint Cup Racing on FOX is averaging a 5.8/12 (9.7 million viewers), off -6% from last year’s 6.2/14 (10.8 million viewers). We do not have the final IndyCar TV Rating from St. Pete yet.

03/26/12 The television rating, for IndyCar, is acceptable, especially considering the race was up against Tiger Woods and the NCAA tournament.

03/26/12 NASCAR Sprint Cup coverage for the rain shortened Auto Club 500 on FOX earned a 3.4 overnight from 3:15-5:00pm ET. That figure is down 17.1% from a 4.1 rating for the race last year. The Izod IndyCar Series also began its ’12 season with the Honda Grand Prix of St. Petersburg on ABC yesterday afternoon. Their overnight figure of 1.1 is down 16% from a 1.3 overnight for the same race last year.

The overnight rating includes only major markets and is designed to provide an early idea of the rating. The final rating including all measured markets will come later this week. Last year the final rating for the St. Pete IndyCar race was 1.2.