IndyCar: Houston, we might have a serious problem
–by Mark Cipolloni–
As our readers know, we track TV ratings very closely because it is a prime indication of the health of a sport.
And, as you know, besides the trend in viewership and TV ratings, most importantly we highlight the ratio of 18-49 year old viewers to overall viewers. Most motorsports series in the USA get around 18-20% of its viewers that are in the all-important 18-49 age group, or about 1/5th. The other 4/5ths of their viewers are old, and advertisers really are not after those folks unless they are selling Depends or Geritol.
The only exception is Formula 1, which consistency gets between 44% to 49% in the 18-49 age bracket.
The 18-49 age bracket is typically used to set TV commercial advertising rates.
We noted a couple of weeks ago that the viewership for the IndyCar season opener at St. Petersburg saw a drop in total viewership of 15.37% from last year, a bad sign.
What we overlooked, and just picked up on now, is that the number of 18-49 year old viewers for the race dropped from 337,000 in 2022 to 216,000 in 2023 (both years on NBC) – a drop of 35.91% in this all important age group, and more than double the rate of decrease of the overall viewership.
What this indicates is that the IndyCar fanbase is aging out faster than what we previously realized.
This is not something we previously tracked closely, and St. Petersburg is just one race, so we’ll see how the year progresses.
If this trend continues, this is something Penske Entertainment had better focus on and fix quickly, or else their only advertisers might soon be just AARP, Geritol and Depends.
Luckily for IndyCar, The Captain, Roger Penske is in charge, and if anyone can turn a business around, he could. No one has the magic touch like The Captain, one of the most successful businessmen in America.
TV Rating Data (2 weeks ago)
| Network | Event | Location | Total Viewers |
18-49 Viewers |
Ratio: 18-49 Yr Old/ Total Viewers |
2023 Rating |
2022 Rating |
Rating % Chg. |
2022 Network |
2022 Viewers |
2022 18-49 Viewers |
Viewers % Chg |
18-49 Yr Old % Chg |
| FOX | NASCAR Cup race | Las Vegas | 3,991,000 | 813,000 | 20% | 2.22 | 2.71 | -18.08% | FOX | 4,544,000 | 963,000 | -12.17% | -15.58% |
| ESPN | F1 Race L | Bahrain | 1,318,000 | 633,000 | 48% | 0.69 | 0.75 | -8.00% | ESPN | 1,353,000 | 656,000 | -2.59% | -3.5% |
| NBC | IndyCar Race L | St. Petersburg | 1,189,000 | 216,000 | 18% | 0.76 | 0.89 | -14.61% | NBC | 1,405,000 | 337,000 | -15.37% | -35.91% |
| FS1 | NASCAR Xfinity race | Las Vegas | 1,133,000 | 210,000 | 19% | 0.67 | 0.63 | 6.35% | FS1 | 1,055,000 | 213,000 | 7.39% | -1.41% |
| FS1 | NASCAR Truck race | Las Vegas | 623,000 | 170,000 | 27% | 0.36 | 0.33 | 9.09% | FS1 | 543,000 | 120,000 | 14.73% | +41.67% |