TV News: USA Motorsports weekend TV Ratings

TV ratings for major motorsports broadcasts in the USA this past weekend for NASCAR at Martinsville, Formula 1 in Mexico and the NHRA in Vegas.

–by Mark Cipolloni–

TV Rating Analysis

NASCAR

NBC drew 2.196 million viewers for the NASCAR Cup Race in Martinsville Sunday, down 13.58% from 2.541 million viewers in 2022, also on NBC

The USA Network drew 933,000 viewers for the NASCAR Xfinity race from Martinsville Saturday, down 38.21% from 1.510 million viewers in 2022 on NBC.

For both the Cup and Xfinity races, only 13% of the viewers tuned in were in the all-important 18-49 age group, down over 40% and indicating that Rigor Mortise is setting in.

Formula 1

ABC drew 1.46 million viewers for the Formula 1 Mexico City Sunday, up 41.89% from 1.029 million viewers in 2022 on ESPN. It was the largest TV audience on record since the race returned in 2015.

The race peaked at 1.94 million viewers between 6:00 and 6:15pm ET.

The Pre-Race plus race on ABC averaged 1.080 million viewers, up 5% over 2022’s 1.03 million viewers.

The F1 race drew 32% of its viewers in the all-important 18-49 age group, dwarfing both NASCAR and the NHRA.  Lower than usual for F1, but still much better than its competition.

• Eighth race this year to set a viewership record (Saudi Arabia, Monaco, Canada, Austria, Belgium, Italy, Singapore).
• Race audience peaked at 1.94 million viewers between 6-6:14 p.m. ET.
• Last year’s race averaged 1.03 million viewers on ESPN.
• The 2021 race averaged 1.14 million viewers on ABC, previously the event record.
• The 2023 season has had three of the four largest live audiences in history on U.S. television:
  • Miami 1.96 million
  • Monaco 1.79 million
  • Canada 1.76 million
• Fourteen of 19 races this year have averaged more than 1 million viewers:
  • Australia – 556K (aired in overnight hours)
  • Azerbaijan – 959K
  • Dutch – 968K
  • Japan – 479K (aired in overnight hours)
  • Qatar – 824K
• Through 19 races, the 2023 F1 season is averaging 1.12 million viewers per race across ESPN, ESPN2 and ABC
• The average is down seven percent from the overall season average for 2022 (1.21 million), which was the highest ever for F1 in the United States
• Comparing to the average for the first 19 races of 2022, the average is down seven percent from 1.213 (an average which included the record-setting inaugural Miami Grand Prix and its 2.6 million viewers).
• How much have F1 audiences grown? In 2018, the first year the Championship returned to ESPN platforms, F1 races averaged 554K.

NHRA

FS1 drew 175,000 viewers for the Nevada National Finals from Las Vegas, 36.59% from 2022, also on FS1.

Only 10% of the viewers tuned in were in the all-important 18-49 age group, down over 40% from 2022. Like NASCAR, Rigor Mortise has set in, with the aging fanbase getting older by the year.

TV Rating Data