TV News: Weekend Motorsports USA TV Ratings
Motorsports TV ratings in the USA for this past weekend’s NASCAR, IndyCar, Formula 1 and NHRA events.
–by Mark Cipolloni–
TV Rating Analysis
NASCAR
On Sunday Fox drew 4.028 million viewers for the NASCAR Phoenix Cup race, up 18.9% from 3.389 million last year, also on FOX
The Xfinity race on FSA was just about even with 2023, drawing 1.087 viewers on FS1
IndyCar
On Sunday NBC drew 975,000 viewers for the IndyCar St. Pete GP, down 18.0% from 1.189 million viewers in 2023, also on NBC
Formula 1
The Saudi Arabian GP moved from ESPN on Sunday in 2023 to ESPN2 on Saturday. As a result of the Saturday date and moving to the weaker ESPN2 channel, viewership dropped 39.6% from 1.523 million in 2023 to 920,000 this year.
NHRA
The NHRA Gatornational finals from Gainesville moved from Fox last year to FS1 this year. As a result, the viewership plummeted 63.92% from 945,000 to 341,000
Formula 1 wins all-important 18-49 Age Group
Once again, Formula 1 turned out to be the big winner in the all-important 18-49 year old age group (the only age group advertisers really care about) with 43% of its viewers in the group. Percentage-wise that more than doubles, NASCAR, IndyCar and NHRA. It indicates that NASCAR, IndyCar and NHRA continue to only attract old farts like me – a dying fanbase.
TV Rating Data
| Network | Event | Location | Total Viewers |
18-49 Viewers |
Ratio: 18-49 Yr Old/ Total Viewers |
2024 Rating |
2023 Rating |
Rating % Chg. |
2023 Network |
2023 Viewers |
2023 18-49 Viewers |
Total Viewers % Chg |
18-49 Viewers % Chg |
| FOX | NASCAR Cup Race | Phoenix | 4,028,000 | 703,000 | 17% | 2.20 | 1.93 | 13.99% | FOX | 3,389,000 | 656,000 | 18.86% | 7.16% |
| FS1 | NASCAR Xfinity race | Phoenix | 1,087,000 | 233,000 | 21% | 0.60 | 0.60 | 0.00% | FS1 | 1,025,000 | 193,000 | 6.05% | 20.73% |
| NBC | IndyCar Race | St. Petersburg | 975,000 | 185,000 | 19% | 0.60 | 0.76 | -21.05% | NBC | 1,189,000 | 216,000 | -18.00% | -14.35% |
| ESPN2 | F1 GP Race | Saudi Arabia | 920,000 | 391,000 | 43% | 0.51 | 0.74 | -31.08% | ESPN | 1,523,000 | 681,000 | -39.59% | -42.58% |
| FS1 | NHRA Gatornationals | Gainesville | 341,000 | 50,000 | 15% | 0.20 | 0.58 | -65.52% | FOX | 945,000 | 177,000 | -63.92% | -71.75% |