2016 saw the Verizon IndyCar Series achieving its highest average audience since 2011. Even though the interest generated by the 100th Running didn’t increase the audience for the Indianapolis 500, the ratings for the five races aired on ABC averaged above the ratings of 2015. On the other hand, the NBCSN coverage on cable couldn’t match the network’s high from the previous season.
Improved ratings on ABC despite drop in Indy 500
ABC broadcast five races in the 2016 season, including the Indianapolis 500 presented by PennGrade Motor Oil. While the interest generated by the 100th Running helped to sell out the Indy 500—allowing to lift the local TV blackout—the nationwide TV ratings didn’t see an uptick.
The Indy 500 had a 3.9 final rating and 6.0 million viewers on ABC, down seven percent from the previous year’s ratings and viewership (4.2; 6.5 million). Compared to 2014, the ratings were flat and the viewership down a percent from 6.1 million viewers.
The live broadcast in Central Indiana helped to improve the local rating by 260 percent to 33.6 from 12.9 in 2015. The increase of Central Indiana viewership added two tenths to the national rating points; without it the 2016 race would’ve barely beaten the record-low rating of 3.6 from 2010.
While the viewership for the Indy 500 and the Angie’s List Grand Prix of Indianapolis was down from the previous season, the Firestone Grand Prix of St. Petersburg and the Chevrolet Dual in Detroit saw increase in audience on ABC. The season-opener at St. Petersburg hit a five-year high, earning a final rating of 1.0 and 1.4 million viewers, up 67 percent from in ratings and 56 percent in viewership from 2015 (0.6; 891 thousand). Unlike in previous years, the race no longer aired opposite the NCAA basketball tournament, helping it to attract the biggest TV audience outside the Indianapolis 500 and its qualifications since the Texas night race in 2013.
With the increased viewership for St. Petersburg and Detroit, the average ratings for the ABC telecasts grew to 1.6 from 1.5 of the previous year. Excluding the Indy 500, the average ratings on ABC grew to 0.8 from 0.7.
NBCSN ratings down from 2015
The Verizon IndyCar Series’ ratings on NBC Sports Network couldn’t match the network’s high from the previous season, yet had the second-highest average since NBCSN acquiring the TV rights in 2009. Excluding the postponed Pocono race, the NBCSN and CNBC coverage averaged 488,000 viewers, down four percent from the network’s high of 507,000 in 2015, yet up 29 percent from 378,000 viewers in 2014. The series reached more than 6.5 million total viewers in 2016, a high for the network.
The season-concluding GoPro Grand Prix of Sonoma had a final rating of 0.3 and 536,000 viewers, down 40% in ratings and 36% in viewership from the previous year’s race (0.5, 841 thousand) which was the most-watched Verizon IndyCar Series telecast of 2015 on NBCSN. Unlike the previous year’s race that took place three weeks earlier, the 2016 race was broadcast following the first Chase race of the NASCAR Sprint Cup and on an NFL game day.
While the 2016 season overall couldn’t match NBCSN’s high from 2015, the broadcast of the Honda Indy 200 at Mid-Ohio surpassed the previous NBCSN high audience of the 2015 Sonoma race. Originally scheduled for an CNBC broadcast, the race was shown live on NBCSN while the NASCAR Sprint Cup race at Pocono was on a rain delay. The NBCSN-CNBC simulcast averaged 929,000 viewers, the largest cable audience since Richmond 2008 with 947,000 viewers on ESPN.
Although the NBCSN viewership was down from 2015, the increase in ABC viewership made it up. The full-season average was 1.3 million viewers, up from 1.2 million in 2015 and the largest audience since 2011.
(Numbers via Sports Media Watch, NBC Sports Group)
