STAMFORD, Conn. – NBC Sports’ first NASCAR Cup Series race of the season, Sunday’s Big Machine Hand Sanitizer 400 from Indianapolis Motor Speedway, produced significant viewership gains when compared to 2019.
Sunday’s race averaged a total audience delivery of 4.370 million viewers – up 46 percent versus same race in 2019, which ran in September – according to Fast National data by Nielsen and digital data from Adobe Analytics.
Sunday’s race, which started roughly an hour late due to weather, was also up 32 percent compared to last year’s NASCAR Cup Series Coke Zero Sugar 400 at Daytona Int’l Speedway on the comparable weekend (July 7, 2019), which delivered a total audience delivery of 3.313 million viewers.
Additional ratings highlights from NBC Sports’ first NASCAR Cup Series race of the 2020 season:
- 2.67 HH rating, up 41% vs. last year’s Brickyard (1.89 rating) and up 26% vs. last year’s race at Daytona (2.12 rating);
- 4.343 million TV-only viewers, up 46% vs. last year’s race (2.974 million) and up 32% vs. Daytona (3.288 million);
- Peak viewership of 5.018 million TV-only viewers from 8:30-8:45 p.m. ET;
26,800 Average Minute Audience (AMA) streaming on NBCSports.com and the NBC Sports app, up 57% vs. last year’s Brickyard (17,000) and 9% compared to Daytona. - Viewership for yesterday’s race at Indianapolis Motor Speedway (5:24-9 p.m. ET) was up 39% vs. the 2019 NASCAR Cup Series average on NBC (3.146 million viewers; seven races).
The race also stands as NBC’s most-watched sports program since January’s NFL Divisional Playoff between the Minnesota Vikings and San Francisco 49ers (Jan. 11, 2020; 30.210 million viewers).