STAMFORD, Conn. – Aug. 10, 2021 – The inaugural Music City Grand Prix, a street course in Nashville, Tenn., averaged a Total Audience Delivery (TAD) of 1.212 million viewers, making it the most-watched NTT INDYCAR SERIES race on cable in NBC Sports history (since 2009). It’s also believed to be the most-watched INDYCAR cable race in 23 years (2.218 million; ESPN; 1998).
The Music City Grand Prix, which was won by Chip Ganassi Racing’s Marcus Ericsson, surpassed NBC Sports’ previous cable rating record of 934,000 viewers for Mid-Ohio in 2016. NBC Sports has now had two of its four most-watched INDYCAR races on cable during the 2021 season (Road America; June 20; 807,000 viewers).
The 1.212 million viewership figure is up 181% compared to NBCSN’s 2020 INDYCAR race average (432,000 viewers) and up 187% vs. the 2019 cable average (423,000). Streaming across NBC Sports digital platforms delivered an Average Minute Audience of 11,500 viewers, another NBC Sports record for an INDYCAR race, excluding the Indy 500.
Following are the Top 5 markets:
|
Rank |
Market |
Rating |
|
1 |
Nashville |
5.6 |
|
2 |
Indianapolis |
2.6 |
|
3 |
Knoxville |
2.0 |
|
t4 |
Greenville-Spartanburg |
1.7 |
|
t4 |
Louisville |
1.7 |
Through its first four races this season, NBCSN is having its best start to an INDYCAR season ever, averaging a TAD of 761,000 viewers, up 110% vs. 2020 (362,000) and up 92% vs. 2019 (397,000). Across both NBC and NBCSN, the 2021 season is averaging a TAD of 1.532 million viewers, up 35% vs. 2020 (1.139 million) and up 7% vs. 2019 (1.430 million).
NBC Sports’ coverage of the 2021 NTT INDYCAR Series continues this weekend with the Big Machine Spiked Coolers Grand Prix from Indianapolis on Saturday at 12:30 pm ET on NBCSN, part of the INDYCAR-NASCAR crossover weekend.