2021 IndyCar Season Is Most-Watched In NBC History

NBC Sports’ coverage of the 2021 NTT IndyCar Series’ season was the most-watched IndyCar season on record, and had the best combined broadcast/cable viewership for the series in five years. Included in the coverage window are the 15 races across NBC, NBCSN and NBC Sports digital platforms.

Total Audience Delivery (TAD) of 1.223 million viewers–the best in NBC Sports history– was up 19% from last season’s (1.027 million), up 10% from 2019 (1.108 million), and the most-watched season for the IndyCar Series since 2016 (1.310 million, ABC/NBCSN).

NBCSN averaged 632,000 viewers this season–the best in the network’s history–up 46% from 2020 (432,000 viewers) and up 49% from 2019 (423,000). NBCSN delivered two of its top four most-watched races on record in 2021, headlined by the inaugural Big Machine Music City Grand Prix in Nashville. The Nashville Grand Prix averaged a TAD of 1.212 million viewers, ranking as the network’s most-watched IndyCar Series race ever and believed to be the most-watched cable race for the series in 23 years.

The 105th running of the Indianapolis 500 powered the NBC broadcast network to a substantial viewership increase this season. The “Greatest Spectacle in Racing” averaged 5.581 Million viewers, up 51% from 2020 and up 2% from 2019.

For NBC’s eight races this season, the network averaged a TAD of 1.722 million viewers, up 16% as compared to 2020 (1.484 million).

In July, IndyCar and NBC Sports announced a multi-year extension to their media rights agreement, continuing NBC Sports as the exclusive home of the NTT IndyCar Series.

Locally, Indianapolis led all markets with a 4.4 household rating. Nashville came in at fifth with a rating of 1.68. Following are the Top 10 markets for the 2021 NTT IndyCar Series season.

1. Indianapolis – 4.40
2. Knoxville – 1.85
3. Dayton – 1.80
4. Louisville – 1.69
5. Nashville – 1.68
6. Columbus, Ohio – 1.63
7. Cincinnati – 1.59
8. Ft. Myers – 1.54
9. Greenville – 1.41
10. Sacramento – 1.23

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Steven Boero

Steven Boero is the editor of The Sports Credential who joined in March of 2021. He has a bachelor’s degree in Mass Communication with a minor in Music Business from Belmont University. While at Belmont, he served as sports editor and eventually editor-in-chief at the university’s student-run newspaper the Belmont Vision where he covered men’s and women’s basketball including Rick Byrd’s retirement and the Bruins first NCAA Tournament win in 2019.

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