NASCAR’s Debut on Prime’s Drew More Viewers than Several Races on FS1
What’s Happening? Despite doubts heading into their debut of streaming-only races, NASCAR’s debut on Prime Video drew 2.72 million viewers. While…
After reports that NASCAR drew a younger median age viewership for its debut on Prime Video, a FOX executive took to X to explain why he feels making this claim “has become predictable.”
Though NASCAR’s move to make five NASCAR Cup Series races exclusive to streaming was controversial, Prime Video’s debut ratings showed that they kept pace with several races on FS1 this season.
This race’s 2.72 million viewers beat out six NASCAR Cup Series points races on FS1 from earlier this season and fell just shy of the audience the network drew for its first points race this season at Phoenix. In addition to the impressive overall viewership, NASCAR raved at the fact that the streaming service drew 800,000 viewers in the 18-49 demographic.
What’s Happening? Despite doubts heading into their debut of streaming-only races, NASCAR’s debut on Prime Video drew 2.72 million viewers. While…
Though NASCAR consistently draws well over two million viewers, regardless of the network, a strong showing in the 18 to 49-year-old demographic is almost just as important. For example, though NASCAR beat Formula One head-to-head on May 4, NASCAR dramatically lost this key demographic, with F1 having 786,000 viewers and NASCAR having 470,000.
For this past Sunday’s race, Austin Karp of Sports Business Journal claimed that Prime drew a six-year younger median age gap than “linear TV networks” such as FOX and NBC.
Despite this praise for the seemingly younger audience drawn in by NASCAR on Prime, Michael Mulvihill, President of Insights and Analytics at FOX Sports, FOX Entertainment, and Tubi, made a strong counterpoint to this statistics’ praise.
Mulvihill responded to Karp on X, posting, “This has become [a] predictable spin anytime an event moves to a streamer. It’s easy to look younger when you lose 5 older people for every 1 younger viewer you gain.”
Mulvihill is claiming that while NASCAR on Prime Video had a low median viewership age, it lost more older viewers than it gained in younger viewers. Though this insight could be viewed as a jab at the praise Prime Video is receiving, it is yet another adjustment that NASCAR fans will have to keep an eye out for during Prime Video’s five-race coverage.
Prime still has coverage for the next four NASCAR Cup Series races. These races will continue to test the streaming platform’s power in NASCAR’s overall viewership and its search to capture a younger audience. When the stats roll out next week, demographics will surely be a topic of conversation once again.
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