The Complete 2025 NASCAR TV Ratings Tracker
What’s Happening? Throughout every NASCAR season, NASCAR fans often use TV viewership to gauge how interested the broader sports world is…
On the face of it, it’s hard to understand why NASCAR would want to lose total viewers by switching to Prime. Nonetheless, a closer look at the numbers shows that NASCAR could be gaining more in the long run than they are losing over this five-race stretch.
What’s Happening? Throughout every NASCAR season, NASCAR fans often use TV viewership to gauge how interested the broader sports world is…
It’s no secret that NASCAR has seen a dip in its viewership on Prime. After all, most expected to do this after NASCAR pulled five races off the network and cable to a paid streaming service.
This is despite the fact that NASCAR on Prime has impressed both in viewership and presentation. In total, the first three races on Prime have seen a combined drop of 2.606 million viewers compared to their 2024 counterparts.
Races on Prime in 2025
These losses stack up on the surface. Of course, there are other factors, such as race weekend and rain delays. For example, weather delayed Michigan’s finish by an entire day in 2024.
But, in spite of the 12.343% loss in viewers, fans were buzzing after the first week of NASCAR on Prime.
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…
The first race of NASCAR on Prime’s five-race coverage was the Coca-Cola 600, which drew 2.720 Million Viewers, which was better than six 2025 NASCAR Cup Series points races and eight total races, including the All-Star Race and Duels at Daytona.
But, the icing on the cake was reports that this race drew 800,000 viewers in the 18 to 49-year-old demographic. Adam Stern of Sports Business Journal claimed this number “beats all NASCAR races that have been on cable (but not broadcast TV) since at least 2022.”
This is a key demographic for NASCAR to capture. This number was a turning point for fans, especially after NASCAR beat Formula One head-to-head on May 4. However, F1 dramatically won this key demographic, with 786,000 viewers and NASCAR having 470,000.
For this race, NASCAR also saw a six-year drop in median age for viewers compared to “linear TV networks” such as FOX and NBC.
While fans celebrated both the quality of Prime coverage and the younger audience, it drew one executive, Michael Mulvihill, President of Insights and Analytics at FOX Sports, FOX Entertainment, and Tubi, to claim this younger audience was “predictable.”
In response to the drop in median age, Mulvihill posted on X, saying, “This has become 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 went on to show that while NASCAR drew some younger viewers, it lost a larger number of older viewers. While this is the case, three races into its debut on streaming, it looks like a trade NASCAR was willing to make.
What’s Happening? After reports that NASCAR drew a younger median age viewership for its debut on Prime Video, a FOX executive…
According to Sports Media Watch, viewership in the 18- to 34-year-old demographic is up roughly 32%, while the 18- to 49-year-old demographic is up 11%, and the 25- to 54-year-old demographic is up another impressive 21%.
Most importantly, there is the dip that Mulvihill mentioned in his post, with the 55-and-older demographic down 40%. While this results in the expected overall decrease in viewership, these numbers are comparable to the NFL’s debut on Prime, which also saw an increase in younger viewers.
Essentially, NASCAR is willing to lose that older audience for these five races by attracting a younger audience to its product. By all accounts, this has been a success.
But what will be interesting in the long run is the 18 to 49-year-old demographic once races return to cable. TNT Sports, alongside HBO Max, will cover the next five races after Prime concludes its coverage at Pocono.
What’s Happening? The NASCAR Cup Series made its debut on Prime Video this weekend, officially ending the NASCAR on FOX portion…
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