TV Ratings: NBC nets gains from NASCAR, F1 and IndyCar coverage

With its telecast of the Sprint Cup awards from Las Vegas, NBC Sports Group wrapped up a season of growth for its trifecta of major auto racing featuring Formula 1 and IndyCar in addition to the second half of the NASCAR Sprint Cup season.

SportsMediaWatch reports that since it began airing NASCAR programming in July, NBCSN has averaged 183,000 total-day viewers, up 120% over last year and the highest year-over-year increase for any cable network over that span – demonstrating the value of its NASCAR deal for NBC in helping to grow the former VERSUS/OLN network into a major sports property.

In its third season presenting F1, the NBC family of networks (which together aired all 19 races across NBC, NBCSN and CNBC) produced its highest viewership, highlighted by NBCSN delivering the most-watched F1 season for a single cable network in two decades, according to The Nielsen Company.

Overall, F1 coverage on NBC/NBCSN/CNBC averaged 521,000 viewers, up 14% over 2014 (457,000), and 42% over 2013 (366,000). NBCSN averaged 418,000 viewers for its live coverage of 13 races this season, up 9% vs. 2014 (385,000), to rank as the best F1 season for a single cable network since 1995 on ESPN (755,000 viewers)

With many live races beginning before 8 a.m. ET, time-shifted viewing for NBCSN's F1 coverage drove viewership even higher in the 2015 season, the network says. Including all available Live+7 data (which accounts for replays of recorded races within a week of the telecast) on NBCSN, F1 races averaged 521,000 viewers, up 14% from Live+7 viewership on NBCSN last year (458,000).

An NBCSN record five races averaged more than 500,000 viewers (Bahrain, Spain, Austria, Belgium and Singapore), highlighted by 630,000 average viewers for the Bahrain Grand Prix on April 19, which was the most-watched non-domestic F1 race on cable in eight years dating back to the 2007 Brazilian Grand Prix, which attracted 662,000 viewers on SPEED).

On the IndyCar front, NBCSN reports it averaged a 0.3 final rating and 507,000 households for its 11 IndyCar telecasts this season, which represents a 36% increase in ratings and 34% in viewership over last year and the network's most-watched IndyCar season since it began airing coverage (as VERSUS) in 2009. Overall, the 2015 Verizon IndyCar Series ranks as the most-watched season on cable since ESPN and ESPN2 averaged 778,000 in 2008, according to Sports Media Watch.

For the year, combining NBCSN and ABC telecasts, IndyCar races averaged 1.144 million viewers – an increase of 16 percent over 2014. That follows a 19 percent viewership surge in 2014 over the previous year. Full-season ratings for all Verizon IndyCar Series telecasts improved 15 percent to a 0.76 average in 2015, following a 20 percent upsurge in 2014, according to the sanctioning body.