FOX's IndyCar Laguna Seca broadcast delivers 700,000+

The IndyCar Series on FOX has settled into a ratings groove, with the latest audience average of 734,000 for Sunday’s Java House Grand Prix of Monterey at Laguna Seca matching the 734,000 produced by the previous Sunday’s 734,000 from the Honda Indy Toronto, and being almost identical to the 719,000 who viewed the last race from Iowa’s Sukup-sponsored doubleheader.

The 734,000 from Laguna Seca is the seventh race of the 14 races held so far this year to deliver an average audience between 704,000 (Thermal) and 781,000 (Road America).

With half of the network races in the 700,000s, the other seven have delivered two in the 500,000s (Long Beach, Iowa 1), one at 914,000 (Barber), three in the 1,000,000s (St. Petersburg, Detroit, WWTR), and one at 7,087,000 (Indy 500).

Last year’s Laguna Seca race had an audience of 78,547 on NBC’s CNBC cable outlet, giving the event an 835 percent increase on FOX. The race, won handily by Alex Palou, peaked at 884,000 viewers between 2:15-2:30pm PT.

The year-to-year increase following IndyCar’s move from NBC’s array of network, cable, and streaming broadcasts sits at 31 percent, up from 1,132,000 on the former network through 14 races to an average of 1,486,000 on FOX.

Teams get one weekend off before the championship run resumes on August 10 at the BitNile.com Grand Prix of Portland.