The Verizon IndyCar Series’ shortened schedule in '14 likely helped the open-wheel racing outfit see a 12% bump in viewership compared to last season. IndyCar finished the '14 season averaging 1.07 million viewers for 17 race telecasts across ABC and NBCSN, up from 953,000 average viewers for 19 telecasts last season. The series wrapped up this past Saturday night, compared to previous years when the final races took place during the start of football season. Saturday night’s season-ending MavTV 500 still had to compete with the opening weekend of college football. NBCSN drew only 280,000 viewers for the season finale that had a 10:00pm ET start, down 13% from the same season-ending race last year, which aired on a Saturday night in mid-October. However, the 280,000 viewers are up 22% from the season finale in ’12, which aired in mid-September. Despite the drop for the finale, NBCSN saw gains for its IndyCar viewership after two straight years of record low numbers. NBCSN averaged 378,000 viewers for 12 races, up 34% from last season, when the cable net had three races air up against football games. The 378,000 viewers is the second-best average for NBCSN since it acquired IndyCar rights in ’09 (behind only ’11). NBCSN’s top audience was the second race of the Toronto doubleheader with 484,000 viewers on July 20, marking the net’s best IndyCar race audience since the Baltimore Grand Prix drew 591,000 viewers in September ’11. ABC saw a 13% viewership bump for its five telecasts, which included a 8% increase for this year’s Indianapolis 500. See the full sports business portfolio for the Verizon IndyCar Series at Resource Guide LIVE.
