NASCAR Fuels NBCSN’s Best Third Quarter in History and Status as Fastest-Growing Cable Network

The addition of NASCAR Sprint Cup and XFINITY Series racing to NBC Sports Group’s portfolio in 2015 has driven a number of records and milestones, according to data provided by The Nielsen Company.

Last week’s broadcast of the 2015 Sprint Cup Championship from Miami on NBC stands as the most-watched NASCAR season finale in a decade, and as NBCSN prepares to present Friday night’s 2015 NASCAR Sprint Cup Awards ceremony in Las Vegas, the cable network is poised to close out its most-watched year on record.

Since the debut of live NASCAR racing over July 4th weekend, NBCSN has averaged 183,000 viewers in Total Day audience (6 a.m.-6 a.m.), which marks an increase of +120% over the same period one year ago and the best Total Day increase for any cable network in that five-month stretch (June 29-Nov. 29). As noted earlier this fall, NASCAR fueled NBCSN to its most-watched third quarter (June 29-Sept. 27) in history.

NBC’s five 2015 NASCAR Sprint Cup races reached a total audience of nearly 31 million viewers (30.68M), up +42% vs. those races in 2014 (21.61M), and the Nov. 22 broadcast of the 2015 Sprint Cup Championship from Miami on NBC is the most-watched NASCAR season finale in a decade. 

The five Sprint Cup races on NBC averaged a 3.21 rating and 5.25 million viewers, up +12% and +10%, respectively, over those events in 2014.

Highlights surrounding the 2015 NASCAR season on NBC and NBCSN include:

– The addition of NASCAR puts NBCSN on pace to deliver its most-watched year in history.

  •        NBCSN has already registered its best Third Quarter on record (July-September), and followed that with record highs for October (179,000 Total Day viewers; up +129% vs Oct. 2014) and November (146,000 viewers, up +85% vs Nov. 2014).
  •        Sprint Cup races account for 5 of NBCSN’s top 10 most-watched telecasts in the network’s history, with Indianapolis, Michigan, Pocono and Talladega ranking as the network’s top 4.

– The Nov. 22, 2015 NASCAR Sprint Cup Championship averaged 7.64 million viewers and posted a combined 4.42 national HH rating on NBC and NBCSN, marking increases of +46% (vs. 5.22 million) +41% (vs. 3.14 HH) over the previous year’s presentation on ESPN. 

  •        The 7.64 million viewers make last Sunday’s Championship the most-watched NASCAR’s season finale since NBC presented the season-ending event in 2005.
  •       Viewing peaked from 7:45P-7:56 p.m. ET with nearly 12.4 million average viewers as Kyle Busch and Jeff Gordon raced to the finish line, ranking as the largest peak audience for NASCAR since the 2015 Daytona 500.

NASCAR America delivered its most-watched month on record in November, averaging 118,000 viewers during its 5 p.m. ET premieres, up +84% vs. Nov. 2014.   

NBC Sports Live Extra closes out the 2015 NASCAR season with a total of 571,000 uniques and 67 million live minutes.

  •        Jeff Gordon’s farewell race set NBC Sports Live Extra traffic records, and was the most-streamed NASCAR race delivering 84,000 unique users and 4 million live minutes.
  •        Versus the 2015 Sprint Cup season average, uniques were up +126% and live minutes were up +64% for the Nov. 22nd Championship race.

NBC Sports Group PR