- Most-viewed pre-season Clash event since 2016
- Eight races sold out this season
- Nascar looking to expand outside the US from 2024
Disney-owned Fox Sports and Comcast-owned NBC Sports have reported a four per cent increase in television viewership for the Nascar Cup Series from 2021 to 2022, with the per race average rising to 3.04 million viewers.
It should be noted that part of this rise can be attributed to this year's Daytona 500, which ran without delay for the first time in three years, resulting in inflated viewing figures by comparison. To see how far the Daytona 500 has fallen in terms of real viewing figures, you only need to look back at the 16.65 million viewers that watched in 2013 compared to the 8.9 million in 2022.
“We were really proud of our viewership performance throughout the year, starting the season off with the most-viewed Clash event since 2016 and ending with a multi-year high at Phoenix this past weekend,” Brian Herbst, Nascar senior vice president of media and productions, told Sports Business Journal (SBJ).
“Our success this season was the result of a lot of collaboration between our media partners and our industry — we believe this is the beginning of an extended period of growth for our sport.”
In terms of attendance, eight races sold out this season and Nascar reported an 11 per cent increase from last year in the category of “fans who attended their first Nascar race”. But, some observers point out that many tracks also have lower attendance than they used to after years of removing seats, so some sellouts don’t generate the same revenue they used to.
SBJ has also reported that Nascar is looking to expand outside the US, potentially as early as 2024, something that Chad Seigler, Nascar’s vice president of international business, said is being actively pursued.