US viewership: F1 delivers most-watched Canadian GP ever

• F1’s Canadian GP hits 1.8m viewers on ABC
• Nascar is most-watched motorsport of weekend with 2.89m viewers on Fox
• 124% YoY audience increase for IndyCar’s Road America on NBC, but still falls below 1m viewers

Last weekend’s Canadian Grand Prix was the most-watched in US history, as Formula One continues its strong viewership resurgence.

An average race audience of 1.8 million watched Max Verstappen take an excellent victory in Montreal on ABC, a two per cent increase on the previous record of 1.76 million in 2023. Viewership peaked at 1.97 million, while the full ABC telecast averaged 1.3 million viewers.

This also means that three of the last four Formula One races have set viewership records in the US. Notably, all three of those races were aired on ABC, highlighting the value of commercial broadcast television in attracting viewers.

This is now the fourth race of the Formula One season to pass one million viewers, although that is two fewer than the same stage last year. Despite this, average viewership is up six per cent year-over-year (YoY), with 1.27 million viewers watching the first nine races of the 2024 season compared to 1.19 million last year.

• Nascar’s US$7.7bn TV deal: Why the annual value went up, who gets what, and the impact on fans
• The SkyPad, Martin Brundle interviews, and remote production: Inside Sky Sports’ award-winning F1 coverage

Nascar also enjoyed a strong weekend, recording the largest audience of the three major motorsport series airing in the US. An average audience of 2.89 million on Fox saw Kyle Larson take the championship lead with victory at Sonoma Raceway.

Of course, Fox’s portion of the Nascar Cup Series season is now over and the broadcaster has released positive results for its run, but this year’s race in Sonoma saw a one per cent YoY decrease. Last year’s audience average sat at 2.91 million.

Meanwhile, IndyCar continued to struggle this season, once again failing to post over a million viewers outside of the Indianapolis 500. Will Power ended a two-year winless streak at Road America, but just 863,000 tuned in on NBC.

This did represent a massive 124 per cent YoY audience increase, but it’s tough to make a direct comparison as last year’s race aired on USA Network.

A better comparison point is to look at IndyCar’s viewership after eight races for the last three seasons, something that offers disappointing results. The 2024 season is currently averaging 1.32 million viewers, compared to 1.38 million and 1.45 million in 2023 and 2022, respectively.

BlackBook says...

After a tricky start to the season, Formula One's US viewership is certainly bouncing back. Healthy audiences on ABC are to be expected, so the series will be eager to see this momentum maintained when it falls back onto cable.

US audiences have shown that they can engage with races when the time zone suits, so this recent stretch of promising viewership will become tangible growth if the European races deliver strong results.

As Formula One surges, Nascar appears to be plateauing, with the Fox segment of the season delivering a one per cent YoY viewership increase. However, the stock car racing series should be pleased that it's not suffering a similar downturn to IndyCar.

With just four of the final ten races being shown on NBC, there is a real risk of the 2024 season recording poor results for the series. Except for the Indy 500, IndyCar has also still not held a race this season that has reached over one million viewers, something that had happened three times already this time last year.

Go deeper:

• The SkyPad, Martin Brundle interviews, and remote production: Inside Sky Sports’ award-winning F1 coverage
• Nascar’s US$7.7bn TV deal: Why the annual value went up, who gets what, and the impact on fans