- Last year’s race averaged 7.01m viewers
- IndyCar enjoying best start to a season for viewership since 2008 merger
- Nascar records most-watched race on Prime Video
The Indianapolis 500 averaged 6.64 million viewers on Fox, making it the second most-watched edition of the iconic race since 2012.
This is down on last year’s viewership of 7.01 million, which was the first time the race aired on Fox since the broadcaster acquired the rights from NBC in 2025.
There was a slight delay to proceedings due to inclement weather but this year’s figure does not include that 12-minute period.
The race peaked at 8.35 million viewers and ranks as Fox’s most-watched telecast since the World Baseball Classic in March.
Viewership was helped by the local TV blackout being lifted for the second year running thanks to a sellout event. The race also ran on the same day as the Canadian Grand Prix but avoided a clash due to differing start times.
IndyCar is now averaging an audience of 2.38 million after seven races, up ten per cent compared to 2.17 million viewers at the same point last season. This is the best start to an IndyCar season since the merger of the Indy Racing League and Champ Car World Series in 2008.
Not including the Indy 500, IndyCar is averaging 1.13 million viewers after six races, which is also an improvement on the equivalent period last year, when it delivered an average of 893,000 viewers.
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Meanwhile, Nascar recorded its largest audience ever on Prime Video as 3.06 million viewers watched the Coca-Cola 600 at Charlotte Motor Speedway.
The race was particularly poignant due to the unexpected death of Nascar legend Kyle Busch just days before, and featured an emotional pre-race tribute with his family in attendance.
Last year’s race averaged 2.72 million viewers on Prime Video, while the entire five-race run ultimately saw an average audience of 2.1 million.
This year’s audience figure was released by Amazon and taken from the official Nielsen ‘Big Data and Panel’ rating, which was the same methodology for the 2025 race. Nascar, however, has begun releasing panel-only viewership data – this came out to 2.65 million viewers.
Prime Video debuted last year as one of two new Nascar broadcast partners alongside TNT Sports. This was part of Nascar’s new US$7.7 billion media rights deal which split the 36-race season between four platforms.
After 13 races, the Nascar regular season is averaging 3.27 million viewers. Including the preseason Clash and the All-Star Race, Nascar has an average audience of 3.11 million viewers.
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