Nascar closes 2025 season averaging 2.45m viewers

• Championship finale in Phoenix averages 2.77m viewers on NBC
• Playoffs struggled notably with average audience of 1.87m, its lowest figure ever

Nascar averaged 2.45 million viewers for the full 38-race Cup Series season in 2025 after the championship finale in Phoenix Raceway.

Viewership is down 14.7 per cent year-on-year compared to last year’s full-season figure of 2.87 million viewers. This was confirmed after the finale at Phoenix averaged 2.77 million viewers on NBC, the lowest-ever viewership for a Nascar championship finale.

It should be noted that the finale was in direct competition with the National Football League (NFL) clash between the Buffalo Bills and Kansas City Chiefs which averaged 30.8 million viewers on CBS, becoming the second-most watched game of this season so far.

Drilling down into the numbers, the regular season averaged 2.66 million viewers, down from 3.15 million viewers in 2024, and the playoffs averaged 1.87 million viewers, down from 2.3 million viewers.

The underperformance of the playoffs has been the big talking point this season, something which will likely see the format entirely overhauled from next season.

This aligned with USA Network struggling for viewers this season as it carried the majority of the playoffs. Its average audience of 1.64 million viewers was notably poor, whereas the main NBC channel averaged 2.74 million viewers.

This contrasted with the strong performance of Fox at the start of the season, where viewership actually rose on both Fox and FS1. The former averaged 4.52 million viewers across five races, while the latter averaged 2.46 million, the second-highest figure for the channel since 2018.

In terms of the new broadcast partners, Amazon Prime Video and TNT made respectable debuts. Prime Video averaged 2.1 million viewers and TNT averaged 2.06 million viewers, which is roughly in line with what USA Network typically averages – not counting this season – with its live Nascar broadcasts.

Given early-season viewership tailed off so dramatically, it could suggest a degree of viewer fatigue. Six of the first 11 races exceeded three million viewers and none fell below two million. In the following 27 races, only one exceeded three million viewers and 13 dipped below two million.

Overall, a more fragmented broadcast structure combined with declining full-season engagement appear to have contributed to this year’s viewership downturn.

Go deeper:

• Nascar 2025 season in numbers: Testing start for new broadcast era as off-track uncertainty bites
• What the data says about Nascar’s run on Amazon Prime Video

BlackBook says…

This was the first season under the championship’s new TV deal which expanded the total number of broadcasters from two to four. Amazon Prime Video and TNT joined incumbent broadcast partners Fox and NBC.

Commissioner Steve Phelps said in his address prior to the finale in Phoenix that Nascar analysts expected viewership figures to be down by around 14 per cent, which has proven to be an accurate prediction for the year.

Still, such a downturn in viewership will be disappointing for the series, especially at a time where Formula One is going from strength to strength in the US.

2025 was always going to be about laying foundations for future growth. The success of this broadcast deal can’t be judged on year one. But next season will need to deliver greater consistency to show that things are heading in the right direction.