Indy 500 Ratings

ABC's Indianapolis 500 Telecast Gets Best Audience Since '08

Published May 30, 2012

ABC earned a 4.3 fast-national Nielsen rating and 6.8 million viewers for its telecast of the Indianapolis 500 on Sunday from 12:00-3:45pm ET, marking the event’s best audience since ‘08. The race, which saw Dario Franchitti hold off Takuma Sato on the final lap for his third win at the Brickyard, was up 8% and 1%, respectively, from last year. The audience was just below Fox’ telecast of the NASCAR Sprint Cup Coca-Cola 600 later that day. The NASCAR race from 6:30-10:15pm earned a 4.4 final rating, down slightly from a 4.5 rating last year (Austin Karp, THE DAILY).

INDIANAPOLIS 500 AUDIENCE TREND
YEAR	NET	RATING	VIEWERS (000)	WINNER
'12	ABC	4.3	6,800	Dario Franchitti
'11	ABC	4.0	6,711	Dan Wheldon
'10	ABC	3.6	5,779	Dario Franchitti
'09	ABC	4.0	6,338	Helio Castroneves
'08	ABC	4.6	7,245	Scott Dixon
'07	ABC	4.3	6,402	Dario Franchitti
'06	ABC	5.0	7,623	Sam Hornish Jr
'05	ABC	6.5	9,743	Dan Wheldon
'04	ABC	4.1	6,078	Buddy Rice
'03	ABC	4.6	6,723	Gil de Ferran

TAKING THE LEAD: The GLOBE & MAIL’s Bruce Dowbiggin wrote Rogers Sportsnet is “taking over the Canadian television rights to the famous race and the other stops on the IndyCar race circuit from TSN.” The “five-year deal for the network,” includes the two Canadian races -- the Honda Indy Toronto and the Edmonton Indy. TSN declined to comment, but sources said that the net is “content with its NASCAR package, and considers only the Indy 500 is a loss to TSN.” Dowbiggin noted the move shows that even though Rogers and Bell (parent company of TSN) are partners in purchasing Maple Leaf Sports & Entertainment, “there is still a healthy shooting war going on for rights in the Canadian market.” Rogers CEO Nadir Mohamed “has promised to make his Sportsnet brand the most powerful in the nation” and “the acquisition of the IndyCar series, along with some other properties yet to be announced, is an attempt to make good on that ambitious pledge” (GLOBE & MAIL, 5/29).

STEPPING DOWN: NBC Sports Network IndyCar play-by-play announcer Bob Jenkins Friday announced he is retiring from broadcasting motorsports at the conclusion of the ’12 Izod IndyCar Series season. Jenkins cited the declining health of his wife, but also said, “It just feels right, because I’ve been at this business for 34 years.” He said he hopes to continue to do some “public address work here at Indianapolis Motor Speedway.” He noted he chose to announce his retirement at IMS “because of what this place means to me” (“Indianapolis 500 Carb Day,” NBC Sports Network, 5/25).