The IndyCar Series’ recent race at The Thermal Club experienced a dramatic drop in television viewership, with average numbers plunging to 704,000 on FOX, marking a sharp contrast to the 1,417,000 viewers who had previously watched the debut race at St. Petersburg on the same network. This considerable 50.3-percent slump in audience size occurred as IndyCar faced direct competition from FOX’s broadcast of the NASCAR Cup race from Miami-Homestead on its FOX Sports 1 cable channel.
Adding to the challenge, the viewership ordeal was further compounded by technical difficulties. The mid-section of the IndyCar race, which was eventually won by Alex Palou, was “off the air from Thermal for about 21 minutes,” according to FOX. This unexpected blackout was a result of a power outage in the truck and led to a temporary switch to a simulcast of FS1’s NASCAR Cup Series race.
In 2024, IndyCar’s non-championship visit to The Thermal Club, which was broadcast on NBC, pulled in 788,214 viewers, showing an 11-percent uptick in comparison to FOX’s maiden broadcast from this elite private road course in Southern California. Notably, NBC’s telecast last year did not contend with any direct competition from NASCAR.
Despite the recent viewership setback, FOX’s average numbers across its first two races stand at 1,052,000, marking a 21 percent surge compared to the average of 871,000 viewers across the St. Petersburg and Thermal races in the previous season.
Although the loss of half of its race day audience from St. Petersburg is indeed a hard pill to swallow, FOX has managed to recover some ground. The network more than doubled its viewership from the initial event during Friday’s first practice session, which drew 168,000 viewers on FS1. This represents a substantial 77-percent hike over the 95,000 viewers who tuned in on the Friday for FOX’s IndyCar debut on FS1.
