The results are in from Amazon Prime Video’s debut season exclusively streaming NASCAR races, and as expected, the viewership is down. However, some encouraging audience metrics emerged.
As part of NASCAR’s new $7.7 billion media-rights deals, Amazon broadcast five Cup Series contests, which averaged 2.16 million viewers per race, according to Nielsen ratings.
It’s almost impossible to fairly compare the TV ratings for those five race broadcasts to last year, because NASCAR’s schedule is quite different this year. Just one of Amazon’s five races was held on the same weekend in 2024, the Coca-Cola 600 at Charlotte Motor Speedway.
When looking at the same portion of the calendar last year—the five races from Memorial Day weekend on—Amazon’s 2.16 million average race viewership is down 17.5% from the 2.62 million average audience across Fox (two races), FS1 (one race), and USA Network (two races). Still, race viewership often fluctuates depending on the location, regardless of broadcast platform.
The median age of 56.1 for viewers of Amazon’s five races is nearly seven years younger than audiences watching Cup Series races on linear networks in 2025 (62.8).
That all falls in line with trends seen in other sports that moved packages from linear to streaming—a noticeable dip in overall viewership but much younger viewers, the latter of which can be seen as a positive sign for any league’s future.
NASCAR leaders are likely not worried about the initial ratings dip. Even the NFL’s Thursday Night Football took a viewership hit when it moved to Amazon. And though TNF ratings have increased each season, they are still not to the level they were on linear TV in 2021.
TNT Sports Next Up
With Amazon’s portion of the NASCAR season complete, another new media-rights partner, TNT Sports, will make its Cup Series debut this weekend in Atlanta.
The next five races on TNT Sports platforms also coincide with NASCAR’s first in-season tournament, which will feature 32 drivers competing in a bracket-style knockout format for a $1 million prize. Seeding was determined by performances at the previous three races. TNT will air the traditional race broadcasts, while truTV has an alt-cast. Max is streaming all feeds.
After the TNT Sports portion of the season, incumbent NASCAR broadcaster NBC Sports will finish out the season, including the playoffs.
