FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE
Tuesday, November 20th, 2018

NBC SPORTS GROUP’S COVERAGE OF THE 2018 MONSTER ENERGY NASCAR CUP SERIES CHAMPIONSHIP IS MOST-WATCHED NASCAR RACE IN FOUR MONTHS

NASCAR Championship Sunday on NBC Tops 4 Million Viewers for Fourth Consecutive Year; Peaks at Nearly 6 Million Viewers for Race’s Thrilling Finish

2018 NASCAR Season on NBC and NBCSN Averages 2.7 Million Viewers

NBCSN’s NASCAR Cup Series Races are Most-Watched Weekend Sports Event on Cable in 7 of 10 Weeks in Summer

NASCAR Cup Series Races Drive NBCSN to #1 Cable Time-Period Rating 10 Times This Season

STAMFORD, Conn – November 20, 2018 – Highlighted by a thrilling showdown between NASCAR’s Championship Four drivers, in which Joey Logano and the No. 22 Team Penske Ford held off Martin Truex Jr. to take the checkered flag and win the 2018 season title, NBC Sports coverage of the Monster Energy NASCAR Cup Series Championship posted a Total Audience Delivery (TAD) of more than 4 million viewers across NBC, NBCSN and digital platforms, according to official national data released by Nielsen, and digital data from Adobe Analytics. Sunday’s championship race was the most watched NASCAR race in more than four months, since the on-air NASCAR debut of Dale Earnhardt Jr. at NBC’s Daytona race in July.

NBC Sports’ TAD of 4.2 million viewers for Sunday’s race marks the fourth consecutive season NBC Sports Group has topped more than 4 million viewers for the NASCAR Championship. Traditional live race coverage was presented on NBC, the NBC Sports App, and NBCSports.com, while NBCSN simulcast the race with hyper-focused “Hot Pass” coverage of the Championship Four drivers. The TAD of 4.2 million viewers for Sunday’s championship race was up 61% vs. NBC Sports Group’s 2018 NASCAR Playoffs average (2.6 million).

Viewership of Sunday’s Cup Series Championship peaked in the final quarter hour of the race with 5.8 million average viewers, the largest peak audience for NASCAR since FOX’s spring Talladega race (4/29/18; 6.3 million), and a 3.4 HH rating. The race delivered a 2.52 HH rating on NBC.

In total, viewership for NBC and NBCSN’s coverage of the 2018 Monster Energy NASCAR Cup Series season (excluding rain-impacted Indianapolis) averaged 2.7 million viewers.

Additional 2018 NASCAR on NBC season highlights include:

–           NASCAR Cup Series race telecasts on NBCSN were the most-watched sports event on cable during seven weekends of the NASCAR on NBC season.

–           NBCSN was the most-watched cable network in the time period, during 10 of 13 Cup Series race telecasts this season.

–           Two Cup Series races on NBC averaged more than 4 million viewers (Daytona and Homestead-Miami), and five races averaged more than 3 million viewers (Daytona, Homestead-Miami, Watkins Glen, Charlotte, and Talladega).

–           NBC’s presentation of this year’s NASCAR Cup Series Playoff race from Charlotte, which featured the debut of Charlotte Motor Speedway’s ROVAL course, averaged a TAD of 3.2 million viewers, up 13% vs. 2017, making it the most-watched fall Cup Series race from Charlotte since 2014.

–           NBCSN’s telecast of the 2018 NASCAR on NBC season debut from Chicagoland Speedway averaged a TAD of 2.6 million viewers, up 10% from last year’s race at Chicagoland.

–NBC SPORTS GROUP–