Is IndyCar losing audience in fan viewership? Key things you need to know

The IndyCar viewership experience on FOX has been on a roller coaster ride. The American open-wheel racing, which announced it will be broadcasting on FOX for the 2025 season, has been greeted with mixed reception from its audience.

While the opening race of the 2025 IndyCar season - the St. Petersburg Grand Prix - kicked things off on a high note, drawing an estimated 1.4 million viewership, the second race of the season - the Thermal Club Grand Prix - was met with some disappointing numbers. There was a 50 percent drop in viewers compared to the season opener. This sharp decline was largely attributed to several factors, including the infamous incident of the technical difficulties that marred the race broadcast.

However, things appeared to change for the positive, but only for a while, at the Long Beach Grand Prix, with FOX reporting 552,000 viewers, a rise from the 307,000 who tuned in for the event during the 2024 season. Still, questions linger over what could be causing this inconsistent and low viewership that the IndyCar racing series continues to accrue.

In this article, we will try and explore a few reasons behind the fluctuating viewership and what it means for the series.

Competition from other racing series

Among the several criticisms and thoughts surrounding the inconsistent viewership, one recurring theme is the stiff competition from other motorsports categories. The open-wheel series has had its race weekends coincide with several racing series, including IMSA, NASCAR, which largely appears to push the IndyCar allure down the pecking order of motorsports fans.

A clear example of this was the Thermal Club Grand Prix, which suffered a 21-minute broadcast interruption, with FOX Sports abruptly switching their coverage to NASCAR Xfinity Series racing at the Miami Homestead Speedway, an incident which many fans interpreted as a sign of IndyCar being undervalued in the network's pecking order.

Also, the recently held Long Beach Grand Prix coincided with an IMSA race, which stole the spotlight due to Robert Wickens' return to elite racing, and another NASCAR series event, which again left fans of motorsport with choosing to select which race they would prefer to watch.

Locations of Grand Prix

The selection of venues for the races on the IndyCar calendar is also believed to be a contributing factor causing the inconsistent viewership numbers. More recently, the Thermal Club Grand Prix was greeted with intense criticism by several IndyCar fans as the race was held in an unconventional setting - a private motorsport club in California. To accommodate the race, the circuit used for the event largely had to be remodelled to meet the standards of the IndyCar circuit.

However, this refurbishing left the track dusty and a limited spectator presence, due to its limited Grand Stands capacity and exclusive nature of the venue. It is believed that if the series prioritizes more traditional racing tracks like the City of the Americas circuit (COTA) or several other tracks that allow immense audience interaction during races, it could translate into an increase in viewership and race attendance of the event.

Race calendar challenges

Also key issue impacting the viewership of races is the structure of the calendar. The lengthy intervals between races often leave average fans little to interact with in the lead-up to the next race weekend. Unlike in Formula 1, where the races are scheduled to follow each other within a consistent and shorter interval, the IndyCar calendar carries about a three-week interval between races, a situation that often leaves fans disinterested in the next race event due to a lengthy period of waiting. If the races are a little tightly packed, it could help maintain excitement for fans, and a narrative for the season could be properly upheld, as it is often witnessed in F1.