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The 2025 Firestone Grand Prix of St. Petersburg was the first IndyCar race broadcasted by FOX under the recent partnership with the open-wheel racing series. The broadcaster released the official viewership numbers for the race at St. Pete as Arrow McLaren Boss Zak Brown and IndyCar President Doug Boles hailed the FOX partnership.
FOX signed the deal with IndyCar to become the media partner and took over the exclusive broadcasting rights for the series away from NBC starting in 2025. The media group started with IndyCar promotions as early as the 2024 holiday season and released promos featuring IndyCar drivers, which gained a lot of traction and praise.
FOX’s public relations account on social media platform X released the viewership numbers for the St. Petersburg Grand Prix, which revealed that the race averaged 1.4 million viewers across FOX’s broadcast and streaming services, touching a high of 1.8 million viewers. It became the most watched non-Indy 500 since the 2011 IndyCar season as the tweet read:
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“OFF. AND. RACING! 🏁 FOX Sports opens the 2025 NTT INDYCAR SERIES in a big way with the Firestone Grand Prix of St. Petersburg scoring a 14-year high and peaking at more than 1.8 million viewers!”
Newly appointed IndyCar President Doug Boles reacted to the statistic and thanked the fans for the growth in viewership numbers as he tweeted:
“Thanks fans! This is all about you! Let’s go!”
Arrow McLaren's CEO, Zak Brown, also took the opportunity to hail the IndyCar and FOX partnership as he detailed the year-on-year increase in the viewership data of the St. Pete GP. The 2024 season opener averaged 975,000 viewers, and the 2025 race saw a 45% increase in viewership numbers. Brown tweeted:
“Mega debut for @IndyCarOnFOX pulling nearly 1.5M viewers for the St. Pete opener, a 45% increase from last year. That is massive for @IndyCar, and I’m loving what they’re doing to raise the bar for our sport.”
Many drivers and IndyCar personnel also took the opportunity to hail the FOX and IndyCar partnership as they reacted to the numbers released by FOX’s PR account.
“Guess those commercials worked!”: IndyCar insider and driver hail FOX’s promotional effort amid St. Pete viewership numbers
The 2024 IndyCar season averaged 1.3 million viewers, which was a 2% decrease over the 2023 season. However, looking at the number from the 2025 St. Pete GP, the signs for promising growth in the current season are imminent.
IndyCar reporter Jeff Gluck reacted to the number and hailed the promos released by FOX earlier the year that featured Josef Newgarden, Alex Palou and Pato O'Ward, including a cameo from NFL star Tom Brady. Detailing how the promos worked in favor to increase the viewership number, Gluck noted:
“Whoaaaa. Guess those commercials worked! 🔥”
FOX reporter Jamie Little said, “This is what we ALL worked so hard for and hoped for. Thank you fans for watching! Let’s keep it rolling. @IndyCarOnFOX”
“Bang. Good start. Well done @IndyCarOnFOX”, was Alexander Rossi's reaction.
Conor Daly and Jack Harvey were some other drivers who reacted in the same way. FOX also beat the all-time average viewership number for the St. Pete GP, which was 1,429,000 viewers during the 2022 race.
