NASCAR Viewership Drops 21% Since Moving To Prime Video – And They’re Fine With It

Losing viewers…but winning where it counts.

NASCAR entered a new era earlier this year when Amazon Prime Video broadcast the Coca-Cola 600 on Memorial Day Weekend, the first race to be broadcast exclusively on streaming.

Prime will be streaming 5 races this year, including the past three weeks at Charlotte, Nashville and Michigan and the upcoming races in Mexico City and Pocono, as part of a new broadcast package signed with NASCAR in 2023.

The deal, which runs through 2031 and is worth around $8.8 billion dollars, includes five races each summer on Prime, along with 5 races on TNT, while the first and second half of the seasons will continue to be broadcast by Fox and NBC respectively.

Of course NASCAR isn’t the first league to broadcast some of their events exclusively on streaming platforms. The NFL’s Thursday Night Football has been exclusively on Prime since 2023, and the league has also streamed games exclusively on Netflix.

But NASCAR has an older fanbase, and the move to streaming has caused quite a bit of uproar among fans upset that they would have to subscribe to yet another streaming service to watch their favorite sport…as well as older fans who have no idea how to access Prime in the first place.

During the Coke 600, many took to social media to complain about the race being on streaming:

This will mark the end of NASCAR… Putting it on PrimeVideo where the majority of fans can not watch it, is a big “F” you to all. It’s a sad day.

— Jim Pollock (@poll69875637) May 25, 2025

You disgraceful bastards. This race puts on the best military support presentation. You have deprived all of us of that. As a proud American you guys are an embarrassment. At least I don’t have to watch one big long Toyota commercial. goodbye in all languages

— Chris (@IFODMF) May 25, 2025

I think you lost me for good nascar. Horrible decision to go on prime!!

— Chad of Chad’s (@JuckoWoodrow) May 25, 2025

https://twitter.com/BradP615/status/1925607459793559585

But since taking over, Prime has won over a lot of fans after providing some of the best coverage and broadcasts that we’ve gotten from NASCAR in quite a while.

Fans have generally been disappointed with the product that Fox has been putting out for a few years now. From the broadcast booth to the camera shots to the ungodly number of commercials, Fox just hasn’t been great when it comes to providing engaging content for NASCAR fans and keeping us interested in races that are sometimes underwhelming.

Prime, though, has set the standard for NASCAR broadcasts. The booth features veteran play-by-play announcer Adam Alexander, along with Dale Earnhardt Jr. and Steve Letarte, and the extended team also includes veteran pit reporter Marty Snider along with NASCAR veteran Carl Edwards making his broadcast debut for Prime’s pre-and post-race coverage.

And most importantly, Prime doesn’t show any full-screen commercials during green flag racing: It’s all side-by-side commercials when there’s racing going on, so we don’t have to miss any of the action, and they also go commercial-free during the final laps of the race. It’s been great.

But as expected, NASCAR has actually LOST viewers since moving to Prime.

Compared to the same three-race stretch from last season, NASCAR Cup Series viewership is down 21%, fueled by a 40% drop in viewers above the age of 55.

Sounds like a problem, right?

Wrong.

NASCAR is fine with the drop in older viewers, because the numbers also show a massive 32% increase in viewers in the coveted 18-34 age range. In fact, viewership is up in all categories under the age of 55, with a 21% increase in viewers between 25-54.

The numbers largely track with those from the NFL when they moved Thursday Night Football to streaming: A decrease in overall viewership, but an increase in younger demographics. And for a sport like NASCAR that has struggled to capture a younger audience in recent years, a double-digit increase in viewers in these key demographics is a massive win.

Now, would NASCAR love to grow their audience overall? Sure. And is there an argument to be made for catering to your core audience? Dance with the ones who brought you, right? Of course.

But NASCAR needs to grow its fanbase, and that means reaching younger fans who are not only more attractive to advertisers but who are more likely to be around for decades to watch the sport on down the road.

It’s no doubt a win for NASCAR to expose their sport to so many new, younger viewers. Even if they’re not getting as many eyeballs, they’re getting the eyeballs they want.The post NASCAR Viewership Drops 21% Since Moving To Prime Video – And They’re Fine With It first appeared on Whiskey Riff.