Rolex 24 Delivers IMSA Viewership Records

The Rolex 24 at Daytona delivered viewership records across NBC and NBCSN last weekend – headlined by the most-watched IMSA telecast since 2008 – continuing IMSA’s viewership growth since NBC Sports acquired its broadcast rights prior to the 2019 season.

NBC Sports’ Sunday coverage of the race on NBC averaged 1.230 million viewers, up 23 percent vs. last year’s comparable coverage, ranking as NBC Sports’ most-watched IMSA telecast on record and the most-watched IMSA telecast on any network since the 2008 event on FOX.

***Saturday and Sunday coverage on NBC averaged nearly 1.1 million viewers (1.096 million), up 30 percent vs. the two comparable telecasts on NBC last year (846,000);

***Saturday-only coverage on NBC (3:30-4:30 p.m. ET) averaged 829,000 viewers, up 58 percent vs. last year’s Saturday coverage on NBC (524,000);

***The Rolex 24 at Daytona averaged 391,000 viewers across NBC and NBCSN, up 19 percent vs. comparable NBC/NBCSN coverage last year (329,000);

***NBCSN also saw year-over-year growth, with the three Rolex 24 at Daytona airings averaging 255,000 viewers, up 18 percent  vs. last year (216,000).

Last year, NBC Sports delivered significant viewership gains and milestones for the second straight year for the IMSA WeatherTech SportsCar Championship in 2020, producing a 21 percent increase in viewership for 19 race telecasts across NBC, and NBCSN, despite the season being significantly affected by COVID-19.

NBC Sports’ 2020 IMSA WeatherTech Championship coverage across NBC and NBCSN averaged 242,000 viewers, according to Nielsen. 

It has nearly doubled viewership for the WeatherTech Championship in two years since acquiring the rights, up 89 percent from the 2018 season (128,000 viewers on FOX/FS1/FS2).