For the primary time within the historical past of the NASCAR Cup Sequence, a race was featured solely on streaming. The numbers are in and they’re strong for the primary outing. The Coca-Cola 600 peaked a 2.92 million viewers with over a million watching the prolonged post-race present, however most significantly, the typical median age of viewers went down by seven years.
As NASCAR chases a youthful demographic, this alone makes it an enormous win. There have been round 800,000 viewers from the 18-49 demographic, which is greater than any race on cable for the final three years (no less than). And whereas the entire viewership is down from the 600 on FOX, which is to be anticipated, it nonetheless beat six of the eight Cup races this yr that have been aired on FOX Sports activities 1.
NASCAR on Prime
Photograph by: Jared C. Tilton/Getty Photos
However what made Prime Video an actual winner on Sunday evening was how they approached the occasion. The sales space was energetic and informative, and so they took the occasion significantly (apart from the puppet section). You felt the gravity of it, which FOX managed to do fairly properly for the Indy 500, nevertheless it’s one thing that has been lacking from lots of their NASCAR occasions. The commercials have been minimally invasive and side-by-side was used continuously. Even with William Byron dominating 283 of 400 laps, the center parts of the race by no means felt boring as Prime went across the observe to search out the motion. Stunningly, the ultimate stage went and not using a single industrial interrupting the ultimate two runs of the occasion — about 64 consecutive laps.
The addition of personalities like Carl Edwards and Corey LaJoie was an ideal transfer whereas the sales space unsurprisingly nailed it between Adam Alexander, Dale Earnhardt Jr. and Steve Letarte. And the best way they defined issues with out patronizing the viewer was refreshing as properly. They weren’t explaining what phases have been or how warning flags on the finish of the race work, however they did throw collectively a extremely informative 30-second section on the fly to elucidate why Denny Hamlin’s staff did not get their automotive filled with gasoline.
The unending post-race present
Carl Edwards and Corey LaJoie
Photograph by: Jared C. Tilton/Getty Photos
However the post-race present was the largest breath of contemporary air. On cable, NASCAR followers are used to not getting a lot of a post-race present as a result of constraints of that medium. FOX and NBC have their palms considerably tied in that regard, however Prime took full benefit of that, giving viewers one hour and 18 minutes of post-race protection the place they introduced in race winner Ross Chastain and runner-up finisher Byron for full sit-down discussions. Crew proprietor Justin Marks additionally joined the panel to debate the large win for Trackhouse. They even interviewed crew chief Phil Surgen in Victory Lane and have been positive to inform the entire story of Chastain’s outstanding comeback, combating from final to first in a backup automotive to win NASCAR’s longest race.
Talking on his weekly podcast, Earnhardt Jr. stated of the post-race present: “The opposite luxurious of streaming is that the post-race is fluid. If we really feel like we’ve bought the whole lot accomplished, and the whole lot we are able to probably share in half-hour, that’s when it’ll finish. if it must go longer, it’ll go longer. we don’t have an out … And if there was ever a lot occurring that we should be on for an hour and a half, they’ll. That’s the beauty of the post-race.”
Prime bought a complete of 5 races this yr and for followers not prepared to open up their wallets simply but for streaming, they might nonetheless decide in for a 30-day free trial that covers your complete run on Prime. Round these occasions, Prime is doing a ton of activation between commercials and highly-acclaimed documentaries like the brand new ‘Earnhardt’ docuseries, which shortly turned the No. 1 trending collection on Prime.
It confirmed that change is usually wanted to shake up the established order, and that is not a knock on FOX. Simply take a look at IndyCar shifting from NBC to FOX and the whole lot FOX has accomplished for the collection. Simply handing another person the identical ball will end in a completely totally different ballgame. So congrats to Prime, who took the expectations for a NASCAR broadcast and hit that ball proper out of the park.
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