The second year of the short NASCAR on Prime Video series is over, and the Amazon-owned streamer is reporting strong viewership.
Amazon revealed that its five-race NASCAR schedule averaged 2.29 million viewers in 2026, up 6% from last year. Amazon also reported a median age of 57.7 for its viewers, the youngest among NASCAR broadcasters.
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Notably, unlike most ratings comparisons these days, the viewership comparison is apples-to-apples. Prime Video was one of the few networks to report Big Data viewership last year.
Three of the races on Prime Video faced some sort of rain-related broadcast change. Still, viewership on Prime Video was in line with NASCAR Cup Series viewership on FS1, which averaged 2.30 million viewers for eight races. Fox, which broadcasts the Daytona 500, fared much better with a 4.56 million average for its five-race schedule.
NASCAR’s agreement with Prime Video was a controversial element when it was announced. Instead of splitting the season in half, with one part on Fox Sports networks and the other on NBC Sports, NASCAR opted to add two new partners to the fold. In addition to five races on Prime Video, NASCAR also has five races on TNT Sports before the NBC Sports portion of the schedule begins.
Prime Video was thought to be an especially hard sell to fans, who were required to subscribe to an additional streaming service for only five races. It would not have been surprising if fans had simply tuned out for five weeks.
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Instead, Prime Video has been celebrated for its production. Meanwhile, NASCAR’s more traditional broadcast partner, Fox Sports, has faced criticism for its coverage, with FS1 races posting weaker viewership numbers this season.
As sports leagues continue to navigate the streaming future, this sort of strong viewership for NASCAR on streaming, especially with its relatively older audience, may result in other leagues feeling more confident about striking similar deals.
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