Acura GP Long Beach proves hit on TV and trackside
NBC Sports has revealed that this year’s Grand Prix of Long Beach viewing figure was up 13 percent compared with 2021, while trackside attendance should prove similar to pre-COVID levels.
NBC Sports has revealed that the 47th Acura Grand Prix of Long Beach, won by Josef Newgarden after a close three-way battle in the final stint, generated the most viewers of the race since NBC replaced ABC as the event’s broadcast channel in 2009. It means IndyCar viewership through the first three rounds is the best in 19 years.
The GP Long Beach averaged a Total Audience Delivery (TAD) of 1.078 million viewers on NBC and Peacock, an increase of 13 compared with last year, despite last September’s edition being the championship finale. Viewership for the race peaked towards its final 15 minutes, when even the TV audience alone reached 1.251 million viewers. The race also posted a 0.64 household rating.
Powered by Peacock, the GPLB delivered an Average Minute Audience (AMA) of 22,900 viewers, the second-highest (barring the Indianapolis 500) streaming audience on record for an IndyCar race behind only February’s season-opener, the Grand Prix of St. Petersburg in Florida. The AMA also includes streaming from NBCSports.com and the NBC Sports app.
Viewership for the 2022 IndyCar season is averaging a TAD of 1.148million, not only the best since 2003, but also up 34 percent on 2021, that featured two races on NBC and one on NBCSN. The GP Long Beach marked the third of the six consecutive races to start the 2022 season on the NBC broadcast network.
TAD is based on data from Nielsen and Adobe Analytics.
Meanwhile president and CEO of the GP Association of Long Beach Jim Michaelian, revealed that trackside attendance figures will likely reveal the event is back to the levels seen in three years ago, before COVID-19 restrictions caused the event to be canceled altogether in 2020, and postponed by five months in 2021.
“The Acura Grand Prix of Long Beach is back!” said Michaelian. “The positive trend in pre-sales continued through race weekend and the preliminary results would indicate that the attendance and gross revenue figures will match or exceed what was achieved at the pre-pandemic race in 2019. That year, the attendance figure was slightly more than 187,000.
“A big thank you to all of our fans who came out to support us and we’ll be back April 14-16, 2023 for the 48th Acura Grand Prix of Long Beach.”
Be part of Motorsport community
Join the conversationShare Or Save This Story
The long evolution of Dallara's Indy 500 winner
IMSA Laguna Seca: Ganassi Cadillac holds off Porsche for victory
O’Ward, Rossi impressed by McLaren’s “massive step forward”
Martin: Bagnaia still MotoGP title favourite in 2024 but fight is wide open
"Complete s***show" - Does the DTM test still make sense in its current form?
What the Chinese GP's highlights reveal about its first F1 race for five years
The off-track action that makes the Miami GP an F1 race like no other
The apprenticeship that will aid Ilott's IndyCar to WEC switch at Jota
The long evolution of Dallara's Indy 500 winner
Nigel Mansell’s greatest F1 and Indycar drives
Ranking the top 10 IndyCar drivers of 2021
Subscribe and access Motorsport.com with your ad-blocker.
From Formula 1 to MotoGP we report straight from the paddock because we love our sport, just like you. In order to keep delivering our expert journalism, our website uses advertising. Still, we want to give you the opportunity to enjoy an ad-free and tracker-free website and to continue using your adblocker.
Top Comments