An IndyCar Promo covering the NTT Series will be featured on FOX Sports in 2025. That’s right, Indy fans, for the first time, all 17 NTT Series races will appear in one place rather than being divided among the USA Network, Peacock, and NBC live streaming services. In addition to regularly aired programming, the famous sports broadcasting channel is available on all mainstream streaming platforms today via an all-access application available for download on a tablet, smartphone, or over the internet, and what better way to kick off the upcoming season starting in March?
Although many have grown accustomed to watching NTT Series IndyCar races on multiple platforms, the new IndyCar Promo and move to FOX Sports provides consistency. It gives way to a vaster viewership and the hope that IndyCar can gain more notoriety like other series, including NASCAR, NHRA Drag Racing, Grand Prix Motorcycle Racing, and the Automobile Racing Club of America (ARCA) Series. The idea is to increase the amount of race access and exposure so that fans become more engaged in the sport and are apt to attend races and engage with other fans.
However, the racing outlet is concerned about viewership. Even though approximately In 2023, only 1.32 million people tuned in to watch the NTT Series, whereas 1.95 million tuned in in 2024. That’s almost a 60% increase in viewership in a single year. Still, the series is not gaining as much clout as CEO Mark Miles would like, leading to the decision to debut each of the 17 races on the 2025 schedule on FOX Sports. Partnering with a network like FOX Sports will undoubtedly give IndyCar a more comprehensive range of opportunities to expand as visibility grows.
The NTT IndyCar Series’ move from NBC to FOX Sports was a decision that didn’t come lightly, and Mark Miles could have just as quickly chosen to partner with another network for monetary gain, but instead, he chose to go for the IndyCar Promo that would give the series more exposure which is a commendable move considering NBC Sports was the series’ partner for the better part of 16 years. NBC Sports is a large part of the reason it has improved its popularity since CART separated from the Indy name in 1994.
The separation between the parties caused a steep decline in the interest in open-wheel racing in the United States. It dramatically resulted in IndyCar losing new sponsorships and keeping existing ones, decreased attendance at live races, and less enthusiasm about the sport, mainly due to the rising popularity of stocking car racing, namely NASCAR. The deal with Fox for the new IndyCar Promo is more lucrative because it will reach more viewers rather than rake in more money, and it’s a risk CEO Miles is willing to take even though the potential for a deal that would bring more monetary gain could have been acquired.
“We did not do the deal which would have afforded us the greatest rights fee,” IndyCar CEO Mark Miles said. “This is the deal that made economic sense but more so was far and away the greatest reach, and that — you could think about it as our willingness to invest by taking less for the growth of the sport through the greater reach.”
The IndyCar Promo that will begin in March to kick off the 2025 NTT Series season will be the first to feature all 17 races in one place. The decision to move to FOX Sports from NBC will be ideal for the racing series, which has experienced a sharp decline in popularity over the years as stock car racing has become the main attraction at most tracks across the United States. It will also be the first time that two of the greatest spectacles in United States racing history, the Indianapolis 500 and Daytona 500, will be featured on the same channel.
The hope is that the IndyCar Promo and hosting both races on the same day will give racing fans more options to enhance their love for the sport from all angles and reach every demographic. FOX Sports will also broadcast Indy qualifying and practice sessions before the main event is set to take place, something that would never have been possible if not for the news entity and CEO Mark Miles forging a partnership that will take IndyCar leaps and bounds above what NBC Sports was able to accomplish.
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