Indy 500 rewrites history with 7.05 million viewers; beats NASCAR's Daytona 500
The 2025 Indy 500 broadcast on FOX set a new milestone for the viewership of the greatest spectacle in racing, with the highest average viewership in 17 years. The iconic race around the Indianapolis Motor Speedway also surpassed the viewership records of the 2025 Daytona 500, which took place earlier this year.
FOX Sports PR's official account on X uploaded a tweet on May 26, 2025, detailing the viewership numbers from the 2025 Indianapolis 500. According to the reports, the race averaged 7.05 million viewers, the highest in the last 17 years.
The 2008 Indy 500 was the last race at the IMS, which averaged above 7 million viewers with 7.25 million average viewers. It was the first Indy 500 after the merger of the Indy Racing League and the Champ Car series.
FOX Sports PR's tweet also revealed that the race peaked at 8,438,000 viewers. The 2024 Indy 500 averaged 5.02 million viewers, as the 2025 race was over a 40% increase in viewership numbers in comparison to last year's numbers. The tweet read,
“FOX, Palou Win First Indy 500s 🏆📺
✔️ 17-year high: most-watched Indy 500 since 2008 with 7,050,000 viewers
✔️ Up 40% over last year’s 5,024,000 viewers
✔️ Telecast peaked with 8,438,000 viewers from 4:15-4:30 PM ET”
The 2025 Daytona 500 garnered 6.7 million viewers. According to reports, it's the third time in the last three decades that the Indianapolis 500 managed a greater viewership than the NASCAR marquee event of the year.
The Indy 500 is the marquee IndyCar event of the year, usually garnering the most viewership in the American open-wheel racing series. FOX took over the broadcasting rights for IndyCar ahead of the 2025 season and started promoting the open-wheel racing series and the Indianapolis 500 during the holiday season.
The FOX Sports team has been all hands on deck since the start of the season, and promised to make the 2025 Indianapolis 500 as big as it's ever been. FOX Sports CEO Eric Shank promised to take the greatest spectacle in racing back to its former glory and has managed to do so.
Eric Shank's Indy 500 promise ahead of the 2025 race
Eric Shanks came out ahead of the 2025 Indy 500 and explained the importance of covering an event as iconic as the Indianapolis 500. The FOX Sports CEO praised the efforts made by NBC and ABC in recent years over the Indy 500 coverage, but promised to take the viewership experience and numbers a step above.
“In this business, you want to produce big events, and you want to see if you can bring fans closer to the sport they love and see if you can find new ways to do that. You can't say ABC or NBC did a bad job with it. They did a fine job presenting the sport and making the Indy 500 a big event, but we're going to make it bigger,” said Eric Shanks
Former IndyCar driver Danica Patrick and NASCAR legend Tony Stewart were among the few stars who featured on the Indianapolis 500 broadcast team.