2025 NASCAR marketing could change after the Indy 500 drew more viewers than the Daytona 500 in its first year
2025 NASCAR marketing could change after the Indy 500 drew more viewers than the Daytona 500 in its first year
FOX Sports has hinted it may alter its NASCAR marketing strategy following the 2025 Indianapolis 500, won by Alex Palou to net a huge sum of prize money, generating higher viewership compared to the Daytona 500.
The Indy 500 attracted 7.05 million viewers, peaking at 8.4 million, while the Daytona 500 garnered 6.76 million viewers, peaking at 7.96 million. This marks only the third time in 30 years that the Indy 500 has surpassed the Daytona 500 in viewership, due to four likely factors.
FOX Sports has had an up-and-down season with NASCAR coverage, coming under fire after several fan and driver complaints but still earning
Robert Gottlieb, FOX Sports’ president of marketing, indicated that this year’s NASCAR marketing approach may not reflect future strategies. He stated: “I wouldn’t draw any conclusions from what we did this year to market NASCAR to what next year might look like.”
“Every season is different — the challenges and opportunities each year are different. We’ve just finished this week, so we have not yet begun to look back, evaluate and kind of game-plan for moving forward — so that’s still to come.”
“I will say, the performance, ratings and racing we had, it was another great season. We’re proud to be the flagship partner of NASCAR and next year will be an even greater season and of course we’ll do everything we can to let folks know how great NASCAR is as well.”
