The 2021 edition of the Rolex 24 at Daytona has attracted record viewerships numbers, becoming the most-watched IMSA telecast since 2008.
According to data released by NBC Sports, the Sunday coverage of the Florida endurance classic (between 2-4 p.m. ET) attracted an averaged 1.230 million viewers. That is an increase in viewership of 23% compared to the previous year.
In addition, it marks the highest viewership for an IMSA telecast since NBC acquired the broadcast rights in 2019, and the highest viewership on record since the 2008 running of the event on FOX.
The 2021 running of the twice-around-the-clock enduro attracted significant viewership increase across the board, according to the broadcast. It states that Saturday and Sunday coverage on NBC averaged nearly 1.1 million viewers.
This marks a 30% increase versus to the two comparable telecasts on the network the previous year, which came in at 846.000.
By far the biggest increase was gained in saturday-only coverage (between 3:30-4:30 p.m. ET), which averaged 829,000 viewers, an increase of 58% compared to 2020.
In total, the event averaged 391,000 viewers across NBC and NBSCN, which is up 19% from comparable coverage the previous year.
The increase in viewership at Daytona comes off the back of a year of positive figures for IMSA and NBC. Throughout the season, NBC’s coverage of the 2020 IMSA WeatherTech Sportscar Championship averaged at 242,000 viewers, producing a 21% increase compared to the previous season.
NBC states that it has nearly doubled viewership for the series since taking over the broadcast rights from FOX in 2018, when it averaged 128,000 viewers during its last season.
