The NASCAR TV picture is about to shift again, as coverage moves from TNT over to the NBC family of networks for the final stretch of the season. But the TNT ratings for the final race of the season are now in.<\/p>\n
And they\u2019re big. According to Jeff Gluck<\/strong> of The Athletic<\/a>, the Brickyard 400 averaged 2.5 million viewers this year on TNT and TruTV (combined total).<\/p>\n That was the most for any NASCAR race since the Coke 600 back in May. However, the news isn\u2019t all positive. The figure is also down considerably from the 3.6 million last year\u2019s Indianapolis race drew on NBC.<\/p>\n In total, the TNT ratings for the five NASCAR events it held averaged out to 2.1 million viewers. It\u2019ll be interesting to see how those figures shape discussions in the sport with TV partners going forward.<\/p>\n The general reaction to the races on TNT appeared to be more positive than many anticipated. The reasoning? The TNT ratings were going to be under heavy scrutiny after an almost universally praised run of races hosted by Amazon Prime Video.<\/p>\n Amazon Prime Video draws rave reviews<\/p>\n The TNT ratings will be heavily scrutinized, particularly the year-over-year drops. Though comps can sometimes be fluky depending on the news cycle \u2014 last year was a major election cycle with an assassination attempt that cut into programming<\/strong><\/a>, to name one example \u2014 the downward year-over-year trends are concerning.<\/p>\n But Amazon Prime Video seemed mostly immune from those kind of drops. And the coverage was pretty universally praised.<\/p>\n \u201cI don\u2019t think there\u2019s a negative thing to be said about Amazon and their coverage, honestly,\u201d The Athletic\u2019s Jordan Bianchi<\/strong> said on The Teardown podcast. \u201cI\u2019ve talked to a lot of people and it just seems like across the industry, whether it\u2019s drivers or exec team people or whomever, like everybody\u2019s just glowing, offering rave reviews about the job that Amazon Prime did through their five races.\u201d<\/p>\n Did the TNT ratings hold their own? That will be up to the sport and network execs crunching the figures to decide.<\/p>\n