This week has been filled with buzz for NASCAR after the NASCAR Cup Series finally stepped onto the big, shiny stage known as streaming.
It's well deserved. According to Amazon, 2.7 million viewers was the average number of people who tuned into the first-ever race Cup broadcast on a streaming platform, coming on Amazon Prime Video.
That was in line with NASCAR predictions that the sport would net roughly the amount of viewers it sees for races that aired on cable networks.
In fact, more people watched the Coca-Cola 600 than six of the eight races that aired on FOX Sports 1 this season.
But wait, there's more!
Despite the overall number being off from the 2024 Coke 600 -- which was rain shortened but had the added buzz of whether or not Kyle Larson would make it to Charlotte Motor Speedway -- another sign of success sprouted up.
The median age of people who tuned in was younger. Like, half a decade younger.
At first blush, I raised my eyebrows at that. But how much of a difference is six years when you're in your late 50s and late 60s?
Then an executive at FOX, the network that aired the Coke 600 for the last 23 years, added some fuel to the ratings discourse fire.
A lot was made on social media about this note, especially the near universal praise Amazon's broadcast has received compared to the tired old product FOX has been delivering for years.
What do you expect when FOX went to side-by-side commercials with less than 10 laps to go at Talladega Superspeedway earlier this season and Amazon gave viewers the final 60 laps of the 600 with no commercials? I could go on.
Anyway, NASCAR gained 173,000 young viewers who could potentially watch the sport for decades, while losing 700,000 old viewers over the age of 55 who, in all fairness, probably won't be around for decades.
(Or they had no idea how to find Amazon Prime Video on their TV. There are still four weeks left; give them time.)
While that wasn't exactly a spike-the-ball-in-the-endzone stat, there was one. The big victory came in a sub-category of the nearly 3 million number.
It's the category that likely drove NASCAR's should-have-done-it-sooner decision to commit 10 of its races to airing on Amazon and HBO Max for the next seven years.
The coveted 18-49 demographic.
That's the section of society marketers care the most about, even though people over the age of 49 have money, too.
It's the demographic that's fueled Formula 1's meteoric rise in popularity thanks to Netflix exposure via Drive to Survive, even if F1 racing is, you know, not great.
It's the audience that's eroded for NASCAR for 15 years as more and more people cut their cable cords and the media landscape fractured to such a degree that NASCAR is lucky enough to be a blip on its radar (unless there's a post-race fight or something crazy like the Hail Melon).
How many Prime accounts associated with 18 to 49-year-old subscribers watched the Coke 600? Survey says ...
The 800,000 number is about the total amount of viewers you could expect for a NASCAR Xfinity Series race prior to this year, when every race on The CW so far has garnered more than 1 million viewers -- the first time that's happened for the series since 2017.
Holy crap. NASCAR should be happy about pretty much all of that.
Moving into the streaming space, again, is something that should have happened years ago. But the sport was locked into a 10-year TV contract that began in 2014, back when the prospect of streaming sports live on a designated platform was barely a glimmer in TV executive's eyes.
Going to streaming -- for any sport, not just NASCAR -- is an investment in the future that desperately needed to happen.
No sports sanctioning body should be proud to have one of the oldest fanbases in the sport.
Getting 2.7 million viewers on your first try out of the gate, along with impressive presentation, is commendable.
However, it was the first one. Opening night. A crown-jewel race. Kyle Larson was once again trying the Indy 500/Coke 600 Double.
What happens next? What will the numbers be for another Sunday night race at Nashville Superspeedway in early June? Will word of mouth spread far and wide among NASCAR fans about Amazon's quality broadcast product? Will people discover which button on the remote starts the Amazon app on their TV?
Will others learns that they can get a free 30-day trial for Prime, thereby allowing them to watch Amazon's remaining four races at no cost? Will those pesky 18- to 49-year-old kids stick around and invite their friends to enjoy the vibe? Will high-profile companies looking to market their wares notice if they do?
That's the exciting and anxiety-inducing moment NASCAR finds itself entering week two of its streaming era.