ESPN’s live coverage of the Formula 1 Monaco Grand Prix on Sunday, May 27, earned the largest audience on cable in more than two decades for a race, according to Nielsen Fast National data.
With an average of 809,000 people watching, the telecast was the most-viewed Formula 1 race on cable since the 1995 Italian Grand Prix, which also aired on ESPN and averaged 876,000 viewers.
Sunday’s Monaco Grand Prix aired live at 9:05 a.m. ET on ESPN and an encore presentation aired on ABC at 3:45 p.m. Sunday afternoon.
The ABC telecast averaged 1.6 million viewers. Based on fast national data, the combined live and re-air telecasts on ESPN and ABC averaged 2.4 million viewers, an increase of 40 percent over the final combined numbers of the live and re-air telecasts that aired on NBC and NBCSN last year.
The Formula 1 season continues Sunday, June 10, with the Canadian Grand Prix live on ABC at 2 p.m.