Written by Archie O’Reilly
After an off-season of major promotional efforts got FOX Sports’ broadcast partnership with IndyCar off to a positive start that climaxed during February’s Super Bowl, last weekend’s Grand Prix of St. Petersburg marked the true start of the IndyCar on FOX era.
The first race of the 2025 season - the maiden event of FOX’s groundbreaking all-network IndyCar race coverage - was where the eyes drawn to the sport by FOX’s three high-profile driver-specific commercials could start to be exposed to the stars in action. And should all go well, it was a chance to be the start of those eyes being converted into IndyCar fans.
The much-anticipated television rating - the early reward of the off-season advertisement push - was released on Tuesday. A total of 1.417 million viewers for FOX’s first race was up 45 percent from NBC Sports’ 975,000 viewers for last season’s opener.
The total is just shy of NBC’s total audience delivery - including its Peacock streaming service, of which FOX does not have an equivalent - of 1.429 million for the 2022 opener, which is the most-watched non-Indianapolis 500 race since 2011.
“The ratings we obviously want to be up, right?” said FOX Sports CEO Eric Shanks during the race weekend. “We want to start to see: are the fan insights that we have starting to turn for approachability? Are the hardcores loving it?
“What I would love to see is the relationship with FOX help teams get new sponsors, help the league get new sponsors because that's what sets us off on this flywheel is economic success.
“The ratings are going to be the ratings. I saw some numbers last year on Peacock that were pretty bad. So we’re definitely going to do better I think on average. But that’s just the first part of the story. The real part of the story is: what does that do to the sport?”
Beyond just the initial viewership boom, a word to describe FOX’s first weekend of IndyCar coverage would be ‘promising’.
St. Pete offered a first glimpse as to how the coverage of the sport is set to evolve compared to the tenure of NBC Sports, which came to a close at the end of the 2024 season. It was imperative to keep any new viewers engaged from the outset as well as to keep existing fans content. And that mission generally would appear to have been a success.
One thing that immediately stood out was that IndyCar was made to feel important by FOX from the outset. The stature of the production gave the series significance.
The clear, bold introductory titles and cutscenes between breaks set the tone. The use of more driver-specific and driver-led cutscenes, graphics and features were particularly welcome to create a more personal link with drivers, allowing viewers to get to know them in a way that NBC did not always manage.
One of the highlights from the coverage was having each driver introduce themselves and where they are from during the pre-race run through the starting grid. In order to perfect the concept, it may be helpful to have each driver’s car - especially given the frequent changes of livery - also shown on that screen. But it is a fantastic addition regardless.
Knowing the volume of new viewers, FOX also did a good job at ensuring people were up to speed with the rules of every session and intricacies of the series, such as the Dallara DW12 being used by every driver, through clear infographics. This feature nicely complemented informative introductory pieces for certain teams and drivers.
Storytelling is a key goal of FOX’s IndyCar coverage and they did a good job at creating a picture for those less familiar to the series - maybe having been attracted by the commercials.
“We’re doing simple things - like every 15 minutes telling you what the rules are because it’s kind of complicated,” Shanks said. “We are deploying new technology to take you places that you haven’t been before but then also simple things like who is in what car?
“We put transponders in the car along with IndyCar that, for the first time, you can actually - like during practice on a wide shot - see who is who.”
The pre-race sequence, despite a fairly narrow half-hour window, set up the race well with its different features, stories and interviews; a slightly longer grid walk feature could be preferable in the future. The mic’ing up of baseball legend Alex Rodriguez in the two-seater pre-race was another excellent segment.
The pre-race morning warm-up session was effectively dualled as a sofa-based talk show with the commentary booth to build up to the race, with a refreshing, more casual tone. An interview with the late, great Dan Wheldon’s sons, Sebastian and Oliver, was a nice touch.
Beyond that, FOX did a good job at bringing to life what people were watching. On track, the new telemetry display incorporated onto the aeroscreen - not on the pylon like NBC - was a helpful feature. Other on-screen graphics, like the timing pylon, were bold and fitted an aesthetic that stood out and caught the eye.
Some details were missing that made the story of the action a little incomplete, which will be touched on later. But the display in-race - with clear gaps to the leader and showcase of who is out of the race and who is in the pits - was a good baseline.
There was creativity that has been absent in the past, including a variety of new shots, headlined by drone usage to give a better picture of the scene.
“This is like a drone’s playground out here,” Shanks said. “Aerial coverage, drones… everything that we’re going to do is going to make it sexy and then hopefully more approachable.”
Beyond what the coverage looked like on-screen, the presentation from FOX’s broadcast personnel was outstanding.
The booth clicked immediately and the pit reporting lineup was similarly strong - few signs that it was a new team working together on a race weekend for the first time.
Will Buxton was an enthusiastic, assured, natural and clear voice at the helm in the booth. Despite over a decade out of a commentary role, which was not remotely evident in his performance, he was an enjoyable and knowledgeable presence.
Buxton’s commentary, alongside James Hinchcliffe and Townsend Bell, fitted the cadence of the race and its excitement perfectly while telling the story exceptionally. The chemistry built between the trio from early on felt seamless, with Hinchcliffe and Bell their normal engaging selves, as became the much-loved norm on NBC.
“We have thrown a bunch of technology at this series that you’ll see throughout the season,” Shanks said. “But I would say it’s pretty simple. It’s people talking to people.
“The booth that we have together, Will and Hinch and Townsend, and then pit reporters that we have here, I am so excited about the camaraderie and the energy and the passion that they have.”
In terms of the lineup of pit reporters, FOX has done well to tap into proven names with the ever-reliable Kevin Lee and, once returning from maternity leave, Georgia Henneberry. Ahead of Henneberry joining the lineup, Jamie Little dovetailing with her NASCAR role proved an extremely shrewd choice in St. Pete.
Completing the lineup, the fresh face of Jack Harvey - with recent driving knowledge to bring to the role - appears a natural pick in the early stages. The nerves of his first weekend as a broadcaster were occasionally evident - as is absolutely natural - but the minor stumbles reduced as the weekend progressed and Harvey proved a valuable presence in the pits.
Even little details such as Indy NXT practice being televised with the actual FOX booth - Lee and Harvey - as opposed to the radio coverage were positive strides forward. The amount of investment being put into the junior series - not solely IndyCar itself - is also good to see.
From a FOX perspective, the weekend as a whole provided a nice follow-up to the positive start made with the off-season commercials. The only points of criticism come in the form of some efficiency and clarity issues.
The biggest flaws came through some important details missing on-screen. Certain bugs with delays on the pylon, plus its early disappearance at the end of some sessions, should be easy fixes.
One issue was incomplete session results being shown, such as only the top 10 in opening practice and nothing other than the NXT front row. Something NBC also lacked clarity with was not showing exactly who transferred and who did not after the opening rounds of qualifying - something FOX also needs to rectify.
From a TV direction perspective, there was a sense that some important moments were occasionally not shown on the broadcast; fastest laps were not always shown in qualifying and in-race moments such as Josef Newgarden’s pass on Scott Dixon were not shown live.
There could also have been more emphasis on ‘through the field’ stories, with the likes of Rinus VeeKay’s ninth-place finish not given much coverage.
Certain details were missing from the pylon - most glaringly in qualifying. It was slightly difficult to follow the full story given the absence of deltas shown to the transfer zone; NBC implemented this feature in a confusing way - unclear if the delta was to first or six - but FOX did not show any delta times during qualifying.
It was unclear what the top-six transfer zone actually was for fans unaware of the rules, confused more by detailing on the pylon that made it seem the top nine may have been the transfer zone. It could also be better displayed whether drivers are on a lap, improving on their own laps or what tyre laps have been completed on.
The lack of clarity around tyre compounds was also an issue in the race. There needs to be a way to always show what tyres drivers are running in the race, otherwise it becomes hard to follow convoluted strategy races. There was an occasional display but it felt suboptimal.
Other key information needs to be on rotation on the graphics, for instance push-to-pass remaining and hybrid usage. It could also be immediately clearer when there is a red flag or caution conditions. The writing atop the pylon - outlining race, round name and, to an extent, lap count - could also be clearer.
The pylon generally feels quite big, especially with certain detailing such as the big, bold top five display featuring the drivers’ heads, which sometimes felt unnecessary at the detriment of showing more of the order. The pylon could also feature more vibrant, livery-based driver numbers and be transparent to avoid hiding as much of the left side of the screen.
Ultimately though, it was never going to be perfect from the very start - and it is a completely fresh start. And on the whole, with plenty of new innovations from the outset, it was a thoroughly engaging watch. Any criticisms are largely minor details.
The fact that there are so many plus points and the weekend generally went so smoothly is encouraging. There is lots of promise to build on and FOX will continue to evolve every weekend.
As Shanks said: “We’re going to learn as we go.”
And it is important that fans do afford time for the package to be perfected. Refinement was always going to be needed, but capped off with an impressive first rating, a strong foundation has been built.
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