The Grand Prix roared to another year of success, say organizers.
The three day event drew an estimated 95,000 people to Belle Isle Park from June 3-5. This included more than 25,000 fans on Comerica Bank Free Prix Day last Friday, approximately 40,000 fans for one of the most well-attended Saturdays in Grand Prix history and more than 30,000 fans on Sunday when rain and threatening weather in the surrounding area kept the expected attendance down.
With the totals, it marked the fourth time in the last five years that the Chevrolet Detroit Belle Isle Grand Prix topped the 95,000 fan mark in total attendance.
The two Verizon IndyCar Series races held on the weekend – the Chevrolet Dual in Detroit presented by Quicken Loans – posted impressive numbers in both national and local ratings on ABC-TV. Chevrolet swept both ends of the Dual in Detroit in their “hometown” race as Sebastien Bourdais won on Saturday for KVSH Racing and Will Power was victorious on Sunday for Team Penske in the Verizon IndyCar Series.
According to the final Nielsen ratings, both the Saturday and Sunday national broadcasts saw increased ratings and viewership above 2015 numbers.
Saturday’s Dual in Detroit drew a .7 rating, which represented a 17% increase from 2015 while Sunday’s race posted a .9 rating, up 13% from the previous year. Both races were seen by more than one million viewers for an increase of over 20% each day and with an estimated 2.41 million viewers over the course of the weekend, it marked the highest viewed doubleheader in series history.
Sunday’s Dual in Detroit race was also the most viewed IndyCar race this season outside of the Indy 500 and the most viewed Detroit race since the Grand Prix returned in 2007.
Local broadcast partner WXYZ-TV in Detroit had solid ratings for their 12 hours of coverage during race weekend. Saturday’s race broadcast on WXYZ drew a 2.1 rating while Sunday’s race posted a 3.3 rating, which ranked second nationally both days in major U.S. markets behind only Indianapolis.
On its social media platforms, total social media impressions rose from 139.5 million in 2015 to over 156 million this year, representing an increase of over 11.5%. On Twitter, the Grand Prix generated over 97 million potential impressions (up from 92 million in 2015) while trending for at least nine hours in Detroit on Friday, Saturday and Sunday and also trending for multiple hours in other markets on Sunday, including Denver and Indianapolis.
On Facebook, the Grand Prix produced over 1.2 million impressions over the course of three days say organizers.