IMSA has shared key viewing and attendance figures from the 64th Rolex 24 At Daytona, including high marks for domestic and international viewership and a purported all-time record attendance for the event.
Daytona International Speedway officials have announced the highest-ever attendance for the Daytona 24 Hours, with over 180,000 fans attending across the four-day race weekend (including practice, qualifying, and support races).
IMSA’s international YouTube broadcast of the Rolex 24, which is available in over 210 countries, set a new high mark with 3.8 million live views, representing a 30 percent increase from 2025, the first year in which the race was streamed live to YouTube. 63 percent of those YouTube viewers were between the ages of 18–34.
Domestically, NBC’s two free-to-air television windows at the start and finish of this year’s race averaged over 1.1 million viewers, doubling last year’s average of 491,000 viewers across three television windows (two on NBC, one on the USA cable network). The network coverage also saw a 52 percent increase in the coveted age 18–34 demographic. Streaming coverage on Peacock added another 784,000 unique viewers, a 102 percent increase from last year’s figure.
IMSA President John Doonan said today: “In all aspects, the 64th Rolex 24 At Daytona was an all-time event. I’m humbled, honored and blown away by the incredible efforts of our staff, teams, manufacturers, drivers, partners, our teammates at Daytona International Speedway and most of all our fans, who contributed in so many ways to what was a record-setting WeatherTech Championship race at Daytona and start to our 2026 IMSA season.”
On the strength of IMSA’s live streaming coverage of races on YouTube, the series’ official YouTube channel has now surpassed 1.5 million subscribers, while the series’ official Instagram account has surpassed one million followers. In total, the series’ following on all official social media platforms has reached 3.7 million people.
“Over the past several years, we’ve followed a clear and intentional strategy to grow the IMSA brand, elevate the event experience and broaden how fans can engage with us — whether they’re at the track or watching through modern linear, streaming or social platforms,” said IMSA CEO Ed Bennett. “To see every one of those areas trending upward is incredibly rewarding. I’m proud of our entire community for helping drive this remarkable renaissance period of growth in sports car racing.”
This followed impressive live viewership of IMSA’s surprise Roar Before The 24 coverage on YouTube, which drew over 250,000 unique views on Saturday night, and over 160,000 on Sunday morning (despite technical issues during the latter stream).
Feature image © Jack Webster / dailysportscar.com
