With NASCAR returning to its lineup, NBC Sports will become the first U.S. media company to televise all three major auto racing circuits in the same year.

NBC Sports Group drops the flag on Formula One coverage this week from Australia, before revving up IndyCar action from Nawlins on April 12. NASCAR, with the Xfinity and Sprint Cup Series, bows over Fourth of July weekend.

“Our Formula 1 coverage will serve as a [promotional] platform.  IndyCar followers already interact with Formula 1 and NASCAR fans are going to be introduced to F1,” said Jon Miller, president of programming at NBC and NBCSN. “There is going to be great exposure to the different race circuits.”

Filling in some of the gaps left from the conversion of Speed into Fox Sports 1 in August 2013, NBC Sports Group also provides motor enthusiasts with presentations of some 300 hours Mecum Auctions programming, as well as season-long coverage of Lucas Oil Pro Motocross and Red Bull Global Rally Cross, NASCAR Whelen Modified Tour and NASCAR K&N Pro Series.

In addition, NBC Sports Group will present more than 200 hours of original motorsports programming, including daily episodes of NASCAR America on NBCSN, as well as the NBCSN original series Mecum Dealmakers, Off The Grid, and /DRIVE on NBC Sports.

All told, NBC, NBCSN, financial sister network CNBC and streaming app NBC Sports Live Extra will air almost 800 live hours, as part of nearly1,400 motorsports hours overall during 2015,

“We’re very happy with our commitment to motor sports. The ratings and momentum are strong. We have high confidence in our portfolio. We’re ready to go," said Miller.

Formula 1 competition begins on the Ides of March from Down Under, with the Australian Grand Prix at 12:30 a.m. (ET) on NBCSN.  Covering the entire 20-race circuit, NBCSN will present 13 races, NBC four, and CNBC three. The broadcast network’s coverage begins on Sunday, May 24 with the Monaco Grand Prix, and continues Sunday, June 7, with the Canadian Grand Prix. NBC’s coverage returns on Sunday, Oct. 25, with the United States Grand Prix, before concludes on Sunday, Nov. 15 with the Brazilian Grand Prix.

NBCSN’s coverage will feature the Italian Grand Prix at Monza, the Singapore Grand Prix “under the lights” on the streets there, the return of the Mexican Grand Prix, and the season finale from Abu Dhabi.

In addition, NBC Sports Group will present comprehensive coverage of practice and qualifying of all 20 races across its family of networks and NBC Sports Live Extra.

Australian Grand Prix coverage commences on Thursday, March 12 at 9:30 p.m. (ET), with Practice 1 on Live Extra, and continues on Live Extra and NBCSN on Friday and Saturday. F1 Countdown kicks off race coverage Sunday at 12 a.m, leading into the Australian Grand Prix at 12:30 a.m. ET on NBCSN. An encore presentation of the race will air Sunday at 4 p.m. ET on NBCSN.

“Some of Formula 1 starts at 2:30 or 3:30 in the morning. Formula 1 fans are passionate, knowledgeable and they expect to see the races live,” said Miller. “Or they’re going to their DVRs or watching the replays later in the day.” 

Miller noted that the circuit has good traction with the streaming set: “Formula 1 fans are tech-savvy; it’s a good match with NBC Sports Live Extra.”

It was also a good match where the Nielsens were concerned with NBCSN during the 2014 campaign. Formula One registered its most-watched season ever for a single cable network, averaging 385,000 viewers for its 12 races on NBCSN, 86% amelioration over 2013.

Over the 19 races, NBC Sports Group’s coverage averaged 477,000 viewers in 2014, up 30% from 366,000 the prior year and 15% more than the 414,000 for Fox and Speed recorded with 20 races in 2012.

Ratings also throttled during NBCSN’s coverage of the 2014 Verizon IndyCar Series, averaging 378,000 watchers for a dozen races, according to Nielsen data, a 34% improvement from the 282,000 over 13 competitions in the 2013 season. The delivery stood as the second highest on NBCSN since its predecessor Versus, acquired the rights in 2009, behind the 402,000 in 2011.  

This year, NBCSN will present coverage of 11 races during the upcoming 2015 Verizon IndyCar Series season, beginning on Sunday, April 12, with the inaugural Grand Prix of Louisiana.

Coverage extends to the Grand Prix of Long Beach on April 19, and the final eight events of the season, including the Streets of Toronto on June 14; Auto Club Speedway from Fontana on June 27; the annual race at the Milwaukee Mile on July 12. There’s also a visit to Pocono Raceway on Aug. 23; and the season finale at Sonoma Raceway on Aug. 30.

As for NASCAR, NBC Sports is returning to the stock car circuit for the first time since 2006, via a 10-year, $4.4 billion deal, that manifests with a combined 39 Sprint Cup Series and Xfinitiy Series races across NBC and NBCSN, beginning on July 4th weekend from Daytona International Speedway.  

Miller said NBC Sports can’t wait to get back on the NASCAR track, and will feature more than 250 hours of Spring Cup Series fare this year.

“We engaged in significant promotion for the Daytona 500 and the ratings were good from Atlanta Clearly, we want Fox to get off to a great start with NASCAR, and deliver ratings and momentum, before we begin our coverage on Fourth of July weekend,” he said. “We think we have a great Sprint Cup schedule, with seven races on NBC, including five of the last seven and the season finale at Homestead-Miami Speedway on Nov. 22, and 13 on NBCSN.”

Four of NBC Sports Group’s 19 NASCAR Xfinity Series races – through a 10-year deal, Comcast’s operating system supplanted Nationwide as the title sponsor for the organization’s second-level race circuit -- will air on NBC, with 15 airing on NBCSN.

“[Comcast] has also made a significant investment,” said Miller. “It’s great when our parent company sees the same value in NASCAR that we do.”

NBC's coverage of Super Bowl XLIX wasn't the only platform to set records on Sunday.

NBC Sports Live Extra’s live stream of the New England Patriot's 28-24 win over the Seattle Seahawks in the NFL championship game averaged 800,000 viewers per minute, 1.3 million concurrent users and 213 total minutes, according to Adobe Analytics.

The live stream to desktops and tablets -- Verizon holds NFL mobile streaming rights -- also produced 2.5 million uniques, up 9% from Fox's tally last year and 19% compared to the 2.1 million for NBC’s live stream of Super Bowl XLVI in 2012, which was the first-ever live stream of the NFL's title tilt.

The 800,000 average viewers per minute was up 52% versus Fox’s stream of Super Bowl XLVIII last year, which averaged a then record 528,000 viewers per minute. Concurrent users peaked at 1.3 million at the moment when Patriots cornerback Malcolm Butler made his game-winning interception in the final seconds, and was up 18% versus Fox's 1.1 million last year.

In addition to the record traffic, NBC Sports Live Extra delivered a high-quality stream with a long engagement of 84.2 minute per viewer, according to Akamai.

“The Super Bowl stream on the NBC Sports Live Extra platform went fantastically well,” said Rick Cordella, senior vice president and general manager of digital media at NBC Sports Group. “We were excited, not only by the record-breaking consumption, but also the quality of the streams we delivered to football fans.”

Expanding NBC Sports’ drive into the TV Everywhere arena, the programmer’s regional sports networks are live-streaming NBA games in-market.

Six of the Comcast SportsNet regionals that have rights to NBA teams have been quietly streaming simulcasts of the clubs’ games, as well as pre- and post-game programming, to authenticated viewers across computers, desktops, tablets and cellphones since the start of the 2014-15 NBA season. The live-streams include their own sets of ads as NBC Sports is monetizing the new platform.

The regionals – CSN New England, CSN Philadelphia, CSN Mid-Atlantic, CSN Chicago, CSN Bay Area and CSN California – join the SportsNet LA, home of the Los Angeles Lakers, as well as almost all of the 17 Fox Sports-owned regionals in streaming NBA contests to verified viewers within their respective TV markets.

“We have successfully launched TV Everywhere in many of our markets, initially featuring live NBA game coverage of the Celtics, 76ers, Wizards, Bulls, Warriors and Kings,” said Jon Litner, group president of the NBC Sports Group.  “Through a growing list of participating providers, Comcast SportsNet subscribers are gaining access to our award-winning coverage no matter where they are, and on whichever device they choose.”  

CSN Northwest is not engaging in the practice, as Portland Trail Blazers games are streamed on a pay-per-view basis where the RSN doesn't have carriage. CSN Houston, which has been the home of the Houston Rockets, will become Root Sports Southwest.

Currently, the Comcast RSNs have distribution deals for NBA in-market live streaming with their parent company, which is the top provider in the attendant markets, Time Warner Cable, and AT&T U-verse.

The programmer, which is making the streams available to all distributors at no extra charge, said it is working toward inking TVE carriage contracts for NBA local streaming with other providers.

While the streamed contests are value-added at no extra cost for authenticated subscribers, NBC Sports is looking to monetize this nascent platform, building a separate schedule of ads within the simulcasts.  Calling it “a brand new sales initiative,” an NBC Sports spokesman said the company is dedicating personnel to selling the spots and dynamically inserting them within the streams.

At launch this season, the Fox regionals simulcasting NBA games in-market included “slates,” rather than commercials within the streams.

The CSN streaming effort soft-launched in late October with the start of the NBA campaign to make sure the technology was functioning properly. A spokesman for NBC Sports said it is “very pleased with the rollout,” noting there have very few glitches.

The service is now being supported by on-air reads, messaging on the RSNs' websites, and promos during shoulder and news programming, raising awareness and usage.

Users can access the NBA streaming content via NBC Sports or the RSNs' websites, or by downloading the NBC Sports Live Extra app for use on smartphones and tablets. The platform’s geolocator points the user to the appropriate RSN and log-in process.

NBC Sports Live Extra enables authenticated and multiplatform viewing for most of the programmer’s national portfolio, including the Olympics, National Hockey League, Barclays Premier League, Sunday Night Football, Notre Dame football and Triple Crown thoroughbred racing. Golf Channel – and its coverage of the PGA Tour and other circuits – has been live-streamed via Golf Live Extra since April 2013.

The company recently launched its first ad campaign touting the NBC Sports Live Extra service.

The wide-scale rollout of NBA in-market streaming  -- NBA commissioner Adam Silver said in a recent interview said that it’s important that the league fans can view the RSN games on multiple devices -- by the Comcast and Fox-owned regionals, as well as TWC’s Lakers networks, and MSG, which is putting the New York Knicks in streaming play come December, may put pressure on Major League Baseball and the National Hockey League to open up in-market TVE for the RSNs that televise their teams' contests.

While New York Yankees games via YES Network, and San Diego Padres action had been made available in the fashion in the past, fans of the Toronto Blue Jays and subscribers to Rogers SportNet were the only ones to have access to in-market live streaming of MLB contests during the 2014 campaign.

The NHL has yet to skate with the practice.