Watching NASCAR races with my father is a family tradition.
But now that I’m an ad tech journalist, that tradition has evolved (or shall I say devolved) into me peppering him with questions about on-track brand sponsorships. (Sadly, he’s just in it to enjoy the race.)
NASCAR’s Cup Series kicked off on Monday with the Daytona 500 race, an annual opportunity for paid brand sponsorships and prime time ad spots airing on FOX (or, for cord-cutters, Fubo and Sling TV).
Naturally, NASCAR’s Daytona 500 race attracts lots of automotive, insurance and oil brands. Toyota and Progressive were this year’s sponsors. But it also pulls in brands from nonendemic verticals, such as fast food and CPG, that want to boost brand awareness and consideration by capitalizing on rapt viewer attention.
Screen time
But brands are starting to do more than just slap creative on the sides of a race car.
To be fair, one reason for that is because there’s no telling which cars will end up in flames from a collision that removes them from the race early on (which happens pretty regularly).
This doesn’t mesh well with what advertisers want, which is to have a presence throughout the duration of the race.
Automotive companies, including Chevrolet, Ford and Toyota, sponsor NASCAR teams, while other advertisers opt to support individual racers. Either option gives advertisers a prominent on-screen presence beyond branded car shells. Sponsors get their brand logo displayed near the corresponding racer’s name upon mention during the broadcast, and their logos are also displayed on rotation above the scoreboard at the top of the screen.
Beyond the brands mentioned above, this year’s sponsors also include Wendy’s, Chili’s, Busch Lite, Monster, Goodyear, Mahindra Tractors, eBay Motors (yes, that’s a thing), AdventHealth, Ally Financial and auto and home insurance company Gainbridge.
Staying in the circuit
Still, brand sponsorships don’t take away from the value of 30-second spots to advertisers throughout a live sports competition.
Notably, there was a ton of overlap between brands that sponsored the race and those that ran commercials throughout Monday’s broadcast, sometimes multiple times.
Why? Because research suggests that pairing a classic 30-second spot with some form of brand integration during programming increases brand lift. Busch Lite, Coca-Cola, Ally Financial, Ford, Toyota, eBay Motors, Goodyear, Chili’s and Wendy’s all paired their airtime with commercials.
Sporting sports rights
The Daytona 500 race is also a good place for NASCAR to promote upcoming races and for FOX to advertise its programming slate for other sports leagues, such as the United Football League and WWE Smackdown (which FOX airs … for now).
And speaking of other sports events, programmers are in hot competition for airing rights – including for NASCAR races like Daytona 500, even though its ratings have been ticking down over the years. Last year’s Daytona 500 had 8% fewer viewers compared to 2022.
Ratings can drop when races are postponed due to weather, for instance, which is why this week’s Daytona 500 race, originally scheduled for Sunday, took place on Presidents Day. There are also other reasons for NASCAR’s ratings decline, including criticism that NASCAR is changing its image to appeal to a mainstream audience and thereby alienating its core Southern fan base. (Too bad. Mainstream audiences appeal to advertisers.)
But NASCAR races still bring in a sizable amount of ad revenue for broadcasters. According to Sportico, FOX made $24.3 million in ad revenue from last year’s Daytona 500.
Soon, however, it seems FOX will have to share its airing rights with more distributors.
Currently, NBCUniversal has rights for races in the latter half of NASCAR’s Cup Series. But in November, NASCAR signed a seven-year $7.75 billion deal that adds TNT (owned by Warner Bros. Discovery) and Amazon’s Prime Video as rightsholders.
Although it’s still unclear how exactly the airing rights will be divided, what is clear is that, as cord-cutting continues, linear broadcasters and streamers alike are racing at full throttle for the rights to air tentpole sports competitions – and for their portion of ad revenue.
And so, the advice that Dwayne “The Rock” Johnson gave drivers on Monday afternoon could also apply to programmers and advertisers seeking to cash in on live sports: “In the proud spirit of America [and the millions of people tuning in from their couches] … Start! Your! Engines!” 🚦
I might have added in that bit about the couches. 😂
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