Time for Sponsors To Take NASCAR For a Spin
With the 2022 NASCAR season underway and its premiere event – The Daytona 500 – having taken place on February 20th, brands should take a new look at this sponsorship property.
NASCAR has traditionally attracted a fan base that is male, older and based in the Southern half of the US. According to NASCAR, 63% of their fan base is male and 53% are over the age of 45. Some 60% live in the South or West.
But with the introduction of other NASCAR platforms such as e-nascar, a newer more diverse audience is being drawn into watching and engaging with the sport.
Last year, NASCAR said 30% of attendees were new to the sport and twice as likely as returning fans to be under the age of 35. These younger attendees were also nearly twice as likely as the rest of NASCAR attendees to be Black or Hispanic.
Accordingly, this more diverse audience has brought with it new and exciting brands such as Oura (wearable technology) and foreign companies such as Mahindra (automotive manufacturing) to the sport. This diversification of audiences and brands is providing NASCAR with a platform for growth over the next few years as motorsports continues to capture the attention of people worldwide.
So while the bulk of the NASCAR audience is still its traditional demographic, this is changing fast.
Brands who engage with the sport will find a variety of new ways to gain presence at sponsorship levels that are not yet in the same stratosphere as the NFL or NBA. Most importantly, by building bonds with fans now, while the sport is in ascendancy and new more diverse fans are coming in, a brand will be able to build true authenticity and support as the sport’s popularity grows.
Taken all together, it’s a good time to get involved with NASCAR before this property truly takes off.
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