NBC Sports Digital & Social Media Rounds Out NASCAR Season With Significant Growth
On Twitter, @NASCARonNBC's followers have increased by 16% since July 1st, and impressions are up to 94 million over the same period, more than 22% higher than 2015. This season, NBC Sports partnered with Delmondo for Snapchat content creation around the races at Charlotte, Talladega and Homestead-Miami. The content, which included tap to advance stop motion, driver portraits, trivia and Snapart games, garnered more than 840,000 views, 70,000 minutes and nearly 30,000 engagements.
NASCAR on NBC's on-air talent also garnered social growth throughout the 2016 season, gaining 29,000 new followers since June, and increasing their engagement year over year by 59%.
BOTH NBCSN #NASCARTHROWBACK EVENTS CLIMB U.S. TWITTER TRENDS
This season, NBC Sports Group launched #NASCARThrowback a first-or-its-kind television event that invited fans, drivers and race teams to engage socially in real time during re-airs of historic NASCAR races. The idea fired up drivers, teams, broadcasters, NASCAR fans and viewers, who swarmed to social platforms and actively participated in both of NBCSN's telecasts.
In advance of July's Coke Zero 400, NBCSN presented the July 2001 Sprint Cup race at Daytona International Speedway. Driver and race winner Dale Earnhardt Jr. live-tweeted throughout the broadcast as the network re-aired his emotionally charged victory. The engagement charged the #NASCARThrowback hashtag to the No. 1 U.S. Trending Topic on Twitter within an hour. In the final moments of the throwback broadcast, more than 400 tweets per minute poured in from viewers.
In November, NBCSN hosted its second interactive watch party, re-airing the 2011 NASCAR Sprint Cup Series Championship race from Homestead Miami Speedway. The special honored 2011 Champion, and retiree Tony Stewart, who joined in on the fun, live tweeting throughout the race, and bringing fans insight into what he was thinking and feeling lap-by-lap. The November re-air also climbed U.S. twitter trends, reaching the No. 3 spot and giving Monday Night Football and Dancing with the Stars a run for their money. Fellow drivers including Joey Logano, Austin Dillon and Kasey Kahne chimed in along with race teams and the NASCAR on NBC on-air team.
CONSUMPTION OF NASCAR CONTENT ON NBC SPORTS' DIGITAL PROPERTIES UP 50%
Consumption of NASCAR content on NBC Sports' digital properties (NBCSports.com, the NBC Sports app and connected devices) garnered 105 million live minutes and 873,000 unique devices in 2016, up +56% and +50% respectively, compared to the 2015 season.
NASCAR Talk's most clicked article of 2016 garnered 3.3 million page views, 2.5 million more clicks than 2016's second place article and 2.8 million more clicks than 2015's most clicked article. This helped push NASCAR Talk to its best month ever in June, delivering 4.6 million visits via 3.6 million unique devices.
NASCAR ON NBC PODCAST CLOSES OUT INAUGURAL SEASON WITH MORE THAN 500,000 TOTAL LISTENS
The inaugural season of the weekly NASCAR on NBC podcast generated more than 500,000 listens across 54 episodes. NBC Sports lead motorsports writer Nate Ryan launched the podcast showcasing the latest NASCAR new and interviews in February. NASCAR on NBC's most popular podcasts included interviews with drivers Jimmie Johnson, Tony Stewart, Chase Elliott, Brad Keselowski and Danica Patrick plus NASCAR's Chief Marketing Officer Jill Gregory and Twitter's NASCAR satirist @nascarcasm. The podcasts are available on NASCAR Talk, iTunes, AudioBoom, Google Play, Spotify, Stitcher and other podcasting apps.