A Daytona 500 Victory Could Mean Big Time Television Exposure for Sponsors

Jimmie Johnson's victory in last year's Daytona 500 enabled his sponsors to collect a combined $16.6 million of in-broadcast television exposure value, which ended up equating to 11.2% of the total amount garnered by his supporting brands during the entire 36-race season.

According to research conducted by Joyce Julius & Associates, Inc. — which has monitored every NASCAR race telecast since the mid-1980s — Johnson's sponsors as a group appeared for one hour, 13 minutes, 40 seconds (1:13:40) during the live FOX telecast last February. The brands associated with Johnson were also mentioned verbally on 20 occasions throughout the broadcast.

Joyce Julius calculates television exposure value by comparing the in-broadcast visual and verbal exposure to the estimated cost of a national commercial during the telecast and applying Joyce Julius Recognition Grading—which takes into account such factors as size and placement of the image on screen, as well as brand clutter and integration of the brand into the activity.

Commercial costs during the Daytona 500 broadcast are the highest of the NASCAR season, making sponsor in-broadcast appearances the most valuable of the year.

The logos of Johnson's primary sponsor, Lowe's, appeared on-screen for 0:23:26 during the 4.5-hour season-opening telecast, marking the third-best showing for a winning sponsor at Daytona. Johnson's previous Daytona 500 victory in 2006, where Lowe's collected 0:27:30 of camera time, is the all-time high, finishing just ahead of Dale Earnhardt's historic 1998 win when he delivered 0:25:46 of TV time to GM Goodwrench.