NASCAR has consistently worked on its social media presence, adapting to a change in how the market consumes content. On Instagram, for instance, the sport pushes out slick highlight reels and snappy driver interactions to its nearly three million followers.
Now, NASCAR is bringing a familiar style from Instagram to its proprietary app. NASCAR will have Stories on the top of the app to display short video content. On weekends, that will feature highlights during the race, and during the week that will feature the best moments from the race and additional content from the site.
“NASCAR’s unique style of close, side-by-side racing delivers plenty of highlight-reel moments each week and In-App Stories are an ideal way for us to deliver the type of compelling content fans crave on mobile,” said Wyatt Hicks, Vice President of Digital Media at NASCAR.
Hicks and his team have focused heavily on the app and accompanying website to keep fans engaged especially on race weekends. A big change last year was adding in-car cameras from every car for every race onto the website. Hicks told CupScene editor-in-chief Greg Engle last year on Forbes that page views on the site doubled and traffic was up 70% on raceday.
Much of the new content on the app has come as a result of a partnership with WSC Sports, an AI-powered platform. WSC’s main project so far has been to streamline the video integration into the Timeline tab of NASCAR’s in-race coverage. Instead of manually finding the video and uploading it after an extended wait, AI tools allow the video to be cut down and uploaded in minutes, meaning more highlights for fans.
According to WSC, there are now double the number of videos on the NASCAR app during races and they come onto the Timeline 80% sooner. That has contributed to more views on the NASCAR app already in 2024.
“We’re eager to continue collaborating with WSC Sports and building deeper connections with NASCAR fans around the world,” Hicks said.
Working with WSC and its powerful AI tools gives NASCAR more options to push content. That means there’s a potential for more personalized content for app users, perhaps seeing their favorite drivers promoted in the Stories. It also means more effective advertising, which encourage more investment from companies and will help NASCAR continue to bring a high-level product to fans.
“We are thrilled to be growing our partnership with NASCAR,” said Aviv Arnon, Chief Business Development Officer at WSC Sports. “Together, WSC Sports and NASCAR have taken initial steps towards giving fans even closer access to racing content and I am certain the path of innovation will continue. For this racing season, fans will be able to connect with their favorite NASCAR drivers on a scale like never before.”
NASCAR has been on the top of its game for embracing the changing digital landscape. The sport’s new TV rights deal integrates the-fast growing streaming platforms while retaining television coverage to meet NASCAR’s demographic, trying to offer the best of both worlds. The sport’s social media coverage has been expanded to attract new viewers. Now, the app is getting a retrofit to keep those new viewers engaged.
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