In it’s first year as the exclusive rightsholder for IndyCar, Fox Sports is looking to do something a bit different.
The network will attempt to leverage its existing media rights agreement with America’s most popular motorsport, NASCAR, to expand IndyCar’s audience. That strategy starts this weekend, when Fox will air IndyCar’s Firestone Grand Prix at noon ET, followed by NASCAR’s EchoPark Automotive Grand Prix a couple hours later.
Using similar programming to lead-in and lead-out audiences between different properties isn’t a new strategy. But it could work especially well with IndyCar, which Fox believes has great growth potential.
In speaking with Puck’s John Ourand, Fox Sports CEO Eric Shanks says the network will look for more opportunities to pair the two circuits together, though the full extent of that strategy was more difficult in its first year.
“There’s potential to get more crossover between both series,” Shanks says. “We’re going to have IndyCar and NASCAR races on the same day several more times. There was only so much we could do with the schedule within the timeframe that we got the rights in the summer. In future years, you’re going to see even more of it.”
It’s a smart plan, and one that could pay off. Despite both being motorsports, there’s not complete overlap between IndyCar fans and NASCAR fans; many people are simply a fan of one circuit or the other. With the right mix of programming and marketing, fans of one can be converted into fans of the other.
Fox has already nailed the marketing when it comes to IndyCar, and now it’s time to implement the programming side of things.
About Drew Lerner
Drew Lerner is a staff writer for Awful Announcing and an aspiring cable subscriber. He previously covered sports media for Sports Media Watch. Future beat writer for the Oasis reunion tour.