RACER, USA TODAY Sports and IMSA Align to Expand Content Offering
IRVINE, CA – Racer Media & Marketing, Inc., publishers of RACER magazine and RACER.com, and USA TODAY Sports Media Group have aligned with sports car sanctioning body IMSA to produce and distribute original sports car racing content to audiences across the USA TODAY Sports Media Group platform. As a result, RACER’s authoritative and respected coverage of the IMSA WeatherTech SportsCar Championship is positioned to reach a broader cross-section of mainstream sports and general motorsports audiences.
USA TODAY NETWORK reaches 125 million digital consumers each month, with 52 million unique visitors consuming sports content, making it the fourth largest digital sports network in the United States. Of these readers, eight million identify as motorsports fans.
RACER.com is America’s number one digital motorsports media platform, averaging 2.3 million page views per month, while RACER magazine enjoys a combined print and digital circulation over 33,000. RACER Studio produces authentic, original native content for many leading automotive brands and sanctioning bodies including the upcoming 2018 IMSA WeatherTech SportsCar Championship season preview as part of the December 2017/Winter issue of RACER.
“We are thrilled to be aligned with both RACER and USA TODAY Sports Media Group,” says David Pettit, VP of Marketing for IMSA. “RACER has been a creative media partner with us since 2014, but the relationship informally spans over two decades. Their coverage of our series is expansive in terms of volume, and analysis, which makes them one of the preeminent voices for IMSA. To now have RACER content syndicated across the massive reach of USA TODAY NETWORK will expose ardent and casual fans alike to the many great stories that IMSA generates every season.”
IMSA sits on the cusp of another epoch of growth and quality. It was recently announced that Team Penske has joined forces with Acura for the 2018 season with Helio Castroneves and Juan Pablo Montoya headlining their driver line-up. Former World Champion Fernando Alonso last month announced he will drive in the Rolex 24 At Daytona in the United Autosports entry. Finally, there are 17 manufacturers in the series, many of which are the most storied automotive brands in the world.
The alignment also creates the opportunity for IMSA-partners and others to develop compelling native content initiatives to ride the momentum of editorially-driven content with brand-specific stories that can reach a new and lucrative audience.
“We are focused on creating content for passionate sports fans and exposing interesting vertical content to our casual fans,” says Chris Pirrone, General Manager, USA TODAY Sports Media Group. “We believe that our motorsports audiences will be well served by this partnership, and are looking forward to integrating RACER’s top-notch content that will give our readers authentic coverage of IMSA, beginning with the Rolex 24 At Daytona. Going beyond event coverage, this alignment also represents a real opportunity for series-aligned brand partners to carry forward their motorsports message to a new audience that’s ripe for engagement.”
Over the past several years, RACER has executed content projects for IMSA as well as BMW, Cadillac, Chevrolet, Continental Tire, Mazda and Porsche, all IMSA participants.
“We’ve always taken great pride in our coverage of IMSA, going back over 25 years,” says Paul Pfanner, RACER’s founder, president and executive publisher. “With this alignment, we have the chance to spread our enthusiasm for this great series beyond our traditional core motorsports fan base, and we hope it, in turn, helps bring more fans to IMSA to watch some of the best that sports car racing has to offer.”
For more information on developing content or media opportunities as result of this alignment, please contact Matt Moran, Director of Sports Marketing for USA TODAY (mmoran@usatoday.com), Paul Pfanner, President & CEO of RACER (paul.pfanner@racer.com) or Rich Merrill (rmerrill@imsa.com).
About IMSA:
The International Motor Sports Association, LLC (IMSA) was originally founded in 1969 and owns a long and rich history in sports car racing. Today, IMSA is the sanctioning body of the IMSA WeatherTech SportsCar Championship, the premier sports car racing series in North America. IMSA also sanctions the IMSA Continental Tire SportsCar Challenge and the IMSA Prototype Challenge Presented by Mazda, as well as four one-make series: Porsche GT3 Cup Challenge USA by Yokohama; Ultra 94 Porsche GT3 Cup Challenge Canada by Yokohama; Ferrari Challenge North America; and Lamborghini Super Trofeo North America. IMSA – a company within the NASCAR family – is the exclusive strategic partner in North America with the Automobile Club de l'Ouest (ACO) which operates the 24 Hours of Le Mans as a part of the FIA World Endurance Championship. The partnership enables selected IMSA WeatherTech SportsCar Championship competitors to earn automatic entries into the prestigious 24 Hours of Le Mans. For more information, visit www.IMSA.com, www.twitter.com/IMSA or www.facebook.com/IMSA.
About the USA TODAY Sports Media Group
The USA TODAY Sports Media Group encompasses all sports initiatives across USA TODAY Sports and Gannett's more than 100 well-known local media brands. It also includes the sports photography wire service USA TODAY Sports Images; leading high school sports destination USA TODAY High School Sports; the social news hub For The Win, and the hundreds of sites within USA TODAY Sports Digital Properties such as TheBigLead.com and mixed martial arts site MMAJunkie.com, among others. USA TODAY is owned by Gannett Co., Inc. (NYSE: GCI).
About Racer Media & Marketing, Inc.:
Based in Irvine, Ca with a sales office in London, Racer Media & Marketing publish RACER, RACER.com and the Sports Car Club of America’s official publication, SportsCar. In addition, RACER Special Projects Studio has produced creative, content and brand communication strategies for many of North America’s top sanctioning bodies, manufacturers, promoters and sponsors. Racer Media & Marketing, Inc. is privately owned. For more information visit advertise.racer.com; racerstudio.com; and
facebook.com/racermagazine