Patrick’s stock-car foray wins sponsor big-dollar exposure

By all measurements, Danica Patrick’s stock car debut Feb. 6 in the ARCA Racing Series in Daytona Beach, Fla., was
a smashing success.
 
Patrick races full-time in the Indy Racing League, but this year is also running a partial
season in the stock-car series.

Patrick supporters were no doubt thrilled with her sixth-place finish. Cable channel
SpeedTV enjoyed its largest audience ever to watch an ARCA event, and her team sponsor, GoDaddy.com, amassed nearly $230,000
of in-broadcast exposure value in the process, according to Joyce Julius & Associates Inc., an independent Michigan-based
media research firm.

According to research conducted by the firm, which specializes in measuring
the scope of sponsorships across all forms of media, Patrick’s name was mentioned 25 more times than the
winning driver, and in turn, GoDaddy.com was verbally referenced six times during the live race telecast.

Additionally,
logos associated with Patrick and her crew appeared clear and in-focus for 15 minutes, 43 seconds. The on-screen time, a direct
result of the Danica-centric storyline, is especially impressive considering the top 10 team sponsoring brands during last
year’s ARCA Daytona race averaged just 5:10 of camera time.

When comparing the in-broadcast visual and verbal
exposure to the estimated cost of a national commercial during the telecast and taking into account such factors as size and
placement of the image on screen, GoDaddy.com gathered an exposure value of $90,985 from the SpeedTV
broadcast.

Joyce Julius also monitored ESPN’s SportsCenter during the five days surrounding Patrick’s
debut, and not surprisingly, GoDaddy.com once again made a significant splash.

From the lead up to her first stock
car start, to race highlights and her decision to compete in the Daytona NASCAR Nationwide Series race, Danica dominated SportsCenter.

All told, GoDaddy.com logos appeared for 12 minutes and 23 seconds on ESPN, while the brand was verbally mentioned
four times, garnering another $137,910 exposure value for the sponsor.
 
Sports business
experts estimate that Patrick’s primary sponsor will garner as much as $500,000 in value during
the ESPN2 telecast of the Feb. 13 Nationwide Series race, when Patrick races for the first time against
some of NASCAR’s biggest stars.