NASCAR And iRacing Demonstrates Importance of Real Experiences Within Esports

BY ADAM GROSSMAN

Denny Hamlin won the NASCAR Pro Invitational iRacing Series last Sunday at a virtual Homestead-Miami racetrack created by the “sim racing game” company. The real winner, however, may be Esports experiences more generally given how “real” the iRacing event felt to NASCAR’s fans, media, and sponsors. The audience reaction to the race is some of the best news so far for a sports industry hit hard by the coronavirus.

Even though he won the 2020 DAYTONA 500 last month, Hamlin seemed as, if not more, excited to have won the iRacing event after narrowly edging out Dale Earnhardt, Jr. in the final lap of the race. As Hamlin said, “That was unbelievable. I didn’t think we were going to get back there. Especially with 10 (laps) to go, we were 13th or so and I kinda got bottled up there.”

It was Hamlin’s comments about the reality of iRacing, however, that should be more interesting for sports industry professionals. Hamlin stated that iRacing “is something that really can gain a lot of traction simply because it’s as real as it gets. I’m excited that this was just a first step and hopefully something that builds for years and years to come.”

One of common question about Esports is whether fans of traditional sports leagues / organizations such as NASCAR, NBA, MLB, NHL, FIFA, etc. will engage with a “virtual” competition. The Esports audience engagement question is similar to concerns that marketers both inside and outside the sports industry have had for years about digital / social content more generally.

The solution appears to be authenticity. More specifically, audiences are likely to engage in “real” content whether its created by leagues, teams, athletes, influencers, or events. We have highlighted the success of companies that have leveraged authentic, organic sports content to drive successful partnerships in past posts.

There is no question that iRacing, NASCAR drivers, and Fox sports made a commitment to authenticity for the Invitational iRacing Series. iRacing meticulously replicated every inch of the real Homestead-Miami in its creation of a digital track for the event including the accurate replica stands for fans. Twenty fulltime NASCAR Cup series drivers (in addition to top iRacers) raced by installing large-scale “rigs”(typically at their homes) with large screens, steering wheels, and gas pedals. Fox Sports used its full NASCAR announcing team (including multiple NASCAR champion Jeff Gordon) and production crew to broadcast the event.

The results of these efforts can be seen through Block Six Analytics (B6A) Social Sentiment Analysis Platform (SAP). SAP evaluated social media posts that contained @dennyhamlin on metrics including sentiment, engagement, awareness, and value for the Daytona 500 and iRacing Series event. B6A’s SAP sentiment scores range from -100.00% to +100.00%. The results are below.

Daytona 500 - (2/16/20-2/18/20)

  • Number of posts: 10,024

  • Impressions: 2,412,338         

  • Average sentiment: -2.22%

  • Value: $14,192.38

iRacing Series - (3/22/20-3/23/20)

  • Number of posts: 3,482

  • Impressions: 2,081,058

  • Average sentiment: 59.91%

  • Value: $12,835.00

Hamlin’s social media content for iRacing had a much higher sentiment score with a similar number of impressions and value as the Daytona 500. The reason Hamlin had a similar number of impressions with far fewer posts was due to a much higher engagement rates for iRacing Series content (meaning more people saw / interacted with each post). Combining higher engagement rates and sentiment scores drove significant social media value for Hamlin.

Real engagement did not mean that the drivers and commentators ignored the fact that this was a virtual race. Instead, everyone leaned into the reality of the Esports environment with authentic content and audience interaction in ways more commonly seen on gaming platforms like Twitch. For example, driver Alex Boman tweeted during the race that he “just got cleaned out by @JimmieJohnson. No worries my virtual crew used a fast repair and it’s good as new. Also I’m eating an uncrustable.”

Yesterday’s postponement of the 2020 Summer Olympics shows the continued impact that the coronavirus is having on live sports events. Esports serves a potential channel to newly engage with targeted audiences. It is critical for industry leaders to focus on creating real experiences when considering Esports events in similar way that the iRacing series did for NASCAR.