In the first of a two-part series, RACER is taking an intensive look into how IMSA and IndyCar grew their series through digital platforms in 2024. IndyCar’s will follow in January.
Television remains a vital tool for every racing series in their efforts to increase audience size and reach, but it’s a passive relationship. IMSA and IndyCar aren’t in charge of their TV broadcasts, nor do they have a steady ability to make direct connections with their followers through the networks while live on NBC (IMSA) and FOX (IndyCar).
But that’s entirely different when it comes to their digital initiatives, all driven through social media and the online video platforms they control. Both have a permanent green light to craft and control their own content, and in ways they cannot through their television partners. It’s here where the two series took major steps forward, in ways that were unique to their style of racing and the main demographics of their supporters, over the past 12 months.
Where IMSA (11) and IndyCar (17) have a fixed number of races to harness the power of their TV partners, it’s in the artful deployment of digital content, from simple things like photo and short-form video posts on Instagram, TikTok, Facebook, and X where they’re able to have the most influence.
Longer video pieces on YouTube including original behind-the-scenes material, full race replays and recaps, and retro content help make new fans and feed longstanding followers, and has become the greatest area for a racing series to expand its global footprint.
For Doug O’Donnell, who joined IMSA as its new senior director of brand and digital strategy in June of 2023 after holding similar positions for the IRONMAN triathlon and the NBA’s San Antonio Spurs, YouTube has been the primary area identified within his series’ growth strategy.
Based on the numbers, the strategy is an overwhelming winner which will continue into 2025 and beyond.
Free of most geoblocking restrictions, IMSA used its presence on YouTube to follow Season 1 of its Win The Weekend docuseries and deploy Season 2, which was watched throughout the world by millions of viewers for each episode. And in another important decision, IMSA started going live on YouTube — initially for international fans, and without advance promotions — with portions of its legendary Mobil 1 Twelve Hours of Sebring race in March.
The results were an instant hit, which led to IMSA utilizing YouTube for live racing action on a regular basis through the rest of the year, including IMSA’s Historic Sportscar Racing series.
IMSA also made impressive headway with its other digital platforms on social media, but none were bigger than what took place on YouTube. On January 1, 2024, IMSA had 290,000 subscribers, which was decent, but ripe for improvement. Its efforts to make its YouTube page a central rallying point for video content rocketed upward throughout the year, and on September 24, just after the Battle on the Bricks race at Indianapolis, IMSA caught and matched IndyCar’s subscriber base at 389,000.
Adding 99,000 subscribers from Jan. 1 through Sept. 24 was good, but IMSA’s YouTube initiative has really taken off to close the year.
IndyCar was an early adopter of YouTube, joining in July of 2006. Since then, IndyCar has posted 6459 videos that have accumulated 143,353,394 views.
IMSA, which was reborn when the American Le Mans Series and Grand-Am merged in 2012, arrived on YouTube as part of that merger in February of 2013. Despite its comparatively late appearance on YouTube and a modest volume of posts with 1797 videos, its content has generated 115,915,103 views.
Nearing the end of 2024, the subscriber gap has continued to grow, with IMSA almost doubling its Jan. 1 number to 571,000 — a 97 percent increase with 281,000 new subscribers, 182,000 of those landing since Sept. 24 — while IndyCar, which has also added subscribers, is at 391,000, up 2000 since the same date.
As of November when IMSA did most of its metrics for the season, it had 2,100,000 overall social media followers, which was up 40 percent – 600,000 people – from 1,500,000 in 2023. IMSA also reports it has seen a 160 percent growth in social media fan engagement and a 70 percent growth in overall video views.
Among other data points related to YouTube, the eight-part Win The Weekend series was responsible for 15,700,000 views, and where IMSA doubled its YouTube watch time in 2023, it doubled again in 2024, which speaks to the domestic and international audience it is building through digital video.
Of the many reasons IMSA went all-in with YouTube once O’Donnell got settled, the youthful demographics stand out, as more than 70 percent of the series’ subscribers are under the age of 44. Well-known strategies of using Instagram and TikTok to reach new and younger fans have been employed for many years by both series, but extending that strategy to YouTube has been a game-changing move by IMSA.
Here’s a quick look at the key digital homes for IMSA before we delve into our discussion.
IMSA’S PRIMARY DIGITAL CHANNELS
YouTube: 571,000 subscribers
Instagram: 647,475 followers
Facebook: 462,000 followers
TikTok: 281,400 followers
X: 182,259 followers
All figures current as of 12/23/24