TNT’s Third Annual Wide Open NASCAR Race 

Telecast Delivers for 14 Sponsoring Brands

         ANN ARBOR, MI, July 7, 2009 – TNT’s telecast of NASCAR’s Coke Zero 400 Saturday night once again featured the cable network’s Wide Open Coverage, a format where animated sponsor messages and branded content are presented during the live racing action in lieu of traditional commercials.  This year, 14 sponsoring brands were featured, appearing on-screen for 81.6% of TNT’s entire 3.5-hour broadcast.

        According to research conducted by Joyce Julius & Associates, Inc., which specializes in measuring the scope of sponsorships across all forms of media, the 14 featured brands combined for a total exposure time of two hours, 51 minutes, 17 seconds (2:51:17) from the Wide Open graphics, presented in a letterbox format placed within the lower third of the screen.

       For the third straight year, the race title sponsor enjoyed the most exposure from the Wide Open format, as Coke Zero appeared for 0:38:21, or 18.3% of the race telecast.

        Brands appearing for the third straight year of TNT’s unique coverage included Series sponsor Sprint/Nextel, along with Subway and Toyota. Returning for the second year were Coors Light, U.S. Army and Viagra, while Burger King, the Weinstein Co. film “Inglorious Basterds” and the TNT program “Dark Blue” were new to the Wide Open mix this year.  Goodyear also rejoined the sponsoring roster after a one-year hiatus.

2009 Wide Open Sponsors

Brand

On-Screen Time

Percentage of Telecast

Coke Zero

    0:38:21

18.3%

Subway

    0:16:42

8.0%

Toyota

    0:15:15

7.3%

Sprint

    0:15:09

7.2%

Coors Light

   0:14:35

6.9%

U.S. Army

    0:14:21

6.8%

Burger King

    0:14:20

6.8%

"Inglorious Basterds" (Wein. Co.)

    0:13:59

6.7%

Goodyear

    0:13:47

6.6%

Viagra

     0:09:07

4.3%

"Dark Blue" (TNT)

    0:03:46

1.8%

Prius (Toyota)

     0:01:00

0.5%

Coca-Cola

     0:00:30

0.2%

Fuel Max (Goodyear)

     0:00:25

0.2%

Total:

2:51:17

81.6%

2008 Wide Open Sponsors

Brand

On-Screen Time

Percentage  of Telecast

Coke Zero

0:55:02

26.2%

Subway

0:18:18

8.7%

U.S. Army

0:17:05

8.1%

Papa Johns

0:16:54

8.0%

Sprint

0:16:16

7.7%

Coors Light

0:15:00

7.1%

Hewlett Packard

0:14:59

7.1%

Toyota

0:14:33

6.9%

"Journ. Center/Earth" (N. Line)

0:09:34

4.6%

"Dark Knight" (Warner Bros.)

0:06:24

3.0%

Viagra

0:02:49

1.3%

Coca-Cola

0:01:23

0.7%

Toyota Trucks

0:01:06

0.5%

Total:

3:09:23

90.2%

 

2007 Wide Open Sponsors

Brand

On-Screen Time

Percentage of Telecast

Pepsi

0:42:32

20.3%

DirecTV

0:17:22

8.3%

Nextel

0:17:01

8.1%

Subway

0:16:56

8.1%

Miller Lite

0:15:43

7.5%

Principal Financial Group

0:15:22

7.3%

AutoZone

0:14:15

6.8%

Toyota Trucks

0:13:58

6.7%

Goodyear

0:13:25

6.4%

Ford

0:06:13

3.0%

24 Energy Drink (Pepsi)

0:05:56

2.8%

Toyota

0:02:01

1.0%

Tundra (Toyota)

0:02:01

1.0%

Total:

3:02:45

87.0%

About Joyce Julius & Associates, Inc.:

         Joyce Julius & Associates, Inc. is the sports and entertainment industry leader in accurate measurement and evaluation of sponsorships and promotional programs.  Joyce Julius fully customizable, third party research is highlighted by in-broadcast television exposure monitoring, full media impact measurements, and fan/consumer perception analyses.

         The Ann Arbor, Michigan-based firmwhich monitors more than 2,500 nationally televised sports and special event programs annuallyhas been measuring the impact of corporate sponsorships across all forms of media since 1985.  These forms of media include national and regional event television broadcasts, television highlight and news programming, event radio, print media, Internet articles, along with exposure stemming from promotions and advertising, as well as event on-site elements.

--###--