NASCAR Partners with First Sports Entertainment Digital Network Focused on Young Audiences
Daytona Beach, Fla. (September 30, 2013) — Though you still won’t see or hear many whistles on a NASCAR race track, young sports fans will now be able to see plenty of NASCAR action on The Whistle – the first cross-platform content provider solely focused on developing entertaining, educational and participatory sports programming tailored to the next generation of sports fans.
The Whistle will deliver short form, kid-friendly NASCAR features across all of the sport’s racing series. Produced by Emmy® Award-winning NASCAR Productions, The Whistle will feature NASCAR content across all its digital platforms including website, mobile apps and YouTube.
Additionally, as part of the partnership, NASCAR Digital Media, LLC will be taking a minority equity interest in The Whistle.
“Reaching out to the next generation of fans continues to be a major focus for NASCAR, and The Whistle provides an ideal avenue to deliver our content to kids,” said Marc Jenkins, NASCAR vice president, digital media. “The Whistle gives young fans the opportunity to sample NASCAR content in an entertaining and educational environment.”
The Whistle aggregates, curates and develops sports content for a young fan’s perspective, covering all sports from backyards to schoolyards to pro stadiums and race tracks. The platform’s content includes sports news and highlights, sports science and math, interviews with professional athletes, fitness, nutrition and sports games and contests.
“It’s great to have NASCAR join the growing list of top sports entities that share our vision,” said Jeff Urban, co-founder and COO of The Whistle. “With the popularity of NASCAR and its fan-friendly approach, we are truly excited and proud to have NASCAR join our team of major league partners.”
According to independent research from Scarborough, two out of five NASCAR fans have children under the age of 18. NASCAR joins The Whistle’s list of partners including the NFL, PGA Tour, U.S. Soccer, the Harlem Globetrotters, Major League Lacrosse and the USOC.
The next NASCAR Sprint Cup Series race – Chase for the NASCAR Sprint Cup Race No. 4 – will take place at Kansas Speedway on Sunday, Oct. 6 at 2 p.m. ET on ESPN, Motor Racing Network Radio and SiriusXM Satellite Radio, with additional coverage on NASCAR.com.
About NASCAR
The National Association for Stock Car Auto Racing, Inc. (NASCAR) is the sanctioning body for the No. 1 form of motorsports in the United States. NASCAR consists of three national series (the NASCAR Sprint Cup Series, NASCAR Nationwide Series, and NASCAR Camping World Truck Series), four regional series, one local grassroots series, three international series and GRAND-AM Road Racing and the American Le Mans Series presented by Tequila Patrón, both known for competition on road courses. Based in Daytona Beach, Fla., with offices in eight cities across North America, NASCAR sanctions more than 1,200 races in more than 30 U.S. states, Canada, Mexico and Europe. For more information, visit www.nascar.com and follow NASCAR at www.facebook.com/NASCAR and Twitter: @NASCAR.
About The Whistle
The Whistle is the first sports network and community dedicated to entertaining, inspiring and equipping the next generation of fans and athletes with the critical life skills that sports provide. The curriculum-driven content focuses on fitness and nutrition, math and science and self-confidence and teamwork, and includes both pro and youth sports distributed across the media platforms where kids are today. Its owners and investors include sports heroes such as Derek Jeter, Peyton Manning, and Tim Wakefield, media pioneers including former heads of Nickelodeon and MTV, and league partners like the NFL, PGA Tour and U.S. Soccer. For more information, go to www.thewhistle.com.
