Nascar agrees production partnership with Words + Pictures

Nascar has agreed a production partnership between Nascar Studios and Words + Pictures.

Contract:

• Collaboration to form ‘Full Speed Entertainment’ production company
• Second season of Full Speed, set to air in 2025, will form part of the venture’s projects
• Emmy-winner Tally Hair, an executive producer on Full Speed, will serve as general manager for the new partnership

Context:

According to a report from Netflix, the first season of Full Speed garnered 3.4 million views globally. This went up against the sixth season of Formula One’s Drive to Survive docuseries, which received 11.6 million views.

Ultimately, Formula One attracts much more global attention thanks to a calendar covering five continents, whereas Nascar only races in North America. The stock car racing series’ expansion into Mexico next season might not change this, but it will be the Nascar Cup Series’ first points-paying race outside the US.

Nascar is expected to pursue international expansion in the near future, so having a strong base of informative content to educate prospective fans will be useful. However, it remains the case that no motorsport docuseries has been able to grab people’s attention quite like Drive to Survive, so Nascar may have missed the boat with this format.

Comment:

“Early into the Full Speed process, I knew we wanted to find more ways to collaborate and capitalise on new opportunities for Nascar as cultural demand for compelling sports stories continues to grow,” said Tim Clark, Nascar’s executive vice president and chief brand officer.

“Words + Pictures is the premier storyteller in the sports content space, and Connor’s [Schell, chief executive and founder of Words + Pictures] team excels in not just generating big ideas and visions but executing them in ways that captivate big audiences.”

Coming next:

The second season of Full Speed will cover Nascar’s 2024 postseason, which heads to Talladega Superspeedway for the second race in the Round of 12. The YellaWood 500 takes place on 6th October.

Go deeper:

• Nascar’s US$7.7bn TV deal: Why the annual value went up, who gets what, and the impact on fans
• Will a new charter agreement pave the way for more private equity investment in Nascar?