When the motorsport industry was still whirring its way into life during the first two months of the year, the various social teams from across the ecosphere were already busy producing content.
In a snapshot of a simpler time, Hookit has sifted through the data from 1st January and 20th February to produce some insights around who is winning on social. Below is a bitesize breakdown.
Series
- In terms of volume, Nascar was the outright leader, putting out 47,000 posts in the first two months of 2020. Given that the stock car racing series had held three Cup Series events – two invitational and one regular season – during the period it is perhaps not a surprise that its post rate is higher. However, 1,000 posts per day is still a prodigious rate and 18 times that of the series with the second highest rate, Supercross at 15 a day.
- Of the two series with the most followers, Formula One (25,199,091 followers) has generated more than double the interactions of MotoGP (27,678,028 followers). The motorcycling series' 15,232,279 total interactions significantly lags behind Formula One's 33,745,260.
- On the up is the Dakar Rally which had the highest follower growth rate during the first two months of the year, up 12 per cent.
Teams
- US multi-series outfit Team Penske were the most prolific in terms of pushing out content, with their 1,538 posts nearly double that of second ranked Stewart-Haas Racing with 847.
- In terms of interactions, Formula One giants Ferrari's 8.3 million in January and February were 66 per cent more than the next nearest team, series rivals Mercedes who had five million. Ferrari achieved such good engagement despite having 6.4 million fewer followers than the reigning constructors' champions.
- Only seven teams across all series covered by Hookit had more than one million interactions.
- The Mercedes Formula One team have the most followers with 18.4 million, just edging out series rivals Red Bull Racing. Mercedes and Ferrari rank first and second in new followers gained during the period.
- More broadly, of the teams with at least 100,000 followers, Nascar's Roush Fenway Racing had the highest follower growth rate at 16 per cent during January and February. Whilst that is more than three times the team second in that ranking, Toyota Gazoo Racing, the follower growth coincides with the interest in Ryan Newman's horrific crash and subsequent hospitalisation at the Daytona 500.
Combined insights
- The top three in total posts were all series, not teams, with Nascar by far the most prolific.
- The top three in total interactions were all series.
- Formula One dominates in terms of total engagements with 33 million.
- Four of the top five teams with the most followers are from Formula One
- That series also provides four of the top five teams with the most engagement.
Brands in Motorsports
- Monster Energy led all brands in terms of number of related posts with 471, whilst the energy drinks giant also leads all brands in total interactions on branded posts with 4.4 million.
- Among brands promoted the most number of times by the entire world of motorsports, there were:
– Six OEM car manufacturers (Chevrolet, BMW, Ford, Acura, Mercedes Benz, BMW)
– Two tyre brands (Michelin, Discount Tire)
– Two oil brands (Shell, Total)
– Two motor brands (Kawasaki, Yamaha Motor) - However, when it comes to total interactions, the top 20 look different, though still heavy on endemic sponsors. These include:
– Two beverage brands in the top three (Monster Energy & Red Bull)
– Six car brands (McLaren, Ferrari, Mercedes-Benz, Ford, Honda, Chevrolet)
– Five other motorsports related brands (Kawasaki, Yamaha Motor, Husqvarna, KTM, Petronas) - McLaren led automotive brands with 3.3 million interactions.
- In posts about brands by teams and series, there were nine brands, including manufacturers, that achieved more than one million interactions (Monster Energy, McLaren, Red Bull, Ferrari, Kawasaki, NBC, Yamaha Motor and Netflix).
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