ABR, Breeders' Cup Expand Marketing Agreement
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America's Best Racing, a multi-media fan development platform initiated and funded by The Jockey Club, and Breeders' Cup Limited have expanded their multi-year cross-promotional marketing agreement.
As a result, ABR will create, produce, distribute, and maintain digital content (video and written) for the Breeders' Cup Challenge Series television shows to be used on breederscup.com and americasbestracing.net.
The joint announcement was made Dec. 17 by James L. Gagliano, president and chief operating officer of The Jockey Club, and Craig Fravel, president and chief executive officer of Breeders' Cup.
Earlier, Breeders' Cup announced that ABR will be a presenting sponsor with Lane's End Farm of the "Breeders' Cup Challenge Series: Win and You're In." In 2016, that series will consist of nine telecasts on NBC and NBCSN and feature 16 "Win And You're In" races plus other major stakes races on the road to the Breeders' Cup World Championships at Santa Anita Park, Nov. 4-5, 2016.
"The Jockey Club and Breeders' Cup have a long history of fruitful collaboration and this adds an exciting new chapter to it," said Gagliano. "Combining brand recognition, their events, and their television programming with our expanding marketing capabilities was a natural step to take."
"Over a short period of time, America's Best Racing has used social media, video production and on-site promotion to reach and attract a new demographic to Thoroughbred racing and promote the gambling, racing, and lifestyle elements of the sport," Fravel said. "We are thrilled to be working so closely with this group."
Among the other highlights of the expanded, multi-faceted agreement:
—ABR and Breeders' Cup will distribute content as part of a coordinated social and digital media plan;
—ABR and Breeders' Cup will host a group of bloggers and local influencers in New York and California when televised challenge races are conducted in those states and during both days of the Breeders' Cup World Championships each year;
—ABR will have access to archival Breeders' Cup video footage and photos; and
—Breeders' Cup will provide on-air promotion of the ABR Internet presence on telecasts.
ABR and Breeders' Cup will continue to develop plans for video streaming of non-televised races on their respective websites and the agreement includes several other media, marketing, and hospitality benefits for both groups, according to a release.
In 2015, ABR's website has attracted approximately 6 million pageviews, nearly 2 million sessions and more than 1 million users. ABR also produced 130 digital videos, which garnered in excess of 2.5 million video views combined on Facebook and YouTube, the release said.
In addition to its website, America's Best Racing maintains a presence on social media platforms Facebook, Twitter, Pinterest, YouTube, Google+, and Instagram.