• by Tanya Gazdik , June 20, 2018

Nissan North America has signed on as a sponsor of Motor Trend Group's “The Truck Show” podcast.

The Discovery Inc. company aims to reach a younger audience with the show, starring Motor Trend Group's Sean P. Holman and Los Angeles radio personality and fellow truck enthusiast Jay “Lightning” Tilles.

Featuring informative segments with a comedic twist, the podcast includes interviews with industry personalities, new-product reviews, event coverage, humorous dissection of past trends, and the “latest happenings in all things truck, including lifted, lowered, and everything in between,” according to Motor Trend Group. The weekly podcast of hour-long episodes is available on iTunes.

Each episode will have social support across the Four Wheeler and Truck Trend Network brands with sponsors tagged in social posts across all truck groups, plus the truck group newsletter. This is the first podcast from Motor Trend Group since Motor Trend Audio, which last posted a new episode in late 2016.

Nissan’s sponsorship of “The Truck Show” podcast, which spans 40 episodes through March 2019, is focused on generating awareness, perception, and consideration of the Nissan brand amongst Motor Trend Group’s influential truck enthusiasts, says Jeremy Tucker, vice president of marketing and brand communications for Nissan North America.

“Nissan has a strong truck story to tell with Titan, and working with 'The Truck Show' helps us connect with truck enthusiasts that are highly influential,” Tucker tells Marketing Daily. “Our customers embrace technology with a purpose and emerging media that fits into their lifestyle. Few things do that better than podcasts.”

Nissan previously sponsored podcasts tied to its Star Wars efforts.

“We find them an efficient way to reach a targeted group of fans—be that sports, pop culture or trucks,” Tucker says. “We believe in partnering with strong brands and seeing the mutual benefits of our two brands together. Motor Trend is an iconic name in the auto industry with millions of enthusiastic fans.”

Nissan is the exclusive automotive sponsor of the show, says co-host Holman, group content director, truck and off-road group, Motor Trend Group.

“We have other interested potential advertisers, but wanted to lock up our presenting sponsor before we pursued other clients,” he says. “We are currently re-engaging them.”

“The Truck Show” podcast is one of the first to come into the scene with high production values, a radio show-style format, and experts in the space delivering content in an entertaining way, he says.

Podcasting is one of the highest forms of engaged content, he says. "An audio download is so powerful, it is equivalent to 22.5 video views,” Holman says.