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National Advertisers Turn To Daytona 500

The Daytona 500 stock car race kicks off this weekend, and marketers ranging from Gillette and Coca-Cola to Sprint Nextel and UPS are lining up to introduce new ad campaigns during the televised event. The race represents the official start of the new NASCAR season, and the collection of national advertisers that participate is indicative of how big--and mainstream--stock car racing has become. "It would be a big miss for us if we weren't there," says Bea Perez, vice president of media, sports and entertainment for Coca-Cola North America. Nielsen Media Research says the sport's TV audience has grown nearly 80 percent over the past 15 years, after declining through the 1980s; last year, about 18.7 million viewers tuned in to watch Jeff Gordon win the Daytona--a significant number for a Sunday afternoon. The race is also good for marketers because its audience is a known quantity: about 64 percent of last year's viewers over 18 were men, an important fact for marketers targeting that audience. Advertisers are paying around $425,000 for a 30-second spot in this year's race compared with the $385,000 average price last year.

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