500,000 – according to Supercars, that is the number of potentially new fans reached by the BP Supercars All Stars Eseries across the last nine weeks.

WORDS: Richard Craill IMAGE: Mark Walker

SPEAKING to NTI Inside the Eseries, Supercars’ General Manager of Television and Content Nathan Prendergast has expanded on the enormous potential impact of the Eseries, confirming a host of new fans could have been drawn to the series as a result.

“We had a report from Futures, which is our data analytical partners, and they reckon we’ve genuinely touched half a million new viewers,” Prendergast, who heads up Supercars self-produced broadcasts on Fox Sports and has essentially managed the Eseries across its run, said.

“It has really reached a genuine half a million new people who have not had anything to do with Supercars before, that are now aware of the sport. (We) don’t not know to what level they’re engaged, but I think it’s been a really big success for us.

“I’d like to think we’ve genuinely attracted some new people, some new fans to the sport because they’re getting the best of both worlds,” He added later.

“They’re seeing the personalities of the drivers, which is unique and new, to see what they like when they’re competing… It’s been a real bonus.”

Watch Episode 9 of NTI Inside the Eseries here:

The numbers prove the Eseries has gone beyond merely filling a void in programming for broadcaster Fox Sports and key series partners.

While TV ratings on Fox Sports started strongly but later slipped (though still averages over 50,000 across the entire run – check out our ratings columns here), a solid and consistent online audience consuming the product via several different mediums – including Twitch, a platform relatively new for Supercars – has seen a large weekly uptake of the product across its run.

“I think it’s safe to say it’s exceeded expectations. We all thought: cool, here’s a chance to stay on TV, make sure the sponsors, drivers, everyone gets some exposure and that Fox maintains some coverage and that 10 gets some product,” Prendergast said. “But the way it has been embraced by the broader community, obviously people have been starved of sport, so that helped initially.

“It has actually maintained a bit of a roll. It’s gone up and down in waves in the ratings, and obviously we had a bumper round when we had Max Verstappen, but I really think it’s done wonders for the business.. as soon as you tell someone what you do they go ‘oh, that Eseries stuff is cool!’.

“Everyone’s sort of seen it, knows it, thinks it’s entertaining and it’s got the right mix of real racing and real representation of Supercars.. but then there’s the silly stuff when they do helicopters and they fly and it gets the people giggling.”

The final round of the ESeries will be contested next Wednsday night, while the Virgin Australia Supercars Championship plans to return to competition on the June 27-28 weekend at Sydney Motorsport Park.