Picture This: Nascar Titles Roar Into Mass-market Stores

Consumers who love the high speeds and sweeping turns of NASCAR racing can now drive to their local Wal-Mart to find home entertainment titles that will rev their engines.

Thanks to a new distribution and marketing deal between NASCAR Images and Melee Entertainment, a NASCAR-produced line of home videos will be available at mass retailers for the first time.

The relationship kicks off Oct. 14 with the release of "NASCAR Winston Cup 2002," priced at $19.98 on VHS or as a two-disc DVD set. Three other titles—"A Decade at the Brickyard," "Tony Stewart: Smoke" and "NASCAR Winston Cup 2003"—will be available Dec. 16. Four to six new videos are expected annually.

Distributing a NASCAR line appealed to Melee president Bryan Turner because the sport has a "depth of brand penetration with 75 million fans."

Turner, the former president of Priority Records, formed Melee in conjunction with DreamWorks Records in February (Billboard, Feb. 8) to distribute specialty videos, films and music through Universal Music & Video Distribution. Its roster includes individual urban music and comedy titles. The NASCAR deal is its largest video endeavor thus far.

Melee will spend $500,000 marketing the line, which Turner says will be carried at all major mass chains. A TV spot touting the titles will run on sports networks through January 2004, and Melee is creating 1,000 48-count DVD stand-up displays for retailers.

A few NASCAR-produced titles, including "NASCAR Winston Cup 2002," have been sold directly to consumers or at specialty retailers through an existing relationship between NASCAR Images and Shoreline Media Group in the past year. This deal will be continuing.

"Given their relationship with Universal, Melee is positioned very well to make this mass distribution deal successful," NASCAR Images president Jay Abraham says. "We are also getting a lot of positive feedback from retailers going into the holiday gift-giving season."



BIG WIN FOR INDIES: It is not just the Blockbuster and Hollywood Videos of the rental world that are reaping profits because of consumer demand for DVDs.

Independent video rental stores experienced a 5% increase in average-store net profits last year, according to the 2003 Benchmarking Report that the Video Software Dealers Assn. released last week. The report's conclusions are based on a survey of more than 100 video stores in the U.S. and Canada.

The independents' increases are a result of the lower wholesale cost of DVDs and an increase in DVD rental prices, the fifth annual report states. A typical new-release rented for $3.29 last year at independent stores, an increase over 2001's $3.05 average.



URBAN GETS ATTENTION: Video rental chain Movie Gallery is turning the spotlight on urban videos with the debut of "Urban Exclusives" sections at a group of 125 stores this month.

The Dothan, Ala.-based company has teamed with UrbanWorks Entertainment to stock and promote "Exclusives," which will be part of the stores' new-release wall.

"This is the first time that we have broken out a section for a specific demographic group," says Ted Innes, senior VP of marketing for Movie Gallery. "We are trying to address what customers want."

The sections will include UrbanWorks products, a mix of direct-to-video, comedy and children's titles, but will also feature major studio releases when appropriate.

"We have been working to educate retailers on the viability of the urban genre for a while," UrbanWorks president Jeff Clanagan says. The company is in talks with several major retailers about similar in-store programs.

UrbanWorks will be marketing the sections through radio and TV spots and will also create special in-store display items.

Movie Gallery may also debut Hispanic-themed sections in the future, according to Innes.



ON THE VIDEO BEAT: Disney's Moviebeam video-on-demand service launched last week in Jacksonville, Fla.; Salt Lake City; and Spokane, Wash. The service allows users to download movies to a set-top box . . . Online rental company Netflix has reached 1.29 million subscribers, up 74% since last year's third quarter . . . Pioneer Entertainment officially changed its name to Geneon Entertainment after its Oct. 1 acquisition by Tokyo advertising company Dentsu.