BTCC Coverage

[porsche962fan]

oh my, ITV arrived in 21st century

qualy on youtube https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=bhyervfnIjQ

[thetool]

It has been all year. Are you outside the UK? Maybe they forgot to geo-block this one?

[crmalcolm]

https://www.btcc.net/btcc-on-tv/

'Qualifying transmissions will be streamed as-live via the ITV Sport YouTube channel, whilst Race Days will also be streamed on ITVX.'

[AnnoyedMoose]

They've also been putting the races up on YouTube a few weeks after as well.

[porsche962fan]

most motorsport championships now don't even really care about TV broadcaster anymore

British GT streams live , never mind international series like ELMS, IMSA, Hypercar etc

DTM who is a german series went even further they added english commentary and put them in YT

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=lRAFP3SwGsI

only BTCC seems stuck in the ancient model

[Adam43]

New thread created from posts from this race weekend discussion: https://tentenths.com/forum/showthread.php?t=158247

[sceptic]

Originally Posted by porsche962fan

most motorsport championships now don't even really care about TV broadcaster anymore

British GT streams live , never mind international series like ELMS, IMSA, Hypercar etc

DTM who is a german series went even further they added english commentary and put them in YT

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=lRAFP3SwGsI

only BTCC seems stuck in the ancient model

That's simply untrue.

British GT would love to have the TV coverage that BTCC does, but it's simply not a product that's appealing to television.

It streams online because that's the only option available. And the tiny audiences for those streams prove that TV is right to steer clear of putting it on TV.

IMSA has a massive network TV deal with NBC, including for it's second-string Michelin Challenge series. Even the VP Racing Series gets TV coverage, albeit on tape delay.

And DTM gets live coverage on Pro7 and Sport1.

The BTCC's problem is not domestic TV - it has a deal which is envied by similar series around the world - but with its international distribution.

Greenlight are frankly doing a terrible job at getting overseas broadcasters to cover the championship live. I don't know what they are paying for the rights outside the UK, but they don't seem to be exploiting them at all.

[redshoes]

Originally Posted by sceptic

British GT would love to have the TV coverage that BTCC does, but it's simply not a product that's appealing to television.

It streams online because that's the only option available. And the tiny audiences for those streams prove that TV is right to steer clear of putting it on TV.

I don't disagree with anything you've written, but just to correct one point. British GT does get (very sporadic) TV coverage on Sky Sports F1. They show a few races live when there's no F1, and a few on tape delay, both using the YouTube feed. I'm not sure they actually show every race.

[Matt K]

What BTCC could do for international audiences, would be to do something like Supercars with their Superview. I bet there are many possible new fans overseas BTCC could gain with something like that. Let's face it, currently there are no better touring car championships in Europe. TCR seems like falling into obscurity and no one's really interested, DTM no longer in the touring car category (well, previous prototypes were also far away from touring cars but the series was still perceived as such). Around the world there's only Supercars that's bigger than BTCC IMO, although purists would also say they're not really touring cars. So yeah, my impression is (could be wrong though!) that BTCC would have something unique to offer (and something of a cult status it enjoys would also help) beyond Britain but it simply doesn't exist beyond Britain when it comes to coverage. That's a shame.

[billy bleach]

Originally Posted by Matt K

What BTCC could do for international audiences, would be to do something like Supercars with their Superview. I bet there are many possible new fans overseas BTCC could gain with something like that. Let's face it, currently there are no better touring car championships in Europe. TCR seems like falling into obscurity and no one's really interested, DTM no longer in the touring car category (well, previous prototypes were also far away from touring cars but the series was still perceived as such). Around the world there's only Supercars that's bigger than BTCC IMO, although purists would also say they're not really touring cars. So yeah, my impression is (could be wrong though!) that BTCC would have something unique to offer (and something of a cult status it enjoys would also help) beyond Britain but it simply doesn't exist beyond Britain when it comes to coverage. That's a shame.

By what measure is Supercars bigger?

[sceptic]

Originally Posted by billy bleach

By what measure is Supercars bigger?

Well the Bathurst 1000 last year was watched by 3.1m people. The highest rated BTCC race got an audience of a quarter of that.

[thetool]

Originally Posted by sceptic

Well the Bathurst 1000 last year was watched by 3.1m people. The highest rated BTCC race got an audience of a quarter of that.

One look at the cars themselves will tell you that too. Plastered with genuine sponsorship from major brands like Red Bull, Shell and Coca Cola.

And up until quite recently, quite heavy manufacturer involvement, at least on local dealer level. Ford Australia closing in 2013 and then Holden disappearing in 2020 after ending local manufacturing in 2017 has shaken things up a bit their too now.

[AnnoyedMoose]

One thing to be wary of is that a lot of the people clamouring to watch the sport aren't prepared to pay for it. I've seen this time and time again with SuperCars with people on their main YouTube complaining that they can't watch the full races. When it's pointed out that they can for less than £1 a week they get on their high horses about paywalls etc. So many of them think that a live stream with 10k viewers generates enormous amounts of money on YouTube so it should be free.

[Matt K]

Exactly. Sponsorships are a lot bigger, top drivers earn serious money, audiences are bigger. Supercars drivers are genuine stars in Australia & New Zealand and popularity of them and their category moves beyond niche motorsport category. Sure, no longer as much as used to be but still. Also, Supercars events all around the country are genuinely big events for particular states's economies, tourism etc.
BTCC is popular mostly with race fans, mass British media don't care about it at all. You can get some Formula One news in The Times or BBC but not a word about BTCC. In Australia gossip newspapers can talk about James Courtney's divorce, a driver's house going on sale or a physical altercation between drivers during gala event. That's not relevant about the championship itself of course, but shows the reach and popularity. Also, most of the top drivers in the BTCC have to manage their own sponsorship deals etc in order to buy seats and there are no big sponsors involved, be that BTCC as a championship or individual teams. During Supercars races you can see sponsors' logos around the track. In BTCC that doesn't happen. International drivers race at Bathurst 1000 or Sandown 500 from time to time - would never happen in the BTCC even if there was an endurance event because no one would be able to pay for it. I believe all the above clearly shows how and why Supercars is bigger than the BTCC. You can also see likes and followers counts on Facebook or Instagram pages of both series. This also speaks clearly. And that with Australian population being smaller than the UK's!

[FIRE]

Originally Posted by Matt K

What BTCC could do for international audiences, would be to do something like Supercars with their Superview. I bet there are many possible new fans overseas BTCC could gain with something like that. Let's face it, currently there are no better touring car championships in Europe. TCR seems like falling into obscurity and no one's really interested, DTM no longer in the touring car category (well, previous prototypes were also far away from touring cars but the series was still perceived as such). Around the world there's only Supercars that's bigger than BTCC IMO, although purists would also say they're not really touring cars. So yeah, my impression is (could be wrong though!) that BTCC would have something unique to offer (and something of a cult status it enjoys would also help) beyond Britain but it simply doesn't exist beyond Britain when it comes to coverage. That's a shame.

Don't forget South-America. For example Stock Car Pro is more professional than BTCC.


I am interested in BTCC (re-)live streaming. Would I pay for it? No.

[Matt K]

True, South America is also quite 'big', Stock Car Pro you mention or TC2000 seem quite popular (not sure about the latter nowadays but I think at least used to be). It's just completely distant from me due to language barriers and time zone being completely different. But yeah, fair point you make.

[coffinpilot]

Originally Posted by Matt K

BTCC is popular mostly with race fans, mass British media don't care about it at all. You can get some Formula One news in The Times or BBC but not a word about BTCC. In Australia gossip newspapers can talk about James Courtney's divorce, a driver's house going on sale or a physical altercation between drivers during gala event. That's not relevant about the championship itself of course, but shows the reach and popularity.

Okay - long rant.

BTCC have been their own worst enemy with some of that, but the drivers need to do more to promote it (I know they're allowed to do tik tok videos now from the races, but that won't boost things on its own.) Just sticking things on YouTube and hoping people find it isn't good enough IMO. They haven't promoted it enough.

The Drive to Survive thing type thing they did was decent for season 2 and 3, but the numbers are woeful for a championship 'that big.' There just seems to be a culture of 'it's on TV, that's good enough.' That was the case before YouTube and streaming, but in 2023 you need to fight tobuild your future audience - and frankly, much as I love touring cars, to a younger audience it just looks like aging cars going round a track with the names of unknown people on the side. The analysis and interviews aren't enough compared to other championships on TV - I know fans like me want to see the other TOCA racing, but to bring in fans you need the driver personalities out there. Dan Lloyd is doing a great job as a pure vlog - but the other types of media all need to work to lift something like that.

The series does get UK national newspaper coverage in The Mirror, The Express (oddly not today) and The Star on the day after a race - but, it's not from a journalist, it's a short write up provided by the BTCC itself from Simon Melluish, when I checked out who he is it came up with him being head of media for the championship. Hardly independent is it?

Magazines. Motorsport News only gives two pages to a report and a page written by Dan Rowbottom with the odd feature and hardly any news. Autosport does really good race reports but hardly any news these days (I'm not suggesting they go back to the 1990s when BTCC got two pages of news every week!) Autocar are terrible, but I suppose the readers only need a snippet. I was gutted when Motor Racing UK stopped, because it had some good artivcles and reports but happy when they relaunched as Touring Car Magazine (first two issues sold out so I haven't had a chance to read it yet.) And remember, Speedway Star outsells all of those magazines combined.....

On the internet motorsport(dot)com have buried the BTCC. I can get NASCAR and Supercar (and TCR Australia) news on the English language version - but it pops up a little on Autosport on a race weekend (I wish they'd put more ut there.) touringcars(dot)net and Touring Car Times are just bitesized snippets hardly worth bothering with. As for Podcasts there's the odd one that's decent (like what Plato is doing) but no proper ones really. I do like the Alan Hyde show (love most of the music, but must admit I think that would alienate newer fans) and it's a pain to find.

What I'm trying to say is if 30,000 people are going to races why is their so little coverage? (not even mainstream?) If they claimed over a million viewers on ITV 1, and drivers I've asked say the information they pass to their sponsors is 15 million UK TV viewers - with live ITV4 races peaking at 300,000 per race, why is there such a poor media thing around it all? Crikey - if those numbers are true then they're bombing Moto GP and WRC TV numbers, but are way behind them. And the race day attendances are similar to Wolves, Forest or Brighton in the Prem (I know, that's a massive sport, but still, the fanbase musn't be that far behind Rugby League!)

As for international TV, I know in America it's on MAVTV. I've watched that channel before (and you can get it free on a Samsung TV) but they're worse than Motors TV. It's squeezed in among Swamp Rat Racing, V8 Superboats and amateur motocross, not the hotbed of American racing coverage you'd like it to be.

It's just like Bernie and F1 when he wouldn't let anything go on social media etc. Once Liberty took over F1 exploded everywhere - there's a lesson in that.

Can't work out whether the BTCC is underselling itself, or punching above its own weight.

Rant over.

[Evantra]

I can’t remember if it was said on here (it probably was!) or elsewhere, but someone mentioned that the five ‘presenters’ (Rider, Addison, Harvey, O’Neill less so, Goodman, and you could add RJN to that as well) are all relatively middle-aged / older. I think they said something like they were a group of dads (or mums!)

I don’t think there’s a problem with any of them (Rider and Addison are both irreplaceable in my opinion) and I’m sure for the most part all of us here like them, but it must make any new, younger viewers feel a bit like they’re in the wrong place.

[redshoes]

Originally Posted by coffinpilot

If they claimed over a million viewers on ITV 1, and drivers I've asked say the information they pass to their sponsors is 15 million UK TV viewers - with live ITV4 races peaking at 300,000 per race, why is there such a poor media thing around it all?

15 million ??? I know that's what they claim but that's a lot of creative accounting.

ITV4 gets circa 300,000 per meeting, so cumulative over 10 meetings that's 3 million viewers. Where is the other 12 million coming from? Even if ITV1 coverage did get 1 million viewers per meeting, which I find hard to believe, that's still not even close.

[crmalcolm]

Originally Posted by redshoes

15 million ??? I know that's what they claim but that's a lot of creative accounting.

ITV4 gets circa 300,000 per meeting, so cumulative over 10 meetings that's 3 million viewers. Where is the other 12 million coming from? Even if ITV1 coverage did get 1 million viewers per meeting, which I find hard to believe, that's still not even close.

Point 5 - https://www.excelr8motorsport.com/btcc/btcc-marketing-opportunities/


And:


"The big appeal to new partners looking for brand exposure is the BTCC’s exclusive free-to-air coverage which is live on the ITV network. With viewing figures hitting 15.6 million over the course of the 2020 season it’s clear that the BTCC continues to go from strength"


ITV's own figures claim that they peak at 1.5 million during the live broadcast, topped up with the highlights shows....

[redshoes]

Originally Posted by crmalcolm

Point 5 - https://www.excelr8motorsport.com/bt...opportunities/


And:


"The big appeal to new partners looking for brand exposure is the BTCC’s exclusive free-to-air coverage which is live on the ITV network. With viewing figures hitting 15.6 million over the course of the 2020 season it’s clear that the BTCC continues to go from strength"


ITV's own figures claim that they peak at 1.5 million during the live broadcast, topped up with the highlights shows....

As I said "I know that's what they claim", just quoting more claims of the same numbers doesn't add anything.

BARB lists ITV4 BTCC coverage at circa 300K, or at least it did when those stats were freely accessible a couple of years ago.

[Matt K]

Originally Posted by coffinpilot

Okay - long rant.

BTCC have been their own worst enemy with some of that, but the drivers need to do more to promote it (I know they're allowed to do tik tok videos now from the races, but that won't boost things on its own.) Just sticking things on YouTube and hoping people find it isn't good enough IMO. They haven't promoted it enough.

The Drive to Survive thing type thing they did was decent for season 2 and 3, but the numbers are woeful for a championship 'that big.' There just seems to be a culture of 'it's on TV, that's good enough.' That was the case before YouTube and streaming, but in 2023 you need to fight tobuild your future audience - and frankly, much as I love touring cars, to a younger audience it just looks like aging cars going round a track with the names of unknown people on the side. The analysis and interviews aren't enough compared to other championships on TV - I know fans like me want to see the other TOCA racing, but to bring in fans you need the driver personalities out there. Dan Lloyd is doing a great job as a pure vlog - but the other types of media all need to work to lift something like that.

The series does get UK national newspaper coverage in The Mirror, The Express (oddly not today) and The Star on the day after a race - but, it's not from a journalist, it's a short write up provided by the BTCC itself from Simon Melluish, when I checked out who he is it came up with him being head of media for the championship. Hardly independent is it?

Magazines. Motorsport News only gives two pages to a report and a page written by Dan Rowbottom with the odd feature and hardly any news. Autosport does really good race reports but hardly any news these days (I'm not suggesting they go back to the 1990s when BTCC got two pages of news every week!) Autocar are terrible, but I suppose the readers only need a snippet. I was gutted when Motor Racing UK stopped, because it had some good artivcles and reports but happy when they relaunched as Touring Car Magazine (first two issues sold out so I haven't had a chance to read it yet.) And remember, Speedway Star outsells all of those magazines combined.....

On the internet motorsport(dot)com have buried the BTCC. I can get NASCAR and Supercar (and TCR Australia) news on the English language version - but it pops up a little on Autosport on a race weekend (I wish they'd put more ut there.) touringcars(dot)net and Touring Car Times are just bitesized snippets hardly worth bothering with. As for Podcasts there's the odd one that's decent (like what Plato is doing) but no proper ones really. I do like the Alan Hyde show (love most of the music, but must admit I think that would alienate newer fans) and it's a pain to find.

What I'm trying to say is if 30,000 people are going to races why is their so little coverage? (not even mainstream?) If they claimed over a million viewers on ITV 1, and drivers I've asked say the information they pass to their sponsors is 15 million UK TV viewers - with live ITV4 races peaking at 300,000 per race, why is there such a poor media thing around it all? Crikey - if those numbers are true then they're bombing Moto GP and WRC TV numbers, but are way behind them. And the race day attendances are similar to Wolves, Forest or Brighton in the Prem (I know, that's a massive sport, but still, the fanbase musn't be that far behind Rugby League!)

As for international TV, I know in America it's on MAVTV. I've watched that channel before (and you can get it free on a Samsung TV) but they're worse than Motors TV. It's squeezed in among Swamp Rat Racing, V8 Superboats and amateur motocross, not the hotbed of American racing coverage you'd like it to be.

It's just like Bernie and F1 when he wouldn't let anything go on social media etc. Once Liberty took over F1 exploded everywhere - there's a lesson in that.

Can't work out whether the BTCC is underselling itself, or punching above its own weight.

Rant over.

Well said. Agree with every point you've made. And the point that the championship "looks like aging cars going round a track with the names of unknown people on the side" seems to be sadly spot on.

[crmalcolm]

Originally Posted by redshoes

15 million ??? I know that's what they claim but that's a lot of creative accounting.

I think we're re-hashing a discussion from 2-1/2 years ago - https://tentenths.com/forum/showthread.php?p=4032897

It is creative - and it comes from taking the peak viewing figure for a race (529k in 2020) and multiplying by 30 races.

[sceptic]

Originally Posted by redshoes

As I said "I know that's what they claim", just quoting more claims of the same numbers doesn't add anything.

BARB lists ITV4 BTCC coverage at circa 300K, or at least it did when those stats were freely accessible a couple of years ago.

That's the difference between programme peak and programme average.

With only about 75 minutes of touring car action in a nearly-8 hour show, the average is going to be pretty low. Some of the support races will only be getting 100,000.

[thetool]

Originally Posted by crmalcolm

It is creative - and it comes from taking the peak viewing figure for a race (529k in 2020) and multiplying by 30 races.

And considering that that peak figure was achieved minutes before the start of the Hungarian Grand Prix, you can probably put a chunk of it down to F1 fans flicking through the other channels for something to watch to get away from Ted Kravitz and co. It's quite ironic that F1 is partly responsible for the BTCC's peak viewing figures when they used to go out of their way to avoid clashes. The jump from circa 16 F1 races a year to 22+ makes that something of a fantasy now anyway.