World Endurance Championship - TV Coverage?

[Paradise City]

Originally Posted by adam46

As much as I love that thought it's the F1 channel, plus it's not as if they won't be airing anyhting when F1 isn't actually on, there will probably be loads of race replay's, GP2/GP3 and round table discussion stuff like one they did for the main Sky Sports channels last year.

Plus I don't think Bernie E would approve of ACO stuff on F1 TV.

That said, the F1 channel is showing Indycar and that F1 channel will have alot of space to fill.

[Mystery]

F1 channel showing Indycar??? Really? Seems a very odd mix.

[Simmi]

Originally Posted by Mystery

F1 channel showing Indycar??? Really? Seems a very odd mix.

Sky have the rights to Indycars plus they have a channel with a ton of airspace to fill. May as well stick it on there.

[The Badger]

Originally Posted by NightStalk3r

just seen the advert on Motors TV listing the events for March and they list Sebring as live.

Thats brilliant news . Stream is ok , but the box is far better .

[Deleted]

Originally Posted by Pandamasque

When was the last ALMS race shown live in its entirety by Speed?

The last race they ever covered, ie PLM 2010?

Originally Posted by Acid09

Quality TV coverage? The ALMS? When? 2008?

I'm sorry but the Eurosport broadcasts are a joke compared to ALMS... production-wise especially

[Pandamasque]

Originally Posted by Chiana

The last race they ever covered, ie PLM 2010?

Ok, other than PLM? Regular races were delayed and cut beyond recognition.

[chernaudi]

It's Speed's coverage that has so many in NA peeved because it spoiled us. Granted, several races were same day tape or one day tape delay in later years, but Speed used to broadcast all ALMS races in whole live, and even tap delayed races where shown whole.

ESPN has had to show races either one day or same day tape, and edited to fit a two or two in a half hour time slot--the average ALMS race last 2:45. But we have to face facts, that ABC/ESPN isn't any worse than NBC who used to tape delay highlight reels and CBS, who showed edited 2 hour tape delayed races or joined races live in progress after about a 45 minute highlight show.

Unless someone's willing to spend the bucks that NASCAR or F1 does for good network TV coverage (which I think it's the other way around--that the networks pay NASCAR for sure for coverage), sportscar won't get good network coverage in NA, or anywhere, hence the equally as butchered Eurosport coverage. Speed and Motors TV have had good coverage, but were cable networks not available in all areas, and in the case of Speed, features coverage biased towards Fox's NASCAR stuff.

Basically, unless the ACO, FIA, IMSA, teams and sponsors are willing to promote the sport and sell it to the networks, we're all screwed as far as sportscar fans, because the only event that gets decent coverage (like what we were accustomed to circa '08) is Le Mans. But the only thing that the ACO can be blamed on there is focusing on their "own" race in their backyard, almost like the ALMS, LMS/ELMS, and even to an extent the WEC doesn't matter.

[AGD]

Originally Posted by Chiana

I'm sorry but the Eurosport broadcasts are a joke compared to ALMS... production-wise especially

Yep. Exactly. Now Le Mans on Eurosport and Le Mans on Speed is a different story. Although I found Eurosport's coverage of Le Mans to be rather lacking last year (all the announcers except for Hindy seemed to be out to lunch and then there is the Robbie Nock situation), it was still way, way better than Speed's coverage. Of course, the cameras were the same, it came down to the amount of commercials and the announcers.

Originally Posted by chernaudi

Unless someone's willing to spend the bucks that NASCAR or F1 does for good network TV coverage (which I think it's the other way around--that the networks pay NASCAR for sure for coverage), sportscar won't get good network coverage in NA, or anywhere, hence the equally as butchered Eurosport coverage. Speed and Motors TV have had good coverage, but were cable networks not available in all areas, and in the case of Speed, features coverage biased towards Fox's NASCAR stuff.

Basically, unless the ACO, FIA, IMSA, teams and sponsors are willing to promote the sport and sell it to the networks, we're all screwed as far as sportscar fans, because the only event that gets decent coverage (like what we were accustomed to circa '08) is Le Mans. But the only thing that the ACO can be blamed on there is focusing on their "own" race in their backyard, almost like the ALMS, LMS/ELMS, and even to an extent the WEC doesn't matter.

NASCAR gets paid to be on TV. Ha. Boy, they really get paid too! Mega bucks. I'm sure the same is true of F1 in Europe. The IRL gets paid too. Not nearly as much as NASCAR, but at least they are getting paid and not having to pay for airtime. I think the NHRA gets paid too, but some of those deals may be revenue shares and stuff like that. I'm not sure. I don't know about Grand-Am and WC.

But, yeah, if the ALMS and WEC want better TV coverage, they (or someone within the series) are going to have to pay for it and do most of their own promotion. That's the way things go for niche sports. There are other sports who have to do the same thing. The ALMS has had partners for many years helping them pay the bills in this regard so at least they have that. The WEC has Audi Online TV and maybe Toyota Online, but I would think that buying airtime on TV will get a much broader audience especially if it is on a popular general interest channel like ABC. The people who watch races on Audi's website are probably already diehards. I don't know if it's a good method of getting new fans. But, on the other hand, buying airtime across the globe probably isn't easy or cheap. I'm not sure if the ACO/WEC is willing to eat the humble pie to do that stuff either.

[ronnie peterson]

For Sebring, there will be an approximately 3-hour coverage from Eurosport as well. Will keep you guys updated.

[ronnie peterson]

Originally Posted by ronnie peterson

For Sebring, there will be an approximately 3-hour coverage from Eurosport as well. Will keep you guys updated.

It's not 3-hour coverage, its 7:30 !

[deggis]

Good. Sounds like either a) no other major sports events that weekend b) better tv deal.

[Emillian Stoyko]

Originally Posted by ronnie peterson

It's not 3-hour coverage, its 7:30 !

Are you sure? According to the schedule I've got, only the last 2,5 hours seem to be live. Or maybe the grids are not updated yet?

[ronnie peterson]

Originally Posted by Emillian Stoyko

Are you sure? According to the schedule I've got, only the last 2,5 hours seem to be live. Or maybe the grids are not updated yet?

Last time I checked it was from 25:00 to 08:30. I will try to confirm that today.

[Peat]

25 o'clock?

[Emillian Stoyko]

He means 1 a.m... Considering the race finishes at 4:30 a.m, I'd think Eurosport's broadcast will end up being around 3,5 hours - from 1 'till 4:30.

[sceptic]

Originally Posted by AGD

The ALMS partners know that if they want quality TV coverage, they are going to have to pay for it to make it happen. Fortunately, Porsche NA, Corvette, Michelin, Yokohama, and a few others make things happen. I guess WEC partners aren't so willing, but buying airtime across the globe probably isn't an easy or desirable task.

Michelin already paid for the TV production of the ILMC. We shouldn't expect them to pay for airtime too.

Originally Posted by Emillian Stoyko

He means 1 a.m... Considering the race finishes at 4:30 a.m, I'd think Eurosport's broadcast will end up being around 3,5 hours - from 1 'till 4:30.

Race will finish at 03:30 CET (02:30 UK).

[gregtummer]

I can't believe ESPN won't at least show the first Hour and half live.

Pre-race at 10am start at 10:30 and then have live coverage until Noon.

I mean, what else are you going to show? The 6th repeat of SportsCenter?

[ger80]

Nascar Now

[Simmi]

Still waiting for MotorsTV to release their schedule for that week. Can't see them not showing the Nationwide race at Bristol so that would put a hole in the coverage quite early in the race.

[FordCosworthPanoz]

Originally Posted by gregtummer

I can't believe ESPN won't at least show the first Hour and half live.

Pre-race at 10am start at 10:30 and then have live coverage until Noon.

I mean, what else are you going to show? The 6th repeat of SportsCenter?

I think you're seriously overestimating the popularity of Sebring and the ALMS in the United States. Pay Up, like they're doing for the Sunday broadcast, and you might get the first hour and a half live. The 20th repeat of last night's SportsCenter or some generic NASCAR lifestyle show probably gets better ratings than what Sebring would get.

[AGD]

Originally Posted by FordCosworthPanoz

The 20th repeat of last night's SportsCenter or some generic NASCAR lifestyle show probably gets better ratings than what Sebring would get.

This is probably true. Your avatar says it all.

It used to be said that test patterns got better TV ratings than Champ Car races. Based on the 33 viewers watching Zhuhai ILMC on DailyMotion last year, that may describe sports car racing too. Well, at least more may watch test patterns on TV than watch world championship sports car racing on the web.

[FordCosworthPanoz]

Originally Posted by AGD

This is probably true. Your avatar says it all.

It used to be said that test patterns got better TV ratings than Champ Car races. Based on the 33 viewers watching Zhuhai ILMC on DailyMotion last year, that may describe sports car racing too. Well, at least more may watch test patterns on TV than watch world championship sports car racing on the web.

2003 Long Beach Grand Prix Sunday attendance: 95,000
2003 SPEED TV Audience for Champ Car Long Beach Grand Prix: 69,000

Yep, things got bad for CCWS and their Bourdais circus in it's final years. But at least they got some good race attendances, the crowds at non-LM24/ALMS ILMC rounds last year were a joke.

[AGD]

Originally Posted by FordCosworthPanoz

Yep, things got bad for CCWS and their Bourdais circus in it's final years. But at least they got some good race attendances, the crowds at non-LM24/ALMS ILMC rounds last year were a joke.

The problem with Champ Car's "We'll bring the race to the people" ideology is that while it did increase track attendance, it alienated those watching at home and it did not create many new fans amongst those who attended. Of course, Champ Car didn't really have much choice either because most permanent circuit track owner would laugh when Champ Car asked for a sanctioning fee!

But, yeah, sports car racing has pretty craptacular TV ratings and attendance in most cases. There are three or so races with serious fan interest as far as attendance goes, but the sports car "brain trust" seems to think that it is a good idea to kill off one of those. They might be ready to take the shotgun to the second of the three races next year too. But, hey, don't worry. The sports car administrative "brain trust" knows what they are doing. They're under the guidance of the FIA after all! How could this possibly go wrong? Panoz, the ACO, and the FIA. It's the Three Amigos Part Trois!

[deggis]

CART vs ALMS ratings from 2003: http://forums.autosport.com/index.ph...&#entry1505636

[AGD]

Originally Posted by deggis

CART vs ALMS ratings from 2003:

I can't access your link, but ALMS TV ratings hit their high point in 2003. IIRC, they've never come close to 2003 numbers since. 2004 onwards have been pretty similar. I can't remember, but 2003 may have been the last time that a number of races were on broadcast TV. There's always been a few, but there may have been more back in 2003 versus 2010 for example. That's just a guess though, I don't remember the exact numbers. CART ratings were already in the toilet by 2003. I think 2002 was the last year of the last semi-decent TV deal CART/Champ Car had.

There may be recent cases of the ALMS getting a 0.6 vs Champ Car/IRL getting a 0.3 in a head-to-head situation, but both are very, very bad.