North American Sportscar Media Thread

[deggis]

Originally Posted by WyldStallion

NBCSN IMSA coverage is almost irrelevant. IMSA Radio crew though has the infrastructure in place to allow IMSA to go the paid subscription streaming route themselves. IMSA Radio (Radio show Limited) already covers all the races, support series, and weathertech series practice and qualfying sessions. Also they do preview, review, and interview segments. Just do a lot of that with the camera now. Especially the practice sessions. Could also give us the cool live timing and scoring stuff now too. Also with a subscription service you should have the ability to watch race replays with no commentary at all. John, jeremy and Shea are great for first and second viewing. But if you had the ability to remove commentary then the races could re-watched 3rd, 4th, etc times. MLB.TV by the way has that option to watch games with now commentary on their web site based service.

Watching the same race for the 4th time is pretty hardcore but that's not why the NBC deal exists. Nothing except maybe well promoted free streaming on Youtube can reach casual viewers the way tv still can.

Also rolling your own streaming service is not easy when you're a small series, not a media/tech company yourself and when you outsource it based on cheapest offers. The "WEC App" is in year 9 or something and it is still technically pathetic. Even F1 has had major problems with F1TV, but at least it is improving. The current IMSATV is passable because it is free. MLB.tv and others from the big leagues are on a different level.

If the tv air time goes away and IMSA's new home is on NBC Peacock service then the contract is pretty much useless. Hopefully they can then initiate some sort of clause to end it prematurely or at least change it (e.g. no domestic exclusivity). And then figure out an alternative.

I can already hear it in my head... Motortrend.

[deggis]

Originally Posted by carbsmith

If IMSA falls off of TV then there was outright no point in selling out to NASCAR.

Avoiding bankruptcy of the championship & assets sounds like a pretty good point.

How is this even relevant now? The current 6-year NBC deal began in 2019. This is more about the decline of cable/linear tv rather than IMSA's own problems.

[carbsmith]

I somehow doubt Jim France was the only potential buyer for any of Panoz's businesses. NASCAR wins out because they are ostensibly the most qualified owner, but that's only true unless when push comes to shove NASCAR resources are only for NASCAR and putting competitors out of business. If they aren't willing to push for IMSA's media deals now then it's only a matter of time until they get out of sports car racing and leave it in much worse shape than it started. Sponsors and pay drivers aren't going to pay the premium price tag IMSA demands just to get on Youtube, they may as well go to SRO at that point.

[Akrapovic]

I recently discovered a new podcast (new to me - it's been around a while) and it's rather good. https://endurancechat.podbean.com/

Covers IMSA and the ACO series. Very knowledgable and fun hosts. Feels like a nice change of pace.

[fieldodreams79]

Originally Posted by carbsmith

If IMSA falls off of TV then there was outright no point in selling out to NASCAR. Which isn't to say it won't happen, as the AMA found out.

I can't help to keep going back to this analogy. The AMA was awesome and very relevant in the the motorsports world. Now? Not so much on both fronts...

There's also (topic for another thread) the fact NASCAR owns my 'home' track, a la the NHRA / Atlanta dragway.

Originally Posted by broadrun96

Yes, that's a bit of old man rant about streaming but read those reporting on it. 2020 was not a great year for the new services and new signups have not been great. Amazon and Netflix aren't too bad, Disney Plus wasn't great, Discovery Plus, Peacock and Apple TV (but that makes sense as only new stuff) all were below expectations, far below for most of their launch. If big name things can't move the needle, IMSA isn't even going to make it flinch so it will not get the best out of it. And will not be on the free Peacock section with ads, wait for the NBCSports add-on to Peacock Plus or whatever they call it and more money

Comments relevant here, me thinks.

IMSA will just about always be an after thought with all sports / streaming, where ever they end up. We are in the middle of the streaming wars and we'll all take a hit or two along with the sports themselves over the next 3 to 5 years. Things will be bouncing around for a bit and I'll have to start and stop streaming services. Thankfully, it's by the month, so maybe we can dip in and out. Otherwise, at 'it's ONLY $4.99 / month' multiplied 20 times for a family of 4.....

[WyldStallion]

Big Congrats to Ryan Myrehn. Will do great no doubt.

https://sportscar365.com/sro/sro-ame...r-sro-america/

[NaBUru38]

NBCSN today is airing 2 hours of Sebring at 10 am, and 3 hours of Sebring at 7 pm.


The channel aired week-old American Flat Track at 12 pm, Mecum live auctions at 2 pm, 6 Nations rugby at 4 pm, and the Louisiana Derby at 6 pm.

[NaBUru38]

Meanwhile, USA Network is airing a Harry Potter marathon (which is a Warner Bros franchise, not an NBC Universal franchise).

[Adam43]

Well the six nations was the final weekend and the decider.

But yes, I know what you’re saying. When they do show it the coverage is more ads anyway. Fortunately I am in Europe so can watch.

[fieldodreams79]

I've been working the IMSA live to time up with the NBC stream on my laptop and dare I say? Limited to no commercials for the NBC stream? Is this just the "part 2" and they'll dive into them in prime time?

[Adam43]

Sounds good. Seems I might be wasting effort by “watching it in Europe”.

[fieldodreams79]

Now ad breaks every 10 mins. They're missing another decent race...

[Adam43]

If they make the coverage so maddening then no one will see the commercials anyway.

[fieldodreams79]

Originally Posted by Adam43

If they make the coverage so maddening then no one will see the commercials anyway.

This is horrendous. They can't go 4 mins w/o an ad break. In the last hour of the race, they're shoving KFC, dunkin and anything else down our throats. Can't believe that us race fans respond to this type of advertising and that they REALLY think non race fans are watching. It's so maddening.

[fieldodreams79]

It's okay. In a pivotal late caution, they broke the ads with the Romos to tell us there's MotoX next and THE PROFIT is on. Cover. The. Fuking. Race. PLEASE!

Oh yeah. did you know Jimmie is racing IndyCar?

[Adam43]

Originally Posted by fieldodreams79

Oh yeah. did you know Jimmie is racing IndyCar?

Really? I didn't, but then I wasn't watching their stupid coverage

[NaBUru38]

I mean, racecars are literal billboards...

[Adam43]

With the distinct advantage that you can see the race while looking at them.

[chernaudi]

This is my inner anorak speaking, but, since physical media has largely gone by the wayside (except for serious collectors) when it comes to this stuff, does anyone think it'd be neat if IMSA would/could offer videos of races--recent or old--for paid download and such?

So that way you don't have to watch them on YouTube if you don't want to, it's close to owning a physical copy, and since you'll be purchasing them, you'll be directly supporting IMSA or something to do with it.

[Adam43]

Would be nice.

Might be worth checking out Motorsport network. I keep meaning to. I think they’ve got some old duke videos on there.not quite what you mean, but a start.

The big question though is how much could they monetize this. What is the demand? I’m worried that I can count it on one hand.

[chernaudi]

Interestingly, I've been looking into getting a hold of some LM review videos, which I think that Duke distributes them and you can buy and download them (not sure they're still in the physical media business with a lot of that stuff).

[NaBUru38]

Last Saturday's IMSA race at Virginia drew 472k viewers on NBC.


At the same time, Texas vs Oklahoma drew 5.9 million viewers on ABC, and Ohio State vs Maryland drew 2.7 million viewers on Fox.

[WyldStallion]

Originally Posted by NaBUru38

Last Saturday's IMSA race at Virginia drew 472k viewers on NBC.


At the same time, Texas vs Oklahoma drew 5.9 million viewers on ABC, and Ohio State vs Maryland drew 2.7 million viewers on Fox.

Errrr thats not good. Granted I am to blame for that too i guess, but I never watch anything live anymore including soccer and hockey games. Family, chores, rest, and recreation all take precedent on weekends.

[Pandamasque]

Originally Posted by NaBUru38

Last Saturday's IMSA race at Virginia drew 472k viewers on NBC.


At the same time, Texas vs Oklahoma drew 5.9 million viewers on ABC, and Ohio State vs Maryland drew 2.7 million viewers on Fox.

This is comparing apples and truffles AND doing it in an age where the general public cares less and less about mushrooms in general, if you get my drift.

And I guess, this being a lesser round in what has so far been a meh season doesn't help either.

[broadrun96]

Originally Posted by Adam43

Would be nice.

Might be worth checking out Motorsport network. I keep meaning to. I think they’ve got some old duke videos on there.not quite what you mean, but a start.

The big question though is how much could they monetize this. What is the demand? I’m worried that I can count it on one hand.

Yeah, I have a feeling the investment to digitize them is FAR less than they would get in even interest in subscriptions clicking like on FB, never mind who many of us would actually pay. Plus, wonder who actually owns the rights and if they can still find most of it uncut for Wide World of Sports or other coverage