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3008
Joined
7/6/2008
Location
Edgewater, FL
US
Edited Date/Time
3/4/2013 6:46pm
I realize the committment from MXsports and the AMA to promote the sport, but this network broadcast situation has me truly perplexed.
The goals of the networks are to have viewers, obviously, and the goal of the promters is for the races to be watched.
In reality, pretty much everyone isn't getting optimum benefit, IMO. I would have to assume that a great portion of the audience that would potentially view races on television are at least semi serious motocross fans. Esentially, these people are most likely not giving the ratings to the networks airing the races for a few reasons.
First of all, Fuel TV shows the first motos live. This is great if you don't have the internet. However, for people that want to watch the races without commercials watch the first motos on the webcast.
Secondly, Speed and Fuel have the same commentators and TV personalities while NBC chooses to bring in a few of their own. The only possibility I can think of for this is contractual obligations. This seems a bit odd as well, considering the fact that Weege and Fro both work the NBC shows, while they choose to get rid of Erin Bates and bring in their own people. Hey, the BMX guy is decent, but from a logistical perspective, there really is no reason for it.
Lastly, these shows that happen to appear on the internet live and without commercial. I haven't watched either the Speed or NBC version because they are live in Europe. Live in Europe? What kind of backwards shit is that? In the end, everyone suffers because of the configuration and the logistics add some uneeded overhead.
Hey, I realize that the promoters probably don't have any significant amount of leverage on the networks. I'm glad I get to see both motos on the same day, even if it is some crappy stream. I just don't see how this is helpful to any party.
The goals of the networks are to have viewers, obviously, and the goal of the promters is for the races to be watched.
In reality, pretty much everyone isn't getting optimum benefit, IMO. I would have to assume that a great portion of the audience that would potentially view races on television are at least semi serious motocross fans. Esentially, these people are most likely not giving the ratings to the networks airing the races for a few reasons.
First of all, Fuel TV shows the first motos live. This is great if you don't have the internet. However, for people that want to watch the races without commercials watch the first motos on the webcast.
Secondly, Speed and Fuel have the same commentators and TV personalities while NBC chooses to bring in a few of their own. The only possibility I can think of for this is contractual obligations. This seems a bit odd as well, considering the fact that Weege and Fro both work the NBC shows, while they choose to get rid of Erin Bates and bring in their own people. Hey, the BMX guy is decent, but from a logistical perspective, there really is no reason for it.
Lastly, these shows that happen to appear on the internet live and without commercial. I haven't watched either the Speed or NBC version because they are live in Europe. Live in Europe? What kind of backwards shit is that? In the end, everyone suffers because of the configuration and the logistics add some uneeded overhead.
Hey, I realize that the promoters probably don't have any significant amount of leverage on the networks. I'm glad I get to see both motos on the same day, even if it is some crappy stream. I just don't see how this is helpful to any party.
But, broadcasting is about generating ad revenue. If the networks could bring in enough money in advertisements, they could go live for all races. Live is expensive, and motocross isn't really a television friendly package. From the gate drop in the first 250 moto to the checkers in the second 450 moto is a looong time in programming hours. And it's longer if the girls are racing on that day.
TV is not just about this show or that show, now they are using some shows to try and get carry over viewers to other shows. How many people watched moto live and how many recorded it all to watch later? these are the type of things they will look at.
The Shop
Let's start with the fact that "motors tv" or whoever was playing the live second moto, has a stream. The steam is readily available, and it sounded like a british channel to me.
Ad revenue requires a few things.
1) the ad must be shown
2) the ad must be watched
You need both of these in order to boost income from advertising. I don't watch any ads for these races at all. I think most anyone that is available to watch the races wouldn't see that ads, either.
The first moto streaming on the net while also playing on a television channel (especially and unknown one) isn't going to bolster the view rates, thus there will be a small or nonexistent return for the companies that advertise with the Fuel broadcast.
The second moto is a complete counterpoint to a webcast. NBC in particular, treats motocross and supercross like an NFL game. You're lucky to see 4 total laps.
The streams that pop up on the internet, for the reason of being live in another country, only weaken the two conditions that must be met in order for somebody to effectively advertise with the airing network. Advertising dollars aren't just shelled out to play the same commercial over and over. The company paying for the advertising needs to see some for of justification by way of sales. This isn't happening (at least to a degree,) when you have 12,000 people watching a webcast from GB.
Essentially what is happening is undermining a network like Fuel, while attempting to kiss ass at Speed and NBC because of exposure. Exposure is limited in the world of motocross and supercross racing, so it becomes a balancing act. Do you please the smaller amount of Americans that take motocross seriously, or attempt to appeal to the masses by spending most of the broadcast time on major networks by avoiding the racing? It's a juggling act.
The truth is somewhere in between, but there is no reason to have a live cast in Europe or Australia while disregarding native audiences.
My other points about bring in fresh people boil down to cost. Again, I don't know how they work these deals out. Specifically NBC brings in people like Bestwick and that other reporter chick at an added cost. Salary, room and board, food, rental cars, and everthing else are all added cost. The speed team is fine, and it will save everyone money. I can only see these other points as a potential way out of future coverage.
Again, I have no idea what the situation is, but from the outside looking in, these seem like valid concerns for the long term expansion. Also, I want to say again that I appreciate the attempts being made to increase availability to motocross fans. Think of it as constructive criticism.
She would post from time to time with some rather profound observations and was genuinely interested in seeing the sport promoted properly. Someone will chime in who may remember who she was.
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