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Thanks for posting this, lumpy. It’s cool to see articles about our sport in mainstream publications, especially business press. But… this quote?
“It doesn't seem commercialized, but we find unique and organic ways that we can kind of interweave what we're trying to do for partners and show their messaging into the broadcast,” Muye said.”
Look, we’re okay with commercialization, we all run stickers and signage galore on our personal rides and bodies. But let’s not pretend that plastering sponsor names in every conceivable place “doesn’t seem commercialized.”
Damn this flys in the face of the it only happened cause of WSX people out there. 😂
Right. Perhaps the author didn't Monster Energy notice all the blatant Monster Energy advertisements and Monster Energy logos all over the whole Monster Energy place. (Brought to you by Monster Energy.)
It only happened cause of WSX!
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As a sport 32 weeks of racing has lots of eyes watching it.
The guy used Science of SX as an example as well.
Some of those episodes were a straight advertisement lol
On another note, your last sentence brings up how I see America now.
Whenever I go back to the US, it’s glaringly obvious, to the point of being grotesque, that I am being sold to from every direction at every turn.
Total infiltration of my space and my consciousness. It’s WILD how commercialized western culture (programs) is. And how GOOD the US is at it.
I can’t read or understand Thai so that may have something to do with it. Everything goes in one ear and out the other. News on in the background at a restaurant? Noise. Billboards on the highway? Zero attention given.
Once I land stateside, I feel like I’m going from a sauna to an ice bath.
Contrast is a good thing though. Makes it obvious what to prune and what to prioritize. Each time gets me all that much more dialed in.
Anyways, back to our regularly scheduled programming.
Man, I knew it was niche but didn't think it was THAT niche. 0.5 rating is 5 out of 1000 people watching TV are watching the race.
Another way to look at it, averaging half a million tv viewers is basically on par with (very poor) US ratings for MotoGP, somehow I've always thought MX/SX would be more popular than MotoGP in the US?
Good on the riders to make some money in this environment, thought the cake would have been bigger.
Yes, we’re incessantly bombarded and fully complicit.
I seen a picture of the US that had the most popular racing series in every state listed. MO was the only state where MX/SX (SX to be specific) was the favorite.
Interesting point Soul, it seems all countries have some form of indoctrination for the masses. One form or another. Whether it be commercialization, the current political party's control, or the war/ enemy of the month that nation has. The rub had always been control of the largest group of people you can the easiest way. Makes you wonder.
We all dream for the day the big sports shows break down highlights fromvour sport. Maybe one day... Probably Never.
double digit year over year growth is awesome. Maintain that over the 5 year SMX contract and theres potential for a nice renewal and even more money invested in growing the sport, and hopefully paying riders. 3 more years to go..
the article focused on the US market. im from Canada and Spend $200/year for the International streaming package. While the big TV money is from NBC. it would be great to know the Numbers abroad. they even added a Spanish Broadcast this season.
I think we can all agree the past 2 years have improved Payout. the broadcast, and exposure. lets hope for more.
I’ve had the similar experience. The second you get on a US based airline the bombardment begins.
It’s really glaring when you’re outside the US for a month+ and return. And frustrating, exactly as you stated you realize how much of your time these advertisers are stealing to hustle their product.
When I think of Forbes I think of people owning big businesses with $$$ that are reading it.
This type of expose could attract big business $ponsorship to help struggling riders survive and continue racing.
If i recall correctly. you can Pay Forbes to pubish articles. this is by a senior contributer. but could still be a paid by SMX article.
I thought that guy is an L.A. Times staff writer?
Interesting read, it did seem a bit like SMX was showing off (probably paid for the article) but thats how you create interest from potential sponsors and investors. Viewership up 23% over 2023 thats an insane amount of growth if true, after all how many of us are sharing Peacock accounts???
A lot of those segments they run that seem out of place , Science of Supercross, Yamaha track map, the holeshot reply, the drone shots provided by whoever. etc. those are all adds . Those are the things they are talking about providing that fit into the program without taking too much away from the racing itself. I imagine they are working on sponsors for the leader lights. too stuff like that.
Its been talked about on here often and people still don't see that it is all sponsored content. So I would have to agree that they have done a good job with not making it feel commercialized to a large amount of people. That is what they are talking about, ways of advertising that is more than the conventional logo on a bike/rider/banner or commercial.
At one point the US government paid to have the national anthem played .
In 2015, a Senate report released by Senators John McCain and Jeff Flake poured cold water on some of the more heartwarming moments of patriotism seen in professional sports.
The report found the Department of Defense had spent $6.8 million on what they called “paid patriotism” between 2012 and 2015. This money was spread out among 50 pro teams from the NFL, NBA, MLB, NASCAR, MLS and others.
In exchange for the money, teams organized displays of national pride including flag presentations, the honoring of military members, reenlistment ceremonies, and even the most unassailable and uplifting of patriotic moments: surprise military homecomings. To be clear, plenty of teams also do, and have done, such things with no compensation.
It's always interestin to me to find people that assume that anything and everything reported by the media is
1) correct
2) the entirety of the story
3) delivered with pure objectivity
Pit Row
It’s just as interesting to find people that believe none of it, like everything is a conspiracy. Cause no credible reporting has been done that says it was a response to wsx.
If it was a response to WSX what would be the harm in saying ‘hey these guys want to steal our riders, we are starting this big purse playoff series to keep them here.’?
In the past that was more true. But these days social media has blurred the lines . There is so much opinion based , and or fake BS that is just put out to scare people to one side or the other. And laws changed .
Back when my mother was a talk show host on one of the bigger local radio stations . She was excited to get a 1. something rating of her show. And I was thinking that wasn't very impressive. After seeing what SX gets its much more impressive . Back then , You had to pay to even have them rate you. And I'm not sure how much it cost. They would get a feed from the AP for national stories , and that was what most of the national news came from. Local stuff was reported on by the more conventionally thought of way.
But more to the point, back then You had to give equal time for anything political. So You were required by law to have a candidate from both major parties on for the same amount of time. Or risk big fines and loss of FCC lic. I think that going back to that way of doing things, would help make the channels be less partisan and hopefully stop them from reporting selective info the way they all seem to be doing more and more..
These days everything is designed to keep people watching. 24 Hour news channels are mostly opinion based and more and more designed to not offend people in the wrong ways.
Yes I am sure the powers that be would never do any favors.
i agree with you, WSX would not have been a thing if Feld/MX Sports and the teams decided to punt the FIM to touch, thats what gave Adam Bailey the chance to get the FIM world title,
however, i believe the purse they pay out is larger than it would have been if Adam had not gone out and started WSX,
I deleted my original response since it was meant to be a hypothetical answer to why they would not say something if there was a connection. But It seemed to support the conspiracy , which was not what I intended to do so I felt like it was better off deleted .
My point is that I see all of those elements as blatantly commercial, but I will accept your argument that many viewers might not,,, or more likely, just don’t care. But the Feld production is awash in commercialization, and I still think it’s laughable that they think they’re hiding something or minimizing it.
I don't see Feld doing it. In fact they seem to embrace The Suck. It's the apologists and shills that permeate this sewer that are all in on stupid.
I did not get the impression that they felt like they were hiding anything. Multiple people involved with the broadcast have pointed out how often the segments that people have brought up as seemingly out of place , have been paid for segments. They were talking about the programs in the article saying that they are more acceptable to viewers . Putting it out there that they have paid for content that is integrated into the broadcast , I imagine hoping to catch some more potential sponsors.
You can run a search on this site and see the many threads with people posting about these features and not knowing they are paid for adds. So there are many people that are not realizing it. That is the only reason I bring that up. If people that are big enough fans to be posting on here, are not seeing something is an add, it is blending in pretty well.
At one point the promotors were paying to have the races on TV. Now they are getting paid to have them on.
I would love to see all conventional adds go away from the broadcasts. Wouldn't it be better to have the Fox Holeshot, Yamaha track map, the Monster podium, the Honda rider of the week interview, Product placement, etc. and have it all one off content that is produced into the race coverage itself and not ever cut away for the more conventional style adds. So then I am at least getting something new and related to the race itself. And not have the same old Toyota truck add that is on 10 times per race.
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