Fox surprises viewers with split screen during final commercial break

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http://www.scenedaily.com/news/articles/sprintcupseries/Fox_surprises_viewers_with_split_screen_during_final_commercial_break.html

Quote:

Fox Sports surprised viewers late in Sunday’s race at Dover International Speedway when it aired commercials while simultaneously showing race coverage late in the event.

Viewers saw action on the track displayed on the right side of the screen while commercials appeared on the left.

While that format is a staple on IndyCar Series telecasts on ESPN and Versus, it has not been used in NASCAR telecasts – with the exception of the July race at Daytona International Speedway, where all of the TNT national ads are done using a split screen.

A Fox Sports spokesman said discussions about trying a split screen re-surfaced last week and the network convinced three of its biggest advertisers – Sprint, Pizza Hut and FedEx – to agree to a split screen for the final break. The size of the picture for the commercials was slight larger than the size of the race coverage.

“The fan feedback from we've seen via social media has been very positive,” the spokesman said. “The plan now is to evaluate the execution with the advertisers before we decide whether to try it again this season.”

NASCAR issued a statement over the experiment:

“NASCAR has always encouraged its media partners to explore new and exciting ways of delivering our product to the fans,” NASCAR officials said. “Fox, Turner and ESPN have all tested and implemented various commercial format presentations over the years and based on the very early feedback through social media on Sunday, the fans really liked what they saw late in the Fox broadcast from Dover.

“We will continue to evaluate this option with all of our partners.”

Overnight ratings for the Fox telecast from Dover were up 6 percent from a 3.6 last year to a 3.8 this year, according to the SportsBusiness Daily.
 
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That came out of nowhere. I had actually recorded the race and started behind the broadcast. I almost caught up by skipping commercials and the nonsense during cautions. I had just hit the FFD button when I saw the split screen. I did an about-face to see if I was really seeing what I thought I saw.

What gets me is NASCAR seems so surprised fans love this. It's what people have been crying for going back some time. Too bad Fox waits until their next-to-last race to do this.
 
MRM said:
That came out of nowhere. I had actually recorded the race and started behind the broadcast. I almost caught up by skipping commercials and the nonsense during cautions. I had just hit the FFD button when I saw the split screen. I did an about-face to see if I was really seeing what I thought I saw.

What gets me is NASCAR seems so surprised fans love this. It's what people have been crying for going back some time. Too bad Fox waits until their next-to-last race to do this.
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Of course NASCAR was surprised, they've been opposed to this for years.

FOX and ESPN have been listening to the fans more and more. I don't think side-by-side is too far out.
 
I think, seeing as these commercial breaks are 5-6 minutes long, FOX/TNT/ESPN should do something similar to what MRN does for it's radio broadcasts (30 second update during the commercial break) or what MSNBC does during The Rachel Maddow Show where they have a 15 second quickie during the commercial break.

I still remember ABC airing the race PIP with the commercials during the 1994 Brickyard 400 and NBC's "No Brakes" coverage in 1999 and 2000 for Charlotte and Homestead.
 
AndyMarquisLive said:
Of course NASCAR was surprised, they've been opposed to this for years.

FOX and ESPN have been listening to the fans more and more. I don't think side-by-side is too far out.
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This is over my head I guess. Please explain to me why NASCAR would be opposed to this. Don't the networks sell the advertising? I'd think if anyone is opposed to it, it would be the advertisers themselves. Seriously, how much of your attention is on the ad when you're able to watch the race at the same time? I'd like to see them do this all of the time but I think that it's the networks and the advertisers that have to come up with a deal, not NASCAR.
 
i started swearing when they said they were going to break that late in the race. was pleasantly surprised when they went to the split screen.
 
dpkimmel2001 said:
This is over my head I guess. Please explain to me why NASCAR would be opposed to this. Don't the networks sell the advertising? I'd think if anyone is opposed to it, it would be the advertisers themselves. Seriously, how much of your attention is on the ad when you're able to watch the race at the same time? I'd like to see them do this all of the time but I think that it's the networks and the advertisers that have to come up with a deal, not NASCAR.
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In 2006, when talk of ESPN side-by-side surfaced, NASCAR didn't want it saying the only reason it works in IndyCar is because IndyCar pays ESPN to televise the races (actually, ESPN and NBC/VS pay IndyCar).
 
AndyMarquisLive said:
In 2006, when talk of ESPN side-by-side surfaced, NASCAR didn't want it saying the only reason it works in IndyCar is because IndyCar pays ESPN to televise the races (actually, ESPN and NBC/VS pay IndyCar).
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This is the first that I've heard that. Seems to me to be a win win situation for NASCAR and still can't understand how they could oppose it.
 
dpkimmel2001 said:
This is the first that I've heard that. Seems to me to be a win win situation for NASCAR and still can't understand how they could oppose it.
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because advertisers pay much less for side-by side rather than full screen commercials. Thus, networks get less money, which means Brian France can't stuff his pockets quite as much.
 
Magnethead said:
because advertisers pay much less for side-by side rather than full screen commercials. Thus, networks get less money, which means Brian France can't stuff his pockets quite as much.
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It certainly makes sense in theory but I am not familiar with how or how much the advertisers pay. When I look up the history of NASCAR and split screen broadcasts the only info that I find on it is that advertisers did not want to share the screen because they are no longer the focus during the break. I'm just glad that seems to have changed.
 
dpkimmel2001 said:
It certainly makes sense in theory but I am not familiar with how or how much the advertisers pay. When I look up the history of NASCAR and split screen broadcasts the only info that I find on it is that advertisers did not want to share the screen because they are no longer the focus during the break. I'm just glad that seems to have changed.
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I remember NBC using it in 1999 and 2000 when they broadcasted the races at Miami and Charlotte... but it never returned after 2000. :(

ABC used it in 1994 for the Inauaugral Brickyard 400.
 
AndyMarquisLive said:
I remember NBC using it in 1999 and 2000 when they broadcasted the races at Miami and Charlotte... but it never returned after 2000. :(

ABC used it in 1994 for the Inauaugral Brickyard 400.
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I think TBS had the Charlotte races those years. But it seemed like they did it for the fall race there.

Here's a question to ponder. Did Fox unleash this knowing ESPN was going to make their announcement or did ESPN announce their plans based off what Fox did? I bet we'll never know the answer.
 
MRM said:
I think TBS had the Charlotte races those years. But it seemed like they did it for the fall race there.

Here's a question to ponder. Did Fox unleash this knowing ESPN was going to make their announcement or did ESPN announce their plans based off what Fox did? I bet we'll never know the answer.
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I seem to remember the 500 mile race being on NBC in 2000... looking it up, I guess it was on TBS (NBC and TBS used the same announcers though).
 
I wouldn't have a problem with PPV race telecasts with no commercials!
 
PettyBlue said:
I wouldn't have a problem with PPV race telecasts with no commercials!
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I'd pay for it, a NASCAR channel that is. I don't know about a PPV type situation. That sounds extremely expensive if you were to try to do that on a regular basis. I can see them starting a NASCAR channel similar to the NFL, NBA, NHL, or MLB television networks. I think that they are already gearing up for this. I posted a thread on this a couple of weeks ago. After this contract expires with Turner I think there are going to be drastic changes within the NASCAR media divisions.

A while back before we had cable in our area and before DirecTV, Dish, or PrimeStar, I used to own one of those 10' BUD's, (Big Ugly Dish's). Before they started to scramble sports broadcasts, you were able to pick up the feed directly from the track or sports venue commercial free. It was great!
 
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