Charlie Spencer
Road courses and short tracks.
Huh? Care to explain how the one indicates the other?
NASCAR, where have all your fans gone?
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Whiskyb
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All I seem to hear is how Nascar needs to attract new younger fans. And most of the gimmicks are tailored that way. I hope they have a plan for when they finally irritate all the old fans (myself included) that have stuck around and decide to take their money elsewhere
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Skoalbandit33
Guest
If I was going to draw a parallel between ED commercials and Nascar I would do it based upon the older age of Nascar fans as half of them are over 55. Advertising things like ED, medic alert necklaces, retirement areas and things of that nature seem natural to me as you are speaking to your audience.
Whiskyb
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So if we take that line of thinking sponsors of blue pills, medic alert bracelets and retirement places need not advertise since we are now targeting the millenials.
It is also possible that we can get rid of the beer sponsors since they do not drink like older fans. I am sure there are many more sponsors who could possibly justify leaving since we are no longer targeting there audience.
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Skoalbandit33
Guest
Regardless what any of us think we should all agree that Nascar needs to get younger as quickly as possible if we care about the overall health and longevity of the series. I am not a marketing man but I know advertisers want to spend ad dollars on the market they wish to reach so you probably won't see many commercials for Flintstones vitamins on "Murder She Wrote" but instead ads for incontinence, catheters and denture adhesive products.
At present Nascar is not reaching millennials and IDK what kind of strategy companies are using to reach that audience. Your point about beer makes sense as Coors, Miller and AB all used to sponsor cars for 36 races each and now I doubt they sponsor 36 races in total.
Charlie Spencer
Road courses and short tracks.
I still don't know how any of this indicates the technology skills of the audience.
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Skoalbandit33
Guest
Me too as all I know is that Nascar has a very old demographic and they need to get younger and for the overall health of the series I hope it happens.
dpkimmel2001
Team Owner
The season can't start soon enough.
I don't think the beer stuff is true. Millenials drink more than any other generation (in recent history), but prefer craft brews to Miller-Coors-Bud.
4tires17gals
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do the old NASCAR fans still bring there grandchildren to the track?
Yogisd1
Resident Retard
The point everyone seems to be missing is that NASCAR, and their sponsors, shouldn't be targeting age groups. NASCAR, and the sponsors, should be targeting every age group. That's how you get people to cross over to their brands. I can bet there will be some not so young fans that haven't ever had an energy drink, might be inclined to try a monster energy drink. I know my mom and dad have become fans of V8 Fusion energy drink. They are 77, and 79, years old, not exactly what you picture when you think of an energy drink. The point is, they are trying to target specific age groups, when they should be targeting everybody. There is no rule that says you can't market your product to more than one group. Sometimes more than one target group would be interested in your product, if you marketed in a different, or multiple ways. If you have a good product, more that one target group could be interested. Advertisers are the ones that came up with the target group method of marketing. The interesting thing is that television execs started to tailor their shows, to the groups that the sponsors said were most interested in their product. They wanted to be strong niche products, instead of products with broad appeal. They feld that would solidify their place in their given field. They never thought about what would happen, as their target group became older. Now NASCAR feels it has to market to younger people, when the whole time they need to market to everyone. If they could convince Monster to some of their market budget to target other age groups, they might attract other groups. Just because your main consumers belong to a particular group, doesn't mean others are not interested in what you have to offer.
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Skoalbandit33
Guest
Their grandkids are adults.
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Skoalbandit33
Guest
Ultimately it will be the ad agencies that determine what audience their clients will target so it isn't up to Nascar as they are just along for the ride. Nascar is like various card games where you run into trouble because you are single suited as half the fans are over 55. Those people don't need to be marketed to because they show up anyway but the young people that don't show up need to be reached out to.
kymartin6
KY
Kind of strange how times have changed so much...... years ago when I got interested in Nascar..... it wasn't the marketing that brought me in..... it was the racing..... just being able to see a couple or three 10 minute clips on Wide World of Sports.... then CBS..... and it opened up a whole 'nother world when ESPN , TNN and TBS came on.... Humpy Wheeler was known to be the P.T. Barnum of Charlotte..... but..... that stuff never interested me..... I just came to see the race....... all this Monster hype with talk of the Monster girls and everything...... that's all okay with me..... I have no problem with any of it..... everyone to their own... I just preferred the days when every little detail of the car wasn't scrutinized and everyone had to have the same gear ratio..... mandated shocks, springs, spoilers..... hell fire there is no room for innovation anymore...... that was the most fun part.... seeing who could out think the next guy for a few weeks...... It wasn't cheating because it wasn't specifically defined in the rule book..... Now...... the rule book is bigger than the Bible....... It is no wonder to me that there has to be a ton of marketing gimmicks to get anyone that's new to the Sport to watch........ Hell........ they can't even keep the attention of the fans who brought them to the dance........ and still don't understand why........
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Skoalbandit33
Guest
Great post as your reasons mirror mine and the only experience I was looking for was to see a race. I loved it when the crew chiefs could choose to the bits and pieces they wanted that fit their driver and the track they were racing. If a team showed up today with a car that sounded like the Morgan-Mclure Chevy did at plate tracks years ago they would crap the bed and innovators like Robert Yates would be shut down before they got started.
kymartin6
KY
Boy you said a mouthful there Brother..... Nascar's rulebook was the reason Smokey left....... it has come to the point that there is so much money involved.... the competitors won't leave because of the rulebook..... but..... the fans will......... and they are...... in droves.......
2 Sweet
HMS 4-life
@Skoalbandit33 I remember that. Morgan-McClure used an exhaust designed by "Dr. Gas" if my memory is correct. Good for an extra few HP and the exhaust pitch was noticeably different. Other teams eventually caught on, but Morgan-McClure had an exclusive agreement that was good through '95 or '96, so they had an advantage for a year or so.
darlingtonfan
Team Owner
I was reading about IROC racing series and the reasons for it's failure.It is a scary parallel to where Nascar finds itself today.People lost interest with identical Nascar spec cars racing each other.
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Skoalbandit33
Guest
@Skoalbandit33 I remember that. Morgan-McClure used an exhaust designed by "Dr. Gas" if my memory is correct. Good for an extra few HP and the exhaust pitch was noticeably different. Other teams eventually caught on, but Morgan-McClure had an exclusive agreement that was good through '95 or '96, so they had an advantage for a year or so.
Sterling was just playing with the field as he could pull out and pass on his own. Those were some fun days.
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jaftwo
Guest
I began watching racing back in the 1950's -- mainly short tracks in Michigan. During my military service it was sprints in Memphis and then dirt late models in Jacksonville. As Nascar races began becoming popular on TV, I watched every race I could. Then ASA and ESPN's Thunder. I was living in San Diego and attended the local tracks (Speedway 117 and Cajon Speedway) and could drive up the freeway to Riverside. I had cable tv and could follow the Trucks when they got started. Drive over to Phoenix and take in the Copperworld Classic (Midgets, Silver Crown, Supermodifieds, and Nascar Southwest Tour on the mile track! New track in Irwindale.! Then it was gone.
Cox Cable put Speed TV on a different tier so the truck series was gone. Local tracks started closing. Now Irwindale is closing this year. I'm went on a fixed income (retired) so I just dropped cable and can only watch what's on ABC, CBS, NBC, or Fox, (which isn't much anymore.) In fact, it got to the point where I realized I wasn't missing it that much and stopped watching the few events that were on the local networks.
To me, when Nascar abandoned the short tracks by running major events against the locals. Youngsters didn't realize how much talent was running the local tracks and stopped watching. Nascar made it too expensive for most local drivers to come up through the ranks and too many guaranteed starting positions...
Cox Cable put Speed TV on a different tier so the truck series was gone. Local tracks started closing. Now Irwindale is closing this year. I'm went on a fixed income (retired) so I just dropped cable and can only watch what's on ABC, CBS, NBC, or Fox, (which isn't much anymore.) In fact, it got to the point where I realized I wasn't missing it that much and stopped watching the few events that were on the local networks.
To me, when Nascar abandoned the short tracks by running major events against the locals. Youngsters didn't realize how much talent was running the local tracks and stopped watching. Nascar made it too expensive for most local drivers to come up through the ranks and too many guaranteed starting positions...
StandOnIt
Farm Truck
they couldn't get drivers because of schedule conflicts, it became a mostly Nascar racers racing on ovals series it wasn't an International race of champions anymore, Dale Earnhardt died, and lack of sponsorship was reported to be the major reasons.
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Michaeldiddit
Guest
One of the main reasons for NASCAR's decline isn't even being discussed. Racing, up until the 21st Century, was a big part of a youth's growing up in the South, especially. Therefore, like other sports, it had a natural following as the "kids" grew up. Many, many kids helped Dad work on his car, or his favorite resto project back then. It was a part of "family" fun even. It's not the same now. With the new generations sitting home watching video games instead of helping Dad in the garage, the home connection to racing has been broken. Unlike football, and other sports that parents still involve their kids in, racing and cars are less of a family project than a video game. Unfortunately I don't see this changing. In fact, I see less and less connection between youth and their NASCAR style cars as electric cars, etc take over. I love NASCAR, but I see it's eventual end if something doesn't change at the family level.Just saw the pic below posted by ESPN on their Digital Media hits passing 128 million unique visitors for the month of November 2016. Does anyone know if these kinds of numbers are factored into the viewing audience when we hear the Neilson Ratings? I don't know what NBC & FOX's #'s are but they've got to be pushing the type of numbers that ESPN hits. Could it be that there are a lot more people watching/following this sport than we think? Maybe the fans are still there, but 'there' could be just about anywhere.
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Skoalbandit33
Guest
There are likely many reasons why Nascar's viewership is down and I definitely think the reason you sighted is one of them. I believe that Nascar will always be around in one form or another and could actually enjoy a small resurgence if it had proper leadership.
One thing for sure is that they have to find some younger fans to embrace the series as currently about 65% of the viewers that tune in are over 50. Unless people magically become fans at the half century mark that is a problem and one of the reasons why Nascar loses a significant amount of fans year over year.
Jorge De Guzman
RESIDENT NASCAR STATESMAN and/or REGIONIONALIST.
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Yea I agree with this alot. I am 32 and I grew up watching NASCAR in the late 80's because my dad was an Earnhardt fan and we worked on cars. Well I didnt work on cars I am terrible at it but I was always out in the garage helping as best I could. That got me to appreciate fast cars, the work that went into it to maintain a fast car or tinker and my interest in racing just took off. I dont have many friends my age or younger that watch Racing. I have one that watches F1, the Indy 500 and the IMSA series religiously but thats because they road race. The biggest problem will be finding new fans through love of cars, that just isnt there right now. If that avenue is closed, you need a larger than life Personality like a Dale Earnhardt to draw new fans or even the thought of "who is this guy I am going to check him out and read more about it" which will lead to watching or attending a race. I really think they are in trouble not to the extent that NASCAR will close their doors because it will always be there (If Indy Car/open wheel survived how bad it was after the split , NASCAR will be fine they arnt as bad as the split was), but they will be in trouble once Jr leaves. It's going to be hard to attract new fans you can say all you want about the youth movement but they are not at a level yet that attracts new fans. No one knows who a Chase Elliott or Kyle Larson or Erik Jones is besides us who watch every week. Thats where will NASCAR will have trouble for a little bit having a personality big enough or having a personality that people just gravitate to. Earnhardt Sr was that, as cheesy as it was he was an American Hero or People's Champion if you will. There is just isnt that driver right now that radiates like that to casual fans.
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Skoalbandit33
Guest
I appreciate your perspective and was wondering if your friends in your age group follow traditional sports like football or basketball or if they are into other things?
I agree with you about none of the current crop of drivers resonating much with the public or becoming larger than the racing series/sport they participate in. Kyle Larson has had some fans jump on his bandwagon as have Jones, Elliott and Blaney but they are all from existing Nascar fans. I don't have the leeway to get into this much but I think that William Byron could attract fans outside of Nascar's current base due to his affiliation with Liberty U.
Jorge De Guzman
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They follow MLB, NFL, NBA, Soccer, NHL and Golf. I used to bring them to races but they got bored pretty quickly even with the scanners ha ha so I gave up on that a long time ago. I think Byron will have fans just because hes going to have 24 and Axalta sponsoring him, the rest will see what bad @ss ability he has.
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Skoalbandit33
Guest
Thanks for the info as it sounds like younger people still gravitate toward the same sorts of things I did except for auto racing. I agree that Byron will get a lot of Jeff Gordon fans and Chase Elliott will likely end up the big loser in all of this fan wise.
LouieLouie
Team Owner
My friends and I are in our mid 30's early 40's and one thing I notice is that they are fans of usually only 1 of the leagues mentioned above, usually the NFL. Some get interested in MLB, but few follow the other sports religously. By that, I mean that my friends know who the big name players are in the other sports, but they won't watch a game on tv or even attend a game. They just catch the highlights every once in a while. Personally, I have even given up on the MLB, NBA, and Soccer. I'm losing interest in the NFL each year but gaining interest in hockey each year.
clarkfn2284
Here to make you miserable.
My wife likes NASCAR, but she does not go out of her way to turn it on and watch it. She will go and she will enjoy it, but on race day, I am watching and she is not. She is also not a millennial. My wife is 36 years old. She is also a membership marketer for a Country Club another sport which has seen a slow decline. I asked her why she doesn't watch and what does the sport need to do to appeal to people and she said this:
They need to become more digital and the races need to be shorter. She said the attention spans for people, not generation, but people has shortened significantly with our ability to access what we want whenever we want and in short immediate clips as opposed to long drawn out events. Think about it when you watch a highlight or a youtube video and that ad plays for 30 seconds. What is your reaction? It makes sense. We have been dumbed down and want instant gratification, so in turn the investment into the product is going to suffer.
She also said they need to do a better job of exposing the drivers and their personalities because in her words, "most of them do not have much of one." She is a KyBu fan because of his talent, but also because of his attitude and his desire to win at any cost. NASCAR needs to keep cameras on these guys in heated moments and then play it up to the fans watching and continue to broadcast it out to everyone via every outlet possible. Like it or not, people watch for wrecks and mayhem. So more bumping and banging more heated words and arguments and more fights she said.
We can all complain about the fact that we watch for the racing and I believe we really do, but there is not a single person here that doesn't feel the rush from a wreck or a good spat on the race track. It gets the juices flowing.
From a person who knows the sport and knows marketing and works in an industry I felt like it was very telling to here her explain her thoughts on it as a whole.
They need to become more digital and the races need to be shorter. She said the attention spans for people, not generation, but people has shortened significantly with our ability to access what we want whenever we want and in short immediate clips as opposed to long drawn out events. Think about it when you watch a highlight or a youtube video and that ad plays for 30 seconds. What is your reaction? It makes sense. We have been dumbed down and want instant gratification, so in turn the investment into the product is going to suffer.
She also said they need to do a better job of exposing the drivers and their personalities because in her words, "most of them do not have much of one." She is a KyBu fan because of his talent, but also because of his attitude and his desire to win at any cost. NASCAR needs to keep cameras on these guys in heated moments and then play it up to the fans watching and continue to broadcast it out to everyone via every outlet possible. Like it or not, people watch for wrecks and mayhem. So more bumping and banging more heated words and arguments and more fights she said.
We can all complain about the fact that we watch for the racing and I believe we really do, but there is not a single person here that doesn't feel the rush from a wreck or a good spat on the race track. It gets the juices flowing.
From a person who knows the sport and knows marketing and works in an industry I felt like it was very telling to here her explain her thoughts on it as a whole.
clarkfn2284
Here to make you miserable.
One other thing my wife does is follow a lot of the NASCAR drivers and wives on twitter. It seems a little weird, but it is a way to connect and in turn makes the drivers more accessible. The drivers need to get a little more vulgar and a little more showman like. It is why I like KyBu personally. I like that he is willing to be the villain and he accepts that role. He does things that escalate situations, which is good and noteworthy. I can appreciate that. Larson has a limited personality when the camera is on him, he is a pretty funny guy and will say some things and go back and forth with fans on twitter, but I think the sport would benefit from these guys being who they really are on camera, not who the sponsor needs them to be.
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Skoalbandit33
Guest
I have been a hockey fan my entire life and I hope it keeps growing on you.
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Skoalbandit33
Guest
I had not considered the lack of vulgarity and WWE stuff as a detriment to the popularity of Nascar but who knows? I know people love the wrecks because if they didn't Nascar would not use them to promote races and the plate races would not be some of the best attended and most viewed. People complain about safety and then are glued to the tube waiting for the big ones so they talk out of both sides of their mouths.
New perspective I haven't experienced in my lifetime until now...
This is the first year I haven't watched a race since I started watching racing. The stages (or scheduled cautions) finished me off.
The past few years I quit watching the regular season after Richmond because The Chase is bull****t. Now would be when I start watching football instead of NASCAR but I didn't watch a single race all year.
I can honestly say I haven't missed it. Although I do miss what it was. Unfortunately it no longer is what it was and this year solidified for me that I'm not going to try to chase the past. I'll accept it for what it has become and I'll remain uninterested. I check in on media on Sunday night to see who "won" but I won't waste a weekend day or night to watch the manipulated racing. Sad as fuk that it's come to this. I miss what it was but I'll never miss what it's become.
I renewed my seats next year at Vegas and Fontana because I missed hanging out with my buddies this year. In 2018 I'll be at the races and I'll look forward to hanging out with my buds and kicking everyone's ass on the pool tables after the races but my interest in the "racing" just isn't there anymore.
Anyone with minimal brain activity has to realize that these BS changes haven't resulted in increased interest in the sport. For the second time ACS extended their renewal period and increased the incentives for renewing. My guess is they're not getting the fan response that they want for 2018.
Someone should realize that the gimmicks haven't yielded an increased fan base. Maybe next year the gimmick should be the realization that the efforts have failed and it's time to return to what worked. Even Coca-Cola recognized that the original recipe is what consumers craved most.
I hope Brian retires and someone turns this **** around. While there's still a chance.
This is the first year I haven't watched a race since I started watching racing. The stages (or scheduled cautions) finished me off.
The past few years I quit watching the regular season after Richmond because The Chase is bull****t. Now would be when I start watching football instead of NASCAR but I didn't watch a single race all year.
I can honestly say I haven't missed it. Although I do miss what it was. Unfortunately it no longer is what it was and this year solidified for me that I'm not going to try to chase the past. I'll accept it for what it has become and I'll remain uninterested. I check in on media on Sunday night to see who "won" but I won't waste a weekend day or night to watch the manipulated racing. Sad as fuk that it's come to this. I miss what it was but I'll never miss what it's become.
I renewed my seats next year at Vegas and Fontana because I missed hanging out with my buddies this year. In 2018 I'll be at the races and I'll look forward to hanging out with my buds and kicking everyone's ass on the pool tables after the races but my interest in the "racing" just isn't there anymore.
Anyone with minimal brain activity has to realize that these BS changes haven't resulted in increased interest in the sport. For the second time ACS extended their renewal period and increased the incentives for renewing. My guess is they're not getting the fan response that they want for 2018.
Someone should realize that the gimmicks haven't yielded an increased fan base. Maybe next year the gimmick should be the realization that the efforts have failed and it's time to return to what worked. Even Coca-Cola recognized that the original recipe is what consumers craved most.
I hope Brian retires and someone turns this **** around. While there's still a chance.
HoneyBadger
I love short track racing (Taylor's Version)
Hey, Bobby's here again to remind us that he doesn't watch NASCAR.
This is the thread for it, right?
...or should I have posted this in the latest Kyle Busch bash thread? 
Big guys like Pockrass call NASCAR out for their BS. Maybe it's time for little guys like @AndyMarquisLive to leave the small circuit and address the issues that affect the largest aspect of the sport. After all what future will the local short track drivers have to look forward to if NASCAR continues to lose its fan base?
jws926
I need to think of something new for here
But here is the thing, and its a knee slapper, Brian is just the mouth piece, he doenst make any of the calls, he is the puppet, its his sister and the other members that are calling the shots, he is just the figure head.