The Announcers Thread

NASCAR needs to cater to young people not boomers. It already is swamped with old people watching,….and I’m a old person😁
Old people watching is better than NO people watching, and for decades, it was the older people that brought along the next generation of fans. Also, I would NEVER suggest NASCAR ignore modern media, I'm saying don't put all your eggs in ONE basket. Why does it have to be a one or the other proposition? People here don't seem to think it's a big deal, but when I go elsewhere other people, INCLUDING industry insiders think it IS a big deal. I find it interesting that many other sports can fill programming 24/7 and NASCAR seemingly can't fill a half hour or an hour daily. Andy mentioned content on Youtube. Why can't the Racehub content be on Youtube too? So much of the Youtube content I see out there is from people in their basement speculating on the news of the day. Well hell, I can do THAT, and probably better than most of them.
 
Old people watching is better than NO people watching, and for decades, it was the older people that brought along the next generation of fans. Also, I would NEVER suggest NASCAR ignore modern media, I'm saying don't put all your eggs in ONE basket. Why does it have to be a one or the other proposition? People here don't seem to think it's a big deal, but when I go elsewhere other people, INCLUDING industry insiders think it IS a big deal. I find it interesting that many other sports can fill programming 24/7 and NASCAR seemingly can't fill a half hour or an hour daily. Andy mentioned content on Youtube. Why can't the Racehub content be on Youtube too? So much of the Youtube content I see out there is from people in their basement speculating on the news of the day. Well hell, I can do THAT, and probably better than most of them.

Because the people in their basement have almost no overhead. When your in a studio and paying people to be on the show it gets a lot more expensive. If fox was getting a decent return on the money it cost to put race hub on they wouldn't be ending it.
 
Because the people in their basement have almost no overhead. When your in a studio and paying people to be on the show it gets a lot more expensive. If fox was getting a decent return on the money it cost to put race hub on they wouldn't be ending it.
Well, from what I have been told, Racehub was one of their higher rated shows. If it was a loser for Fox Sports, what does it say about the rest of their programming? This all goes back to what I have been saying about the broadcast contracts. My position is if you want the broadcast rights, you take everything that goes with it. If cuts have to be made, cut the pre-race show down to about ten minutes of studio stuff before the green flag drops. The pre race shows are the biggest total waste of resources there is. As my dad once said "if I hear ONE MORE reporter ask a driver how his car is running BEFORE the race, I'm going to throw a brick through the TV".
 
Fox sports in Canada is still running commercials for shows that have not been on the air in years, if it was a money thing why not seek new advertising. As a example they are still airing the commercial about that show where you go up against a redneck in a race
 
Old people watching is better than NO people watching, and for decades, it was the older people that brought along the next generation of fans. Also, I would NEVER suggest NASCAR ignore modern media, I'm saying don't put all your eggs in ONE basket. Why does it have to be a one or the other proposition? People here don't seem to think it's a big deal, but when I go elsewhere other people, INCLUDING industry insiders think it IS a big deal. I find it interesting that many other sports can fill programming 24/7 and NASCAR seemingly can't fill a half hour or an hour daily. Andy mentioned content on Youtube. Why can't the Racehub content be on Youtube too? So much of the Youtube content I see out there is from people in their basement speculating on the news of the day. Well hell, I can do THAT, and probably better than most of them.

A few things.

I would say that, right now, the “older fans” are the ones driving new fans away with the constant negativity about how NASCAR died when Dale died and Bubbles and all that.

NASCAR’s TV contract caters almost exclusively to older people. That's the biggest problem with the TV contract. And we DO have a lot of older fans who say NASCAR needs to cater exclusively to them, even if it leaves younger fans out, because "we built the sport" and "we have the money." I've actually seen the "we baby boomers have all the money" thing countless times. The problem is, they have it, but they don't spend it, so it makes piss poor business sense to cater to a demographic that's unwilling to spend.

I've outlined in another thread how NASCAR going broadcast+streaming would save hundreds of dollars a year for fans. So, when older complain about races being on Prime and it costing money, that's not really the case. The problem isn't a $12/month streaming service, it's the $250/month television package required to watch a vast majority of the races. And, even that expense can be cut by switching to YouTube TV for $72/month. However, it's all irrelevant because it's NOT a money issue for older fans, it's not being able to adapt to changing TV trends or to modern technologies.

Every other sport is going for broadcast and streaming packages and are expanding their audience. In fact, NASCAR is about to be relegated to the bottom of the totem pole at Fox because they're about to acquire IndyCar and will air ALL the races on Fox, while NASCAR gets relegated to FS1 and FS2. This is a position NASCAR put themselves in by just taking the money and trying to appease older fans. It's the same with NBC too, NASCAR races will be on USA while everything else will be on NBC and Peacock.

As for a daily show, as others have said, it costs a lot of money. NASCAR Race Hub was not a cheap production. Even worse, when you don't really have anything to talk about, you have to spend money to produce packages, to travel for segments, to create AR graphics, etc. It's just not happening. Especially since Fox and NBC's goal with NASCAR seems to be to just have live races to keep cable channels afloat.
 
Well, from what I have been told, Racehub was one of their higher rated shows. If it was a loser for Fox Sports, what does it say about the rest of their programming? This all goes back to what I have been saying about the broadcast contracts. My position is if you want the broadcast rights, you take everything that goes with it. If cuts have to be made, cut the pre-race show down to about ten minutes of studio stuff before the green flag drops. The pre race shows are the biggest total waste of resources there is. As my dad once said "if I hear ONE MORE reporter ask a driver how his car is running BEFORE the race, I'm going to throw a brick through the TV".
I love the pre-race shows. Heck the prerace for the Indy 500 is better than the actual race some years. What I don't like is when they try to pacify us during a rain delay by showing a past race. I love when they show the behind-the-scenes activity during a rain delay.
 
I've actually seen the "we baby boomers have all the money" thing countless times. The problem is, they have it, but they don't spend it, so it makes piss poor business sense to cater to a demographic that's unwilling to spend.
And when we do spend it, we're not as influenced by TV sponsors. Car sponsors, yes indeedy; TV ads, Hell no.
 
I love the pre-race shows. Heck the prerace for the Indy 500 is better than the actual race some years. What I don't like is when they try to pacify us during a rain delay by showing a past race. I love when they show the behind-the-scenes activity during a rain delay.
I love it to but there's only so much of on-the-fly content you can produce before you exhaust the on-site resources. When the race is interrupted, at least the drivers can talk about how they were doing and the crew chiefs about what changes they'll make. When it's rained out before the green, then there's little to discuss.
 


I think I'm gonna be sick.

It will be interesting to see if Fox even attempts their usual hijinks for the Indy 500. Imagine coming to one to go sponsored by credit one bank in the Indianapolis 500...
 
INDYCAR: EVERY race on Fox. EVERY qualifying session on FS1/FS2. EVERY NXT race on FS1/FS2. And EVERY event on Venu Sports, assuming regulators approve Venu (they SHOULDN'T but probably will). The best TV deal in the history of American motorsports by a country mile.

NASCAR: Half the races exclusively on linear cable TV, no confirmed streaming component for the overwhelming majority of the schedule, only up to nine races on OTA (broadcast) TV. The worst TV deal in all of American professional sports, and on top of that, facing down the barrel of a possible split.

IndyCar averaging 1.5 million viewers and NASCAR averaging 750,000 viewers is a very real possibility by the end of the decade.
 
IndyCar averaging 1.5 million viewers and NASCAR averaging 750,000 viewers is a very real possibility by the end of the decade.
LOL Relax.

It’s great exposure for IndyCar and NXT for sure. I’d expect Cup viewership to decline a bit in the near future, but nowhere near that steep - certainly not anything that would put it in jeopardy of falling around or below IndyCar. And NASCAR got the bag, so to speak.
 
LOL Relax.

It’s great exposure for IndyCar and NXT for sure. I’d expect Cup viewership to decline a bit in the near future, but nowhere near that steep - certainly not anything that would put it in jeopardy of falling around or below IndyCar. And NASCAR got the bag, so to speak.

NASCAR has already had races with ratings that low on cable networks. And the trends for cable television are that dire.

There's a reason some sports leagues/conferences would rather be on ION and The CW than on ESPN2 or FS1.
 
There is just sooo much sporting content to keep up with every week,
I pretty much am doing good to catch the first 10 laps and last 20
laps of any given race. If the action is good during a surf stop, I will stick around.
As for pre shows, generally nothing new there if you got a
couple of hours of xm nascar under your belt during the week.
Indy and Daytona 500's however have good pre shows.
Never watched Race-Hub. Speed News and Wind Tunnel were
good and I miss those type of shows.
 
NASCAR has already had races with ratings that low on cable networks. And the trends for cable television are that dire.

There's a reason some sports leagues/conferences would rather be on ION and The CW than on ESPN2 or FS1.
FS1 had their best Cup viewership in a few years this year and was in the range of 2.2-2.6M every race. Cable TV is a shell of what it was a decade ago, but it would take the bottom completely falling out to get 750k on the regular. And that is before TNT and FS1 become available on Venu, should that eventually come to fruition. I think things are relatively stable for now.
 
NASCAR has already had races with ratings that low on cable networks. And the trends for cable television are that dire.
Alright everybody, get in crash positions, Nascar is going down

1718299783182.jpeg
 
Now that we're upon the NBC portion of the schedule, I'm interested to see the dynamics of the NBC booth without Dale Jr.
I enjoyed his work, I thought he was pretty good. The rest you can keep but yea I was wondering what that was going to look like myself
 
FS1 had their best Cup viewership in a few years this year and was in the range of 2.2-2.6M every race. Cable TV is a shell of what it was a decade ago, but it would take the bottom completely falling out to get 750k on the regular. And that is before TNT and FS1 become available on Venu, should that eventually come to fruition. I think things are relatively stable for now.

The bottom will fall out on cable, and Venu will accelerate that.

On that note, re:Venu, TNT is the only partner that's made mention of NASCAR. Keep in mind, EVERY sporting event on NBC Sports is shown on Peacock EXCEPT NASCAR. I'm sure it will go on Venu, but Fox Sports might decide that NASCAR is what they're using to keep FS1 afloat.

Plus, Venu still needs regulatory approval. That's no guarantee either.
 
Then there are people like me who have no option for TV except satellite. Amazon Prime won't let me stream any programs because of the way I get my internet. I try, and it tells me to turn off my VPN which can't be done. My ISP number is in a city an hour away from me. The signal comes to my local provider and is distributed by antenna to various points, then my antenna picks up the signal.
If I had a smart phone, I could watch streams, but I don't want to try to watch a race on a tiny little screen. And besides, where I live cell service is iffy at best. So the races on Amazon next year, are very problematic for me.
 
Then there are people like me who have no option for TV except satellite. Amazon Prime won't let me stream any programs because of the way I get my internet. I try, and it tells me to turn off my VPN which can't be done. My ISP number is in a city an hour away from me. The signal comes to my local provider and is distributed by antenna to various points, then my antenna picks up the signal.
If I had a smart phone, I could watch streams, but I don't want to try to watch a race on a tiny little screen. And besides, where I live cell service is iffy at best. So the races on Amazon next year, are very problematic for me.

IMO, this is the only problem with the streaming aspect of the TV deal ... people in rural areas who still don't have any viable access to high speed internet. A LOT of NASCAR fans fall under this.

NASCAR really should have pursued a package that was more focused on the broadcast side, even if it meant giving up some money. And I don't think it would have either, since other sporting leagues are getting more money and an increase in OTA coverage. Just my opinion, NASCAR let their relationship with Fox drive them into a horrendous TV deal.
 
Apparently I'm the only one who doesn't know what Venu is. I don't remember hearing it mentioned as a media partner. Google fodder for later, I guess.
 
Apparently I'm the only one who doesn't know what Venu is. I don't remember hearing it mentioned as a media partner. Google fodder for later, I guess.

Joint streaming venture between Fox Corporation, WB Discovery and Disney to distribute Fox Sports, TNT Sports and ESPN programming on a single service.

It’s still pending regulatory approval which isn’t cut and dry.
 
The coverage, production, and generally everything about the broadcast is excellent. Night and day from FOX. The booth still leaves a lot to be desired, though
I thought the booth was fine.

It’ll be even better with Leigh Diffey in a couple months.

Mike Joy and Kevin Harvick are better, but Clint Bowyer drags Fox commentary down a lot.

Really enjoyed how much coverage we had from pit road too.
 
IMO, this is the only problem with the streaming aspect of the TV deal ... people in rural areas who still don't have any viable access to high speed internet. A LOT of NASCAR fans fall under this.

NASCAR really should have pursued a package that was more focused on the broadcast side, even if it meant giving up some money. And I don't think it would have either, since other sporting leagues are getting more money and an increase in OTA coverage. Just my opinion, NASCAR let their relationship with Fox drive them into a horrendous TV deal.
I have been saying since 2000 that the ONLY thing NASCAR cares about on the TV deals is extracting every last cent from networks, the hell with details, and all I ever get is grief for saying it. I'm glad to see someone agrees with me. I don't know how much money Indycar is getting, but it seems clear they put the growth of the sport ahead of purely raking in the money.
 
Then there are people like me who have no option for TV except satellite. Amazon Prime won't let me stream any programs because of the way I get my internet. I try, and it tells me to turn off my VPN which can't be done. My ISP number is in a city an hour away from me. The signal comes to my local provider and is distributed by antenna to various points, then my antenna picks up the signal.
If I had a smart phone, I could watch streams, but I don't want to try to watch a race on a tiny little screen. And besides, where I live cell service is iffy at best. So the races on Amazon next year, are very problematic for me.

Elon has a system for you, star link.
 
Back
Top Bottom