Repeat Programming

[racer2c]

The only way to enter the minds of the masses is to beat it in there with a hammer. Ok, maybe that's a bit extreme but you get my point. Today's television viewer responds to repetitive showing of programs. I have three close friends here at work. Daily we discuss things we've seen on TV, be it some weird snake hunt on the Animal Planet, or some cool motorcycle on Speed. These guys aren't snake enthusiasts or even motorcycle enthusiasts, but rather channel surfers. They've seen these shows because of one reason: repeat programming! How many times in the past week did I see those two guys replace the heads on that old Mustang on that garage show. How many times did I see Emmerel (sic) say "Bam!". More than once, and not because I make a point to tune in. Heck, I don't even consider myself much of a TV viewer and yet for some strange reason I catch the same things most others are. I'm sure many of us can relate.

Just the other day, and the reason that prompted me to write this, my co-worker asked if I had seen a custom bike by a designer named Jesse James. Another co-worker interjected saying he saw that show and a discussion broke out amongst the three of us on custom motorcycles. I being the only one with a scooter, I was surprised by their interest. They both remembered the show, including names of the bikes and designers. All three of us caught the show merely by chance at different times. That last point is the most important.

Now, let's bring this on home. CART needs, not only a Friday pre-race magazine show, and not only a week day round table discussion program, and not only a week day evening race replay with comments (ripped from the NASCAR world, a very cool feature IMO) but rather a smattering of each dabbled throughout the week. Keep the product in the minds of the fans they already have and in front of the channel surfing, 'would be' fans. CART is a hundred fold more entertaining than 99% of the goofy crap we talk about on a daily basis.

As for cost to CART, how much is a repeating half hour program three or four times on Speed going to set them back? They can swing it for a couple of seasons I'm sure. Heck, last year the WRC was on for an hour every single night. I went from being a big fan in a very short time to sick to my stomach every time I saw them. Over saturation is a concern, but I doubt CART would run into that problem with a few reoccurring 1/2 slots. They need more than just a race to grow a fan base larger than what they currently have. Are you listening Pook?

[racer2c]

Wow, not even a "you suck". I gotta re-think my whole strategy. ;)

[Sean O'Gorman]

I think you have a good point. I missed the race on Sunday becuase of work, so I'm watching it now. I'm sure I'm not the only person watching it for the first time either. I started thinking about this thread yesterday when I was sleeping at home in between my day and night classes and I had the BGN race on in the background. It dawned on me that almost all of the BGN races that I've watched this year were on a Wednesday afternoon, because I have other things going on Saturday afternoons.

I think a good strategy would be getting re-airs and special CART programming on during good hours, but don't do too many re-airs. Inside Winston Cup can be an entertaining show, but if I know my odds of turning on SPEED and seeing the same show for the 4th time is pretty good, then I'm more likely to just avoid the channel altogether.

[JLMannin]

I like the concept of a weekly show that would air during prime time one day a week, then re-air Saturday and Sunday morning. In the off season, they could have a silly season update, testing update, crew mwmber prifile etc. During the season, get the winner and lead story makers on the show after the race. The only problem with this type of format is that the first 1/4 of the races are strung out over a four month period. From late spring until the end of the season, there are usually 2 or three races a month. CART needs to work on either compressing the beginning of the season or adding some more races. Right now, making a weekly show would be a very tall order, racing onec a month.

[Railbird]

Who's gonna pay for the time slots?

Ya think CART can peddle a highlight show for a series that's drawing a .12?

Dreaming is fun, reality sucks.

[racer2c]

Originally posted by Railbird
Who's gonna pay for the time slots?

Ya think CART can peddle a highlight show for a series that's drawing a .12?

Dreaming is fun, reality sucks.

Like I asked in my above post, how much does a half hour slot cost on Speed? Hell, if Speed is airing .12 rated shows, it can't cost that much. ;)

As mentioned ad nausea, it takes money to make it. In my opinion is that you need to get the product in front of the viewers. 30 second flashy commercials during their own races ain't going to cut it.

I'm beginning to think us forum fans are the only ones who want the sport to grow. Champ Car racing isn't tax haven is it?

:)

[racer2c]

Originally posted by JLMannin
I like the concept of a weekly show that would air during prime time one day a week, then re-air Saturday and Sunday morning. In the off season, they could have a silly season update, testing update, crew mwmber prifile etc. During the season, get the winner and lead story makers on the show after the race. The only problem with this type of format is that the first 1/4 of the races are strung out over a four month period. From late spring until the end of the season, there are usually 2 or three races a month. CART needs to work on either compressing the beginning of the season or adding some more races. Right now, making a weekly show would be a very tall order, racing onec a month.

Righto J, but that comes back to my original thought of 'repeat' programming. Make the same program you mentioned and keep playing it throughout the month until the next race. The same way others do it.

Didn't Kernin say that RPM2Nite cost a million a year? I'm sure it's less on Speed. And the was a daily live show.

[Chief]

I think you are confusing production costs (staff, equipment, satellite rental time, travel expenses, etc) and the cost to broadcast it per minute on SpeedTV or RPM. They are not one in the same.

It's safe to assume CART would have to not only pick up production costs but also broadcast costs (buying time slots). Who's gonna sell advertising? Mo' money is, and we ain't got it.

I'm not poo-pooing your ideas but we'd have to demonstrate there is a market for this "product" first before anything could be done with it. We're only 2 months in on the new CART and I'm optimistic that everything will improve.

[nrc]

Originally posted by racer2c
Like I asked in my above post, how much does a half hour slot cost on Speed? Hell, if Speed is airing .12 rated shows, it can't cost that much.

They only get a .12 if they run Champ car programming. NASCAR programming brings 4-10 times that rating.


Toyota Grand Prix of Long Beach: .12 rating - 69,000 households
Champ Car Pre-Race Show: <.10 rating - 43,000 households
Champ Car Qualifying: .16 rating - 91,000 households
Toyota Atlantic Race: .14 rating - 80,000 householdshttp://www.motorsportstv.com

This is bad news for CART. More people saw Long Beach in person than live on SPEED. CART's SPEED viewership has dropped by half in spite of SPEED's growing reach. CART's recovery plan can work, but for it to work they need to be able to sell some of the sponsorship they're taking on and that's a tough sell with such tiny ratings.

This may be early indicators of exactly what I've warned about. CART's focus on street races and failure to fill seats with talented drivers who will attract fans may be creating a series that does well at the ticket booth but fails to hold people's interest once they've left town.

[RTKar]

I think some of the more creative folks here could take this into their own hands and develop a CART show for their own local cable access channels ala Beavis and Butthead or Wayne and Garth. Cable access is free to anyone, just get a semi respectable video camera and take it to the track do a little filming add some interviews, Tecate beer girls, drunken fans and off we go. CART becomes a cult classic at no cost. ;) :cool: :eek: I can already see the parodies on SNL...we'd all be hip/trendy.

[Chief]

RTKar, that IS a cool idea. I'll add that it could be turned into a "CART network" of public access where we can all share video and information. Heck, Compuserve's Motor Sports Forum has been run the same way since the mid 80's. Volunteers, credentials and the like. We can use broadband to transfer video reports between cities. Let's do it.

If anyone is interested in exploring this contact me via email.

[Kate]

CART's biggest markets are Canada and Mexico. Canada blacks out and time shifts and screws up the broadcasts so that Canadian fans can't find or access the races. It doesn't take much of that kind of doo doo to make the casual fan give up even trying to figure out where the races are -- or when. Mexico doesn't get Speed at all.

CART continues to broadcast the races to people who don't want to watch them, and ignore those who do.

This is a lot like trying to sell ballet skirts to truck drivers and ONLY to truck drivers, and denying them to ballerinas. Or selling them to ballerinas but only making them available in fire halls, but never telling the ballerinas when the fire halls will be open or for how long.

This is why the ratings stink.

When you have a product to sell and you know where your market is, first you develop the market YOU KNOW YOU ALREADY HAVE, and let that market sell the next tier of consumers. You don't say "Well, nobody wants ballet skirts! We can't sell them to truck drivers no matter how we market them! And the ballerinas won't come to the fire halls or anyway we don't think they do -- maybe they come when we aren't there ... "

Sell CART to Canadians and Mexicans, who are clamouring for it. Let the Americans start clamouring for it when they see how much the other people are getting out of it!

[Railbird]

Good points Kate.

[WickerBill]

Originally posted by Kate

This is a lot like trying to sell ballet skirts to truck drivers and ONLY to truck drivers, and denying them to ballerinas


Tutu!


(sorry, I'm easily distracted)

[Kate]

The only people they never seem to consult are THE CUSTOMERS. When you run a web magazine you get stats that tell you who is reading what, and how many visitors you have, and when they show up -- and if you have any sense at all, you tailor your offerings to match the whims of your visitors. You also make sure they know exactly when to come by for something new. (e.g. I have a Tuesday column on another website and people know to come there on Tuesday if they want to read the new stuff.)

If you want people to buy what you're selling, you have to find out who your customers are and ask them if what you're selling is what they want to buy. CART for some reason seems determined NOT to do that.

[racer2c]

Originally posted by Chief
I think you are confusing production costs (staff, equipment, satellite rental time, travel expenses, etc) and the cost to broadcast it per minute on SpeedTV or RPM. They are not one in the same.

It's safe to assume CART would have to not only pick up production costs but also broadcast costs (buying time slots). Who's gonna sell advertising? Mo' money is, and we ain't got it.

I'm not poo-pooing your ideas but we'd have to demonstrate there is a market for this "product" first before anything could be done with it. We're only 2 months in on the new CART and I'm optimistic that everything will improve.

I wasn't confusing them, just lumping all costs together for a high level proof of concept.

There is still, what 80 mill in the bank? Waiting for golden parachutes? What's the cost of a flashy 60 second Champ Car commercial versus a half hour show on Speed?

Who made the command decision to air WRC every night on Speed? There was a built in market for European rally racing versus a long standing, US based major league open wheel series? Come on.

Sure, four times a .12 is, oh let's see, carry the one, is a .48. I'm sure CART can afford production and air time for a half hour show (which repeats three times a week) on Speed.

I'm of the belief that people just don't watch TV on Sunday afternoons. We're a society of Tivos, VCRs and channel surfers. CART needs programming on besides two hours a Sunday in order to 'grow'.

Does anyone happen to know CARTs current 'growth' strategy? If I hear BE, I'm done. ;)

[RaceGrrl]

Originally posted by Kate
The only people they never seem to consult are THE CUSTOMERS.

If you want people to buy what you're selling, you have to find out who your customers are and ask them if what you're selling is what they want to buy. CART for some reason seems determined NOT to do that.

The more important point is whether CART views the fan or the sponsor as the customer. A smart business would see the sponsors as the customers. It goes without saying that CART needs fans to pay for tickets to their events, but without sponsors, the series is gone.

[Kate]

But, as Formula One discovered last season when their ratings dropped 25%, if nobody is watching their racing, the sponsors are talking to themselves. They can stay home and do that a lot more cheaply than they can sponsor a race car that nobody will see.