Television Considerations

Recently, there has been a lot of talk among open-wheel fans about the merits of leaving the ABC/ESPN family of networks and seeking greener pastures. ABC/ESPN has turned open-wheel into its neglected stepchild in favor of its NASCAR coverage. I wrote a question for consideration by Curt Cavin of the Indianapolis Star and Kevin Lee of the IMS radio network for their radio show that airs out of 1070 the Fan in Indy on Thursday nights:

Curt and Kevin,

A few thoughts for your digestion on the IRL’s TV broadcasting situation:

The talk on the radio show and in Curt’s blog has been that the overriding concern with the IRL leaving ABC/ESPN is the loss of the casual sports fan. I think this is an overblown concern.

Popular culture grows more segmented everyday. With the advent of the internet, the fan of a particular sport can literally be inundated with so much media and resource relating to that sport, such that the fan becomes less likely to follow other sports. Up to the late ‘90s, fans of a particular sport were reliant upon TV, newspaper and magazine coverage to follow their sport. These resources were not 24/7 and not in real-time, requiring sports fans to branch out into other sports to fulfill their sports craving. That paradigm just doesn’t work anymore. Outside of the major championships in the stick and ball sports, people follow one or two sports religiously, and that’s it. Thus, we’re developing into a sports culture in this country where all sports are niche sports, whose fans follow that niche (albeit, some niches are larger than others).

The development of this “sports niche� paradigm extinguishes the need for cross-promoting networks like ESPN which cater to general “sports fans� with its wide range of sporting news and content. No longer is it that advantageous to put a sports product out for general consumption and hope that some observers become fans and some fans fanatics. The game now is to build up the niche of fans in a particular sport through a good sporting product and promotion.

For example, look at the NASCAR truck series. It’s broadcast exclusively on Speed and usually on Friday nights (well-known as TV ratings cemetery). But, Truck races consistently pull a greater than 1 Nielsen rating (better or consistent with the average rating of an IRL race on ABC). Why? Because Speed caters to the niche of race fans, and builds that niche through Truck series focused programming and other promotion.

I submit to you that the IRL would be better off, on balance, if it had a broadcasting partner that would provide the league with all of the “bells and whistles� in terms of supplemental programming, rather than just a two hour slot to get in the race each week. The casual sports fan isn’t helping the IRL with TV ratings or popularity. Realistically, the casual sports fan is so stick-and-ball oriented, he probably couldn’t name more than 5 NASCAR drivers or tracks. The casual sports fan isn’t cutting the mustard.

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