(I thought we had a thread for this…)
Speedcafe’s Full Credit to the Noise podcast this week has indicated that the subscription side of a new deal is all but negotiated hinting it’s staying where it is. With the possibility of 4K too
FTA negotiations are up next
Supercars needs a bit of life back in it - the list of some stars to the US (SVG, McLaughlin) and retirement (Whincup) has really hurt it imho in the last 2-3 years.
A move to another network might have been a bit of a boot up the arse for it.
Would’ve loved 9/Stan to get it.
Here is the link to this week’s podcast for anyone interested.
The continued decline of this sport continues if they insist on subscription dominant deals. It’s really fading into irrelevance with the lack of exposure.
It has nothing to do with that at all.
This sport died the moment Holden left the competition. We have nothing to fight for anymore. The cars don’t resonate with Australians and the Holden V Ford battle is long gone.
Yep - should have mentioned that above, great point.
Stars departing at the same time didn’t help either to smooth the transition. It may not recover.
It’s not down to Foxtel - a different network may provide some energy that the sport needs but I don’t believe the current broadcasters are to blame.
How long has Supercars been primarily on Foxtel?
I imagine most of the remaining mainstream interest in the sport comes from Bathurst.
They need to ditch the in house production model - the coverage is too sanitised
Agreed.
Trying to be a little too F1.
I think since at least 2015 when they and Ten entered a joint deal, taking over from previous holders Seven.
And of course since 2021 it has been a Seven/Foxtel partnership.
The Stan Sport deal pretty much killed the TCR series so I suspect Supercars (with their own troubles) may not be keen to go down that path.
Will be interesting to see who the FTA partner might be if Fox retains the rights- Seven seem like the logical partner but would be interesting to see someone like 10 have a go as well (given they also have worked with Fox on subletting the F1/MotoGP rights for the Australian Grands Prix and have shown an interest in more motorsport rights with the Race of Champions event this weekend).
Seven would offer more exposure for the casual viewer, but with the trade off of playing second-fiddle to the AFL, Cricket and even Horse Racing depending on the time of year- 10 would give the sport more prominence but with the downside of possibly less exposure being on a lower-rating network.
I agree, it’s definetly part of the problem. Back in the days of V8, they abandonded TV3 here in NZ for Sky, and viewership, and relevance, dropped like a stone. Only the die-hards stuck with it. If you’re only preaching to the converted, you’re going to have smaller congregations.
I’m not sure that’s entirely true - it enjoyed a high profile on FTA but the coverage was more than not delayed for years.
The years of SVG and McLaughlin put it back on the map in NZ in a big way.
I think since at least 2015 when they and Ten entered a joint deal, taking over from previous holders Seven. And of course since 2021 it has been a Seven/Foxtel partnership.
That’s really poor timing given Holden and Ford telegraphed they were quitting local manufacturing.
Yeah, but did the fan base really grow from that? I don’t think it bought in many new punters to the sport… the last 15-20 years has seen intense fragmentation of cagegories in NZ, (especialy with the tintops. Series have come and gone in a flash, there’s been little continuinity apart from TRS/FROC & the Suzuki summer series.
You can see from the coverage on TV, the Toyota’s don’t bring in much of an audience at the track, whereas the Cemetery Circuit has a huge following. Not sure how that translates to a TV audience - It would be hard to get any real numbers on it, I suppose.
But back to Supercars… I think they need to find relevance again, which will be difficult, given everyone seems to drive SUV’s now (which has a bigger bearing on things than Holden folding, I think).
Motorsport has moved on from having broader market relevance
I could see Nine being interested, at the right price and terms.
And they should look at someone like Matt White, a passionate Supercars man, who was synonymous with the sport in the 2000s and 2010s particularly at Seven and also had an oversight/contract role in his return stint at 10 as HoS as well as on-air talent.
He has his SEN Sydney show, recently started calling Supercars for them too AFAIK, came back to TV and Seven hosting the daytime Tokyo Paralympics and also live streaming anchoring a couple of years of Amazon Prime’s swimming championships a few years ago.
So he could do a lot at Nine and quite well too, even the lighter entertainment and news side as proven at Seven and 10, but has he been gone too long from the game so to speak and out of the industry’s and public’s minds? As well as Nine and other networks already having enough on-air talent and younger or fresher up and comers.
Matt is not all that popular with Supercar audiences, perhaps why he’s not involved with the coverage now.
Apart from his Australian Open hosting duties with Seven in the noughties, I also believe he called some matches in the 10s decade, just before he returned to 10 in 2014?