I suppose the question would be if Supercars has a good niche for advertisers, even with it overall being no where near the major sport it used to be.
I think nearly every second ad the last time I watched motorsport was for Shannon’s insurance, but lots of car-adjacent advertisers don’t have all that many non-sports programs to advertise in, and even then an AFL/NRL audience is a bit different to a motorsports one.
I do wonder what came of those discussions the last time I remember reading about the Supercars rights about shifting the season to be over the summer, rather than competing with the AFL/NRL seasons - which would put it in clearer air on an FTA broadcaster, though I imagine attendance would fall if you’re sweltering through 30+ degree days next to a race track.
With the Supercars CEO moving on, SpeedCafe’s full credit to the news podcasts has suggested the news is likely to mean next tv deal might be close to being finalised
Wish 9 and Stan picked up the rights and improved the broadcast. Nine has no sports between the NRL Grand Final and Tennis apart from those 4 days in the first week of November and some golf tournaments.
Industry sources say Nine is more open to bidding for rights without Stan alignment under the new leadership of Matt Stanton than what it was in the Mike Sneesby era.
This seems more likely:
Either way, Seven is certainly the favourite to stay on in what would complete a maintenance of the status quo.
They recently picked up the Sydney to Hobart yacht race, and unlike when Seven had it, they don’t have to broadcast it in between any other sport.
This would mean having to televise some Supercars events, specifically the Darwin and Townsville events (two of the marquee Supercars FTA events), on 9Gem in Sydney and Brisbane during the NRL season. Couldn’t see that happening.
I wouldn’t be shocked if Nine got it, considering all the other plays they’ve made since 2018, some mega like the tennis and olympics. Could freshen up the FTA offering and be beneficial for Supercars.
Seven’s product is terrible and hasn’t been the same since Foxtel’s controlling interest in recent times. Ten’s second foray was the last good one when Matt White was poached back and also became HoS (sadly that ended badly). Seven’s wasn’t good since the early 2010s, putting their motorsport legacy aside for a minute.
It’s hard to see happening though, as Seven almost need it, as they’ve lost everything else. It’d leave them with a further revenue and commercial hole and outside of summer cricket only really give them the AFL, which doesn’t have national appeal anyway.
Speedcafe believes Seven is almost certain to get the nod in part due to its superior size and reach compared to Ten and its ability to cross-promote through the AFL.
Toyota’s entry into Supercars next season should open more cross-promotional opportunities between the codes, given the car giant is also the naming rights partner of the football league.
Supercars has a big image problem if it needs a major football code to help promote the competition and TV coverage. Remember in 1997 it signed a TV rights deal with Ten because it believed Seven could not cater for both AFL and V8s at the same time.
A lot has changed since - back then Supercars was being run by IMG who were keen to build the brand and get out from behind the football codes. Now it seems like it they’ve largely accepted their position in the sporting landscape.
Would’ve been good to see Nine also in the picture. Alas, not to be?
If they’d been successful, guessing with Stan in and Foxtel out, it would’ve meant they’d have rights to NRL, Olympics/Winter Olympics, tennis, Melbourne Cup Carnival and V8s/Bathurst.
All of what Seven used to have, but swapping AFL with NRL. Although Seven have Comm Games, they however didn’t when they had all of the aforementioned between 2007 and 2014, like 2008 (CG were with Nine > Ten).
5 from 14 rounds live on FTA is pretty poor, especially given Seven don’t have to put any production work into it (supercars delivers a ready to air product)