I saw this part and thought there was an off-chance that was accounted for, such that these rounds will not be scheduled on Fridays.
But they will be happy with even less FTA. Not me saying that.
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I still think the better way to do it is one race most weekends (saturday?) on Seven, so it stays in the consciousness of ordinary people throughout the year. Supercars has a hard enough time keeping its head above water with three, four, even five week gaps between events.
But I guess that involves having a FTA partner that’s willing to pay more than $10m a year. Even 12 years ago when it was a much more relevant sport, they were really struggling to put together a free tv deal.
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Yep, no regular coverage = no viewers.
Even a consistent highlights package would help. I’m not sure what they have in Aussie, but here in NZ, FTA highlights get buried on Monday/Tuesday afternoons on SkyOpen. Great for the unemployed, but probably not for the companies who get their brands stuck to all the cars and catchfences.
In Australia, highlights of the Foxtel exclusive races are shown on Seven on late night on Saturdays and Sundays.
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I reckon you could do something similar to how some overseas rights work, and have some races that start live on FTA, but then are padded with complete ad breaks that pause the race and fall out of sync with live by the end.
Given how Supercars isn’t doing all that well, you could probably avoid spoilers of the winner for the lesser races - it’s really only Bathurst which has mainstream attention at this point, Foxtel would still have a solid offering of “exclusively live”, but they would have racing on the TV more often, and I think that’s what it needs.
FTA rounds force the races to go time certain as well to make sure Seven can exit on time for other programming (only Bathurst doesn’t have a time certain period)
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(Flip of a coin as to whether this should be here or in Fox Sports, move as desired).
Neil Crompton has now confirmed he’s been moved aside as a commentator for Supercars. Undecided as to whether he takes up the offer of a “reduced role for two events later in the year” (Bathurst and Adelaide?). He’s been a part of touring car broadcasts for about 4 decades, full-time since 2003. Mark Skaife also expected to go as previously reported.
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They’re doing their best to make this sport more irrelevant. The halcyon days in the early 00’s on 10 are long gone. They’ve over cooked the goose and now it’s just a blip with is substandard rights deal.
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They’ve really killed it by keeping it off FTA.
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I think there’s a multitude of factors.
The series has lost star power over the last 5-10 years (just as Whincup and Winterbottom and Murphy and Lowndes etc were finishing up, Van Gisbergen and McLaughlin came in but they chose to chase overseas deals rather than stick around in the sport for 10-20 years), the loss of Holden v Ford though has been much bigger. People were invested in that rivalry, had the same manufacturer cars and were loyal. You remove Holden - an Australian brand - and you lose a lot of interest.
I think losing FTA has also been big but I’d be wary of pinning it all on that.
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The coverage needs a shakeup, and I think it might be a good thing to move Crompton (and Skaife) on.
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But how do you refresh the coverage in a category that doesn’t know if its coming or going? As OnAir said, it’s a multiude of factors involved.
Supercars feels like the NBL and Super Rugby from years ago - an exclusvely pay TV sport with very little FTA.
Yes, losing my Holdens was a shame (I was a Holden fan, but after how GM treated the country’s tax payers, my love has waned a lot) and having that Aussie marque in there helped, so losing a bulk of those fans doesn’t help.
Also, you’re dealing with a generation that is more eco-aware, and quite potentially not relating to the idea of motor transport and not getting licenses, so big gas guzzlers isn’t something that it hitting the mark like it did back in the day. You don’t see Mustangs and Chevs around.
The whole finals system is a farce and will turn out like NASCAR’s system (see UrinatingTree’s videos to see what I mean).
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I disagree - the quality of the sport is as high as it’s ever been, it just might not be attached to big names like it was in the past.
The coverage is stale and isn’t going to attract new viewers regardless of how you consume it. This certainly isn’t helped by the fact that the sport produces it themselves, and it largely serves to push a very specific outcome.
Brand relevance is also shifting; two of three marques are already running cars that are pretty well no longer sold. They’ve also moved dramatically away from being any real relation to their road-going versions to being a couple of shared body panels.
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I’m not out and out disagreeing with the quality of the sport, from that perspective it’s good. The finals series needs to be scrapped though. I don’t think it’s needed. Look at some of the issues NASCAR have had since they’ve brought theirs in.
How do you improve the coverage though? Who is coming through the ranks with the knowledge that Crompton and Skaife have? It’s all well and good to have commentators that are “with it”, but you do need some experience to add that bit of insight.
Exactly. I don’t see my i30s running around the track as the main event. It’d be cool. At least with the Falcons and Commodores, you could see them on the roads. Win on Sunday, sell on Monday, as the old saying went.
While Ten’s era from the mid-90s to mid-2000s was iconic, many might argue Seven’s decades of broadcasting the sport were just as memorable if not better. Mike Raymond, Garry Wilkinson, Sandy Roberts.
Later returning with what I’d consider a solid period from 2007 to 2013 as well, but lead by Matthew White. Also rated Prime7’s Daniel Gibson and Sunrise’s Grand Denyer as pit reporters.
Not sure Ten’s second turn was as strong though a decade ago. And definitely not Seven’s 3rd era now.
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