I watch a lot of ESPN (P.T.I.= favorite show, and what male American DOESN’T watch SportsCenter?) and Versus (getting more and more quality sports on that channel), and in watching said channels I have seen Iowa promo’s last week, along with a lot of Texas promo’s the previous week. Of course I saw tons of promo’s for the NBA but that doesn’t mean I was going to watch it!

I think all of us fans love the Versus coverage, and like the NHL on Versus I see our audience slowly growing as familiarity sets in alongside the improved coverage.

In terms of entertainment, information and production, the Versus broadcasts far exceed those of the House of Mouse, and they’re aboard for the next nine years. Yet half the world can’t find (or won’t pay extra for) Versus.

The possiobility of doing the Indy 500 on NBC and everything else on Versus (with the Versus crew behind Bob Costas) is intriguing, but once you get into the U. S. Open (golf) or Wimbledon (tennis) don’t look for NBC to do anything with the ICS. Best you’re going to do there is an NHL-type arrangement.

Put Bob Costas, the single best “host” in all of sports broadcasting, on the stage in the pit lane, then have him throw it to Bob, Jon, and Robbie for the race. Also consider having more than three pit reporters, since there are 9-13
more cars in this race than in any of the others. Some camera angles need to change or be added as well, but that’s another discussion for another time.

I know there are some within Speedway circles that like to look on the past of the ABC partnership, but it’s just not working anymore. Hell, the Daytona 500 and CBS were joined at the hip for years on end, but when FOX showed up with a better product in 2001, NASCAR jumped at it. I would like to see NBC and the Speedway brass do the same.

Also, were y’all aware that TV ratings are down 10% across the board nationwide this year? So when somebody says “Ha! NASCAR is down 11%, they’ve lost there shine, the bloom is off the… blah, blah, blah…,” just remind yourself that statistically, as a percentage of viewership, they aren’t really down at all.

And what’s up with that 10% nationwide? Anybody really believe that there is 10% less TV being watched? I didn’t think so. The only explanation that makes sense to me is that Nielson changed their methodology. In fact, they’ve had to go back and refigure some stuff for one broadcast network when they threw a big snit about the big (highly unlikely) drop they were seeing in their ratings.

So, are IRL’s ratings really down 27%? Well, you can subtract 10% right off the top, so that’s 17% Then you can take into account that Nielson as had revise ratings for at least one broadcast network. No way to adjust for that, except to remind yourself that you’re looking at statistics for which the methodology has apparently changed.

I’m convinced that the switch to VS has impacted ratings on ABC/ESPN to one degree or another, if for no other reason than it meant the first 3 races of the season happened in a black hole for many viewers. It’s also clear to me that the number of “surfing” viewers was larger than some IndyCar marketing types were assuming, and the numbers of “hard core” viewers was less.

Last year also had a lot of buzz going on with Danica’s first win, stomping down pit lane, etc… that probably helped the numbers, which had dropped back down to “sorry assed” by the time the Olympics rolled around. It really was a prefect progression: we went from opening day, to Danica at Motegi, to the Indy 500, the race at Mid Ohio was preceded by a big Golf tournament broadcast… There was a nice run of ratings bumpers.

This year is the opposite. We started with a ratings thumper (first three races on VS), and nothing big has really happened since; just a lot of belly aching and whining from the blogoverse.

We, my family, are as passionate about IndyCar as anyone, but even we groan when, expecting to see a race, we see drivers walking around the pits in sunglasses. How many casual fans flip the channel and never return , instead landing on a repeat of the World Series of Poker or NCAA Softball?

Follow the model of the NFL. For the die hard junkies, put on a pre-race show, and call it that. But when the TV schedule says IndyCar race, get to the race as quickly as possible. Green flag before the first commercial break, and work in the other “get to know IndyCar” segments during yellows.

If ABC/ESPN care so little that they’re going to roll out their “C” team for these events, they should just outsource it to the Versus crew.

Obviously with the smaller audience Versus has right now, ratings won’t be as high. But I wonder why are the audience ratings for ABC are lower than year? I guess you say they’re not being promoted, but could it be something else? How are other sports doing in comparison to last year–say the Kentucky Derby or tennis or something? I’ve read plenty about the lower ratings but never anything about why they’re lower…