If Indy Racing League promos aired during the Tour de France helped the open-wheel racing series’ TV ratings, it was minimal.
On the heels of the most watched Tour in four years, the Nielsen ratings for the IRL race July 26 in Edmonton weren’t exactly
earth shattering.
Versus pumped its IRL coverage early and often during its hours-long daily Tour de France coverage in the month of July.
National ratings for the Edmonton race which started at 5 p.m. were .24. That means 279,000 TV households tuned in. In the Indianapolis market, the race earned a .73 Nielsen rating, meaning 8,000 TV households watched.
While the Edmonton ratings are nothing to jump up and down about, they are slightly higher than the last race aired on Versus cable channel. The Richmond race June 27 earned a .22 national rating and .67 in the Indianapolis market.
On the heels of the Kentucky race, which most impartial observers would have to admit was pretty exciting, the IRL has its next six races air on Versus.
If a compelling story line emerges, such as an Ed Carpenter win or a Sarah Fisher run to the front, that might boost viewership. Most motorsports marketers agree the Target-Penske domination really isn’t doing anything to fuel the TV ratings.
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Great race that hardly anybody in America watched because hardly anybody in America cares.
Indy Car Racing is a niche sport with a small following. Nothing more, nothing less.
ANd Im one of those 8000. NEver been do proud in my life. THE IRl should be reserved fro just the true beleiavers. IF you dont beleave in the VISIon you dont deserve to wach the TV.
No insider scoop there. Just everyday observation.
I want the IRL to succeed. The question is, do they?
As for the IRL and its overall future, the list of fixes needed is too long for any one article. While VS does its best with expanded coverage of IRL races, the series has sunk below the national viewing audience radar this year and has dug a deeper hole of overall public disregard towards the sport.
I now turn you back to your regularly scheduled playground retorts.
The IRL is headed in the very wrong direction of more road/street/parking lot events in the future and that bodes even worse off for the TV viewing audience.
The IRL is a one trick pony. And that trick is high speed, balls-to-the-walls oval track racing. If they stray from that anymore, it is lights out.
They got nothing else. 220 miles per hour, side-by-side, noseot-tail, three-wide, dip and divebomb, that is what gives racing fans the wood.
The IRL: not important. to anybody.
BTW still more people cares about IRL than Champ Car. CC is dead because failed.
:lol:
Talking to Zak again, eh Anthony? Guy's got as many excuses as the 'league' for the big steaming pile of FAIL that is the earl.
'Most motorsports marketers' should have the sense to realize that the 'league', and everything about it, isn't motorsport, it's crap.
You are so boring. Same mantra every day. F1 is crap because it's all about money, IRL is all about racing. Side-by-side, like the old days on the ovals. More road and street races coming to the IRL it's more become CART. Why don't you like? Are you an unemloyed CART guy?
The earl has never had fans or ratings of any significant amount. Ever. You look silly trying to portray it otherwise.
The 'league' doesn't care about you or anyone else. You will not be missed. You have been completely and totally owned by Lord Anton and his Vizhun by going along with it. That's pretty stupid. :lol:
Versus had more than 46 million watchers for the world's premiere bicycle race, up 41% from the 32.8 million who watched the 2008 competition.
Over the course of the 21-stage race, which was presented in high-definition for the first time, Versus notched a 67% increase in household ratings, which translated into a 98% surge in viewership to 529,926 from 267,722, according to Nielsen Media Research data.
AND during those three weeks of all day coverage 46 million watchers saw your IRL promos over and over and over.
The most compelling statistic is it appears hockey, bike racing, rodeo, bass fishing, hunting and ultimate fighting FANS have NO cross-over fan interest in the IRL at all.
The IRL: Nobody watching, nobody caring, nobody to the rescue.
Yeah, the Vs. numbers aren't good. But, in previous posts I have commented that the comparison to the other programming on Vs. is juvenile at best. Real adults can't expect the IRL in it's first season with Vs. to match an NHL or Cycling brand that Vs. has been growing for some time now.
If it's the same story over the next year or two, then sure, it's fair. But making that juvenile judgement like SSD is, just doesn't hold water. You guys are comparing the superbowl of cycling to 'Edmonton'...c'mon. Who is delusional? Not I.
That said, I don't have a problem with Vs. running promos on their own network to try and generate crossover. Don't most networks do that? If it doesn't work, great, but it's their network and they can't be run through the coals for trying. I see bull riding ads on Vs. and extreme fighting of sorts, but never once watched either on the network.
What does dissapoint is that they really should be hitting the RACE programming hard..........
I'm sure they don't have the budget for it, but each NASCAB race, F1 Race, etc. etc. shouldn't go without an 'IRL on Vs.' promo. And the promos shouldn't be just for the event, each one should highlight a few drivers/faces/names/sponsors/etc. Point being, if I watched a NASCAB event from start to finish, I should know at least 5 IRL drivers by name just from being brow beaten by the ads. You do that for a season of races and you have instant name recognition, regardless of the on-track product. Mass market recognition will get the attention of sponsors, even if those NASTRDS don't tune in.
I do want to add comment to the others on here ripping the IRL for the street/road route....but that will be another post. Let's just say if you don't like to think while watching a race, than ovals only is the game for you. Fortunately for me, I like a thinking man's race to offset the occasionally (and rarely this year) exciting oval. I'd like to say it's the difference between me enjoying a baseball game vs. the guy that wants to watch some WWE (WWF in my day).
There, did I cross everyone now? Cool. Thanks 'The Truth' for reeling me back to the threads. I was starting to feel empty inside.
You fail on so many levels, even with so few words. I personally am not thrilled with the IRL product and have offered criticism for years, but I have really started to notice there are 3 types of people on this board.
IRL FanBoys, IRL Haters (you), and casual observers/fans. Only one group is rational, and sadly yours doesn't qualify. So here's to the casual folks who can admit there are problems in open wheel, but don't hate the sport so much they want to see it disappear. You know who you are. Cheers.
Do I see a ton of things wrong? Certainly, but calling all those associated with the Reject League rejects isn't just unfair, it's absurd. Ryan Briscoe, for example, does not fit the definition of a reject. Perhaps you should put that hat on your own head and see if it fits? Just a thought.
Kind of ironic that someone on your side would be saying the IRL is hate. Pot, Kettle, Kettle, pot.
Also interesting that your side keps saying there is no interest in the IRL, yet here is a thread that is not yet a day old and has 37 responses. And easily the IRL threads far exceed any other posts on this or any other IBJ blog. No interest? Seems like there is a lot of interest.
you truly do not get it. You have the comprehensive skils of that guy spEdway who posts here. I dated a girl like that once. At least she had the turbo bod to make up for her lack of smarts. :lol:
The IRL Gets alot of hate, the IRL gives no value.
make sense now?
The IRL: Even the fans have trouble getting it.
Nobody care ALMS of a competition standpoint
IRL: at least its easy to spell. :lol:
'Up' as Edmonton drew more viewers than the previous Versus IndyCar 'race', Richmond. Anthony didn't quite get around to explaining the 'stalling' part of his article title.
Allow me.
If you look at all of this year's IndyCar 'races' broadcast on Versus (I'm not counting Indy qualifying here), prior to Edmonton, the average # of households tuning in was just slightly over 301,500. If only 279,000 hh tuned in for Edmonton, it brought down the Versus season average. Meanwhile, the rating by my count (not Antony's as his early season numbers showed no consistency in calculation) was 0.26 - and due to the way averaging works, remained at 0.26 when Edmonton's 0.24 was factored in. If we included the 4 Indy qualifying broadcasts on Versus, the year's rating average actually goes down, from 0.28 to 0.27
Considering the HUGE promotional push IndyCar on Versus was given during the month of July during Versus' Tour de France coverage, which we were already told included a significant viewership increase in the IRL's 'key demographic', people at Versus and IndyCar have GOT to be scratching their heads.
People will seek out and watch a bike race, but when it comes to IndyCar, no thanks.
Guys, it's really not difficult: very few people want to watch your product.
Couple that with the fact that all one had to do was scroll through the channels, and guess what CYCLING was on. Every time I passed Vs. it seemed like it was on. On in the morning, on in the evening via replay. The only way to miss it was if you didn't get Vs., and didn't ever surf through that channel.
Not making excuses for the IRL b/c the ratings are truly unimpressive, but your comparison is made to look well founded, but in fact is not even close to being 'apples to apples'. I appreciate your time taken to dissect the numbers, but if you’re going to go that far, you need to eliminate your apparent preconceived bias. My advice to all, take Renegade’s analysis for what it is, an invalid comparison.
Well JoBu, I guess that's the difference between a truly world class sporting event and a pathetic remnant of the past with little of no future.
This all brings me back to the indication I made about 'branding' the drivers. If Danicle won at minimum 5 races a year, and multiple Indy's you would see a huge spike. Love her or hate her, it's all about the driver star power. Guys like me, and others on here care more about the car & technology, but that only satisfies a hardcore niche.
IRL needs a star, a consistent winner, and needs one that the public can really connect with and support (no disrespect to Helio, Briscoe, Dario, & Dixon). Let's give Helio's achievements in the sport to Hunter-Reay, Danica, Graham, or any others in the 'American' crowd and you've got a completely different public awareness. (for the record, I enjoy the foreign competition, but we're not arguing that here)
So, keep gracing us with your 'wisdom'. I really enjoy when you make it this easy to show your shortsightedness and lack of understanding.
Ignore the statistical facts if you want, but the IRL has received NO lift from being on Versus DESPITE the fact other sports televised on Versus are SUCCEEDING with their target audiences.
The IRL swims with the fishes.
I just prefer to take the non-complainer route and embrace it for what it is, a form of entertainment sprinkled with some hope for the future. That makes some folks mad, b/c they relish in the hate. So keep on hating, and I'll keep on posting. Cheers.
Technically JoBu, the IRL pulled that type of press from Danica/Milka last year at Mid-Ohio and completely squandered the Motegi Miracle last season too. We've got a series that used to have fresh cars and was open to innovation every year now running seven year old cars with a rented engine running at 70-75% the power it used to be at. Thousands of people literally ran to dealers in the past week to get rid of their clunkers while the IRL still scratches their heads about why only small batches of people watch their Dallara/Honda clunkers race. Add to that the IRL's apparent belief that the number of drivers/teams simultaneously marketed must always be able to be counted on one hand and you have the makings of a 14 year old money bleeding clusterf***. Unfortunately, the Hulman sisters took away our ability just explain it all away by saying I blame Tony. I blame Jeff just doesn't have the same right to it.