Ch7's so called LIVE Bathurst coverage

[MarkInTheStands]

Originally Posted by GTRMagic

Err.. there were more than a few in-jokes and love bunny experiences on the live on-course commentary & vision... which would need to go if millions of people are going to see the broadcast...

It is just an option, It could be the Seven team

[mac]

Originally Posted by GTRMagic

Err.. there were more than a few in-jokes and love bunny experiences on the live on-course commentary & vision... which would need to go if millions of people are going to see the broadcast...

Chris Jewell!!! PUH-LEASE!!!

[adrenalinmatt1]

I Did not even know that the coverage was behind till I heard it was 10min behind from a mate who was at the race...

But here is the Bathurst 1000 Tv Ratings:

BATHURST 1000 TV RATINGS

Seven’s not-quite-live V8 coverage takes network to Sunday ratings dominance

Seven’s decision to timeshift coverage of the Bathurst 1000 to accommodate advertising may have infuriated motor racing fans, but the channel still dominated Sunday’s programming.

Seven had the four biggest rating audiences of the day, according to preliminary overnight ratings from OzTam.

The podium for the Supercars race delivered 1.316m viewers, while the race itself averaged 1.038m.

The X Factor also performed slightly better for Seven, delivering 1.224m – up on last Sunday’s 1.115m.

The biggest audience of the day – 1.621m – went to Seven News.

Meanwhile, despite Seven’s delayed coverage of Bathurst overrunning into the start time for the Japanese Grand Prix, Formula Onewas still One’s biggest audience of the day, delivering 315,000 viewers.

Ten’s late primetime coverage of the Commonwealth Games averaged 703,000 while its early primetime coverage averaged 673,000. However, the coverage was also simulcast with One.

A spokesman for Seven told Mumbrella: “We had a choice: miss laps or not. We made the right decision to cover the laps and not miss a thing. The closeness of the race, the reduced number of safety cars in today’s race, advertising commitments and our desire that viewers not miss a single moment of the race led us to time-shift our coverage. Our objective was viewers not miss a moment of action. It wasn’t a plan to schedule against an F1 race, we had a great race and made the decision not to take out laps with commercial breaks as Ten does with F1.”

1. Seven News Seven 1.621m
2. V8s on Seven: Bathurst 1000 – Podium Seven 1.316m
3. Sunday Night Seven 1.291m
4. The X Factor Seven 1.224m
5. ABC News Update ABC 1.068m
6. 60 Minutes Nine 1.048m
7. V8s on Seven: Bathurst 1000 – The Race Seven 1.038m
8. Poirot ABC 1.032m
9. Nine News Nine 1.028m
10. ABC News ABC 0.952m
11. V8s on Seven: Bathurst 1000 – Wrap-up Seven 0.933m
12. Last Chance to See ABC 0.931m
13. Bones Seven 0.801m
14. V8s on Seven: Bathurst 1000 – Final Countdown Seven 0.799m
15. Hot Pursuit Nine 0.761m


* Seven: 24.3%
* ABC1: 17.1%
* Nine: 17.0%
* Ten: 16.4%
* GO!: 5.8%
* One: 5.0%
* SBS1: 4.4%
* 7mate: 2.8%
* Gem: 2.3%
* 7TWO: 1.6%
* SBS2: 1.6%
* ABC2: 0.8%
* ABC3: 0.5%
* ABC News 24: 0.4%

[Da Moo]

Those figures are correct - they suck. The coverage was good so why were the ratings so bad?? 1.04 million for the race is by FAR the lowest ratings for the race since OzTam started in 2002.

In addition to that the figures for this season are down 35% year on year. These are all massive issues for the sport because I don't know where the fans are going but they are going in droves.

[PVDA]

It would be interesting to see the minute by minute break down over the entire telecast.

I bet it peaked at around start time and rose again nearer to 4:30 as the finish time approached.

[mac]

Originally Posted by Da Moo

Those figures are correct - they suck. The coverage was good so why were the ratings so bad?? 1.04 million for the race is by FAR the lowest ratings for the race since OzTam started in 2002.

In addition to that the figures for this season are down 35% year on year. These are all massive issues for the sport because I don't know where the fans are going but they are going in droves.

I can tell you where they are going...

Anywhere but the races - or the couch to watch the races.

The punters are sick of being treated like numbskulls by the broadcaster and production team.

I know that I no longer really care if I catch the V8s on tele... I mean if I'm at home and they are on I will put it on the box - but I couldn't care less if I missed it, which never used to be the case.

In regards to television, the punters are sick of the lack of production and journalistic values...

They are sick of seeing V8s used as an opportunity for promotion of Channel 7 and V8 Supercar properties - the fact that a race is on sometimes seems incidental. The greatest asset the sport and the broadcaster has is the racing, but fans will never place huge importance on the racing while the broadcaster doesn't.

The punters are sick of the lack of storylines throughout the series... Watch a NASCAR race and the commentators will go into great detail about the various stories permeating the event - adding to the race... Who hates who, who's going where, who's battling against adversity, who owes someone a biff... THERE IS NO STORY IN V8S.

Some people talk, a race happens and the cameras are just there to film it. Team Vodafone will win, we will hear ad-nauseum from Jamie Whincup and Craig Lowndes, Seven will over-promote some other show, V8Supercars will over-promote an upcoming event, Skaife will bang on about championship-land, Russell Ingall will implore us to dob in a car-abuser, and on the podium Beretta will either make statements and expect the drivers to talk or ask ridiculously inane questions...

The same thing happens every broadcast - the entire broadcast is predictable and boring because the same thing happens every week. There are no stories put into the picture to add any spice... There is no "what will happen this round?".

The punters are sick of Matthew White, Mark Skaife, Mark Beretta, Grant Denyer and even Tom Williams being the stars of the show. They want the drivers to be the stars of the show, they want the racing to be the star of the show... I walked past Karl Reindler at Bathurst and didn't even recognise the bloke! As polarising as Greg Murphy is, he is a character and a guy that should be interviewed every week stirring the pot. If a driver retires from a race, people want to know why...

It can't be that hard.

[yap]

Originally Posted by mac

I can tell you where they are going...

Anywhere but the races - or the couch to watch the races.

The punters are sick of being treated like numbskulls by the broadcaster and production team.

I know that I no longer really care if I catch the V8s on tele... I mean if I'm at home and they are on I will put it on the box - but I couldn't care less if I missed it, which never used to be the case.

In regards to television, the punters are sick of the lack of production and journalistic values...

They are sick of seeing V8s used as an opportunity for promotion of Channel 7 and V8 Supercar properties - the fact that a race is on sometimes seems incidental. The greatest asset the sport and the broadcaster has is the racing, but fans will never place huge importance on the racing while the broadcaster doesn't.

The punters are sick of the lack of storylines throughout the series... Watch a NASCAR race and the commentators will go into great detail about the various stories permeating the event - adding to the race... Who hates who, who's going where, who's battling against adversity, who owes someone a biff... THERE IS NO STORY IN V8S.

Some people talk, a race happens and the cameras are just there to film it. Team Vodafone will win, we will hear ad-nauseum from Jamie Whincup and Craig Lowndes, Seven will over-promote some other show, V8Supercars will over-promote an upcoming event, Skaife will bang on about championship-land, Russell Ingall will implore us to dob in a car-abuser, and on the podium Beretta will either make statements and expect the drivers to talk or ask ridiculously inane questions...

The same thing happens every broadcast - the entire broadcast is predictable and boring because the same thing happens every week. There are no stories put into the picture to add any spice... There is no "what will happen this round?".

The punters are sick of Matthew White, Mark Skaife, Mark Beretta, Grant Denyer and even Tom Williams being the stars of the show. They want the drivers to be the stars of the show, they want the racing to be the star of the show... I walked past Karl Reindler at Bathurst and didn't even recognise the bloke! As polarising as Greg Murphy is, he is a character and a guy that should be interviewed every week stirring the pot. If a driver retires from a race, people want to know why...

It can't be that hard.

EXCELLENT post Mac

We could only hope someone from Ch7/V8 Supercar land reads it and takes note

[Woolley]

So, you're OK with the theme music then...

[1200Datto27]

Nope, and that crap that they used to lead into the start of each broadcast for Bathurst absolutely sucked, getting rid of crap like that (and the xxxx tramps) would be a good start IMHO.

[ford71]

Originally Posted by Woolley

So, you're OK with the theme music then...

God No!

All the Metallica S&M content before Sundays race was perfect though.
They should do that more often.

[Oldtony]

Add to your list mac that they are also bored with the cars.
Most punters are now very well aware that the only differences are paint jobs and badges, there is no technical novelty and they bear no relationship to what the punters are driving.
And next year will be even worse unless they go the full NASCAR route that you outline in your post. Are Aussie fans ready for that?
Remember the heritage behind racing on varying continents.
Europe grew out of Nationalism and inter country rivalry going back to the Gordon Bennet etc and was the playground of the very rich or the royals.
The USA grew out of a mix of the Hotrod culture and the State showground ovals. The engineering side grew from the Moonshine running era.
Australia has to a large extent grown from engineers and dealers wanting to demonstrate the cars or the products that they wanted to sell. That has at it's strongest been in the Redex Trial type rallies and the production racing started by the Armstrong 500.
Breaking with the ingrained culture of a Nation goes with some risk, and that is what V8SA has been doing over the past few years.
Showroom Showdown is older, and more ingrained than the beat up Ford v Holden and Aussie V8 slogans we have been fed in the era of V8SA.

[cavvy]

Originally Posted by MarkInTheStands

It is just an option, It could be the Seven team

Its the VESA team isnt it?

Who made the decision to delay, 7 or VESA?

[PVDA]

Originally Posted by cavvy

Who made the decision to delay, 7 or VESA?

Interesting question.

VE$A supplies the pictures to Ch7 so was the delay introduced by Ch7 themselves or at the behest of VE$A??

[racer69]

Originally Posted by ford71

God No!

All the Metallica S&M content before Sundays race was perfect though.
They should do that more often.

Maybe 7 should go back to basics for their intro's

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Mjb4NmHyiFc

the BBC still uses "The Chain" for their F1 intro's afteralll

[BJAY]

Originally Posted by PVDA

Interesting question.

VE$A supplies the pictures to Ch7 so was the delay introduced by Ch7 themselves or at the behest of VE$A??

I would say it was Ch7. Those watching live on Motors TV in Europe had the coverage live, meaning they saw the finish 30mins before we did.

[cptkablamo]

Originally Posted by racer69

Maybe 7 should go back to basics for their intro's

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Mjb4NmHyiFc

the BBC still uses "The Chain" for their F1 intro's afteralll

YES! I can't stand the intro...don't take yourself so seriously!

And also get change those awful features they have so we don't lose IQ when watching...

[hgmonaro]

Originally Posted by 1200Datto27

Nope, and that crap that they used to lead into the start of each broadcast for Bathurst absolutely sucked, getting rid of crap like that (and the xxxx tramps) would be a good start IMHO.

I liked last years (Russell Crowe voice over) but didn't like how this years had the various different sports trying to relate to drivers. They should only play it once too, just before the start of the race as a lead in for the International audience.

[Axeman444]

at least they didn't have a driver introduction live... or Denyer doing that awful intro from last year

[David Towe]

I didn't see, did they still do the American thing of "Gentlemen, start your engines" followed by a taped segment of many fingers on different start buttons? God I hate the Americanisation of the world!

[inpitlane]

Originally Posted by Da Moo

Those figures are correct - they suck. The coverage was good so why were the ratings so bad?? 1.04 million for the race is by FAR the lowest ratings for the race since OzTam started in 2002.

In addition to that the figures for this season are down 35% year on year. These are all massive issues for the sport because I don't know where the fans are going but they are going in droves.

Virtually all ratings suck compared with 2002. Remember then there were 5 major stations and in a few markets like Melbourne, C31.
Now there's about 15 -17 in each market, plus the internet, a wider distribution of Pay etc....
The days of the mega rating is gone for everyone. In the US the final episode of Roots had 100 million viewers, last year the highest rating TV show in the US was the final of American Idol which had only 11 million.
I can tell you straight from the horses mouth that Seven are thrilled to pieces about the Bathurst figures and especially their ad inventory, and so will VESA as the asking price for the next contract could have gone up by another few million.

[cavvy]

As you are close to the market IPL, I ask are you saying smaller audiences in the current TV world are OK, are not indicative of less dollars for the rights?

Any idea if sponsors feel the same?

[MarkInTheStands]

IPL and others, I have been reading many articles about the Ratings for the NRL and the AFL, the general theme is that the OzTam figures are down about 5 - 10 % maybe more because of the way the ratings have changed. Is that the same here.

[Da Moo]

IPL - that makes no sense at all. The AFL and NRL Grand Finals are consistent with previous years. I find it very hard to believe that Seven or V8SA would be happy with both Bathurst ratings or the season ratings. If they are, I suggest they all be fired because these are unacceptable results.

FYI - I just googled the American Idol final and it had over 24 million viewers so not sure where you got your numbers from.

I am sure 7 were happy with their sales as the delayed broadcast allowed for a LOT more ads but seems at the cost of their credibility with most fans (personally I didn't mind it).

Television ratings overall are down but major annual events are not declining with the AFL and NRL Grand Finals, have had massive ratings in line with the previous 15 years so the argument makes no sense.

What this is, is a reflection of the dissatisfaction fans have with the series and that has flowed on to Bathurst. Even with media fragmentation, these ratings would be a massive concern for 7 and V8SA.

[Da Moo]

IPL I can tell you that there is no way the value of the rights went up a "few million" based on this result.

So lowest ratings Bathurst for a long time and annual audience declines of over 35% and you think it's good news???????? I think I am missing something.

[TSR]

How far behind will this wend telecast be from Ch7?