ALMS Media Schedule 2011

[FordCosworthPanoz]

Originally Posted by picchiofan

Exactly. When a potential sponsor asks what sort of exposure they have, what do you say?

"Oh, it's on the web".

"oh, okay, what sort of hitrate do you have?"

"Well, uh, they capped at 10k, but don't hit that".

So, exposure of under 10 thousand people, and you want how many million to put my name on a car?

This pretty much summed it up, I'm done with defending this series as the management is just a complete joke.

Still no Television package, but thankfully there's just about EVERY other professional racing series which I can watch on television in 2011.

[dj4monie]

Well I don't know what the correct options are -

You don't renew your contract with Wheeler TV, why? Sure some of us complain but that's fairly small I imagine. Intersport hasn't received glowing reviews either of its broadcast of races in Docu-drama format.

Where to put races on?

Currently shown on Speed which is a partnership between Speed and the ALMS/IMSA. Where can you put your races on where a majority of the fan base and new fans can see them? I don't have a problem with Versus and yes I do get it. For others, is streaming the answer?

There is going to be a rash of connected TV's and Set-top boxes in the coming months, if you're still watching a 1st gen Plasma, DLP, LCD or god forbid CRT then it might be a good time to upgrade.

TWK, I doubt the majority of the races will be shown on the internet. A few might be only because people that watch 6, 10, 12 and 24 hour races are fairly small. Races 2:45 in length prove affordable on OTA TV/Cable/Sat, I don't think that will change. The purist want longer races, well those purist can tell us how we'll watch those races.

[trahsub]

Originally Posted by TWK

picchiofan will be happy to know (vindicated?) that sponsors are moving in significant numbers to Grand Am. The next example will be the Aten Motorsports Ferrari Rolex 24 entry the Bear tipped you to on Wednesday night. The principals aren't ready to announce sponsors, but that will be fun (particularly for Murphy).

Can you elaborate a little bit? The 24hrs of Daytona is a popular race, and certainly one of the better ones (best?) on the GA schedule for sponsor exposure. Is this sponsor movement a one-off deal for this race, or are some of these teams/sponsors expected to stick around for the season?

It would be nice to have the 24 of Daytona re-claim some of the allure it had years ago. . . it's been dull lately, perhaps since the DPs are relatively slow cars.

[JAG]

You can argue how important it is but the ALMS does have a large following and TV package outside NA.

[Fogelhund]

Originally Posted by JAG

You can argue how important it is but the ALMS does have a large following and TV package outside NA.

Large following? What are the numbers behind this?

TV package, again, what are the numbers of viewers?

Have a link, or information to the data?

[Deleted]

A large TV package outside States? What, you mean the Motors coverage with two live races and bunch of "delayed by a week" broadcasts?

[JAG]

The very reason the ALMS is followed so closely is because it's been on our TV screens this past decade via Europsort, Motors TV, Sky Sports, the various weekly motorsport highlights shows, not to mention coverage in the print media and websites.

The ALMS may be a NA series but it has international appeal, I've been following it since the GT1 car was shown off at the Autosport show in '97 and Don Panoz made his intentions clear about starting up an ACO reg series on that side of the pond.

[Fogelhund]

Originally Posted by JAG

The very reason the ALMS is followed so closely is because it's been on our TV screens this past decade via Europsort, Motors TV, Sky Sports, the various weekly motorsport highlights shows, not to mention coverage in the print media and websites.

The ALMS may be a NA series but it has international appeal, I've been following it since the GT1 car was shown off at the Autosport show in '97 and Don Panoz made his intentions clear about starting up an ACO reg series on that side of the pond.

You've claimed the ALMS has a "large following". What are the numbers to support this claim? Do you have a link to these ratings?

[JAG]

Obviously I don't, it's based on having followed the series for the past decade and seeing the amount of coverage it recieves when compared to others. It's the reason a manufactuer like Peugeot still races in NA despite not selling cars in that territory.

Some maybe itching to dance on the grave of this series, I am not one of them.

[Fogelhund]

Originally Posted by JAG

Obviously I don't, it's based on having followed the series for the past decade and seeing the amount of coverage it recieves when compared to others. It's the reason a manufactuer like Peugeot still races in NA despite not selling cars in that territory.

So, we must conclude that for now your claims are baseless, and simply your opinion based upon nothing.

I suspect that the ratings would be pretty small, as they have been in North America. It's a niche sport.

[dj4monie]

Originally Posted by trahsub

Can you elaborate a little bit? The 24hrs of Daytona is a popular race, and certainly one of the better ones (best?) on the GA schedule for sponsor exposure. Is this sponsor movement a one-off deal for this race, or are some of these teams/sponsors expected to stick around for the season?

It would be nice to have the 24 of Daytona re-claim some of the allure it had years ago. . . it's been dull lately, perhaps since the DPs are relatively slow cars.

Popular to who? The fans or the teams/drivers. If somebody else gives me that excuse that the majority of the fans are in the infield I'll start

You also said "reclaim some of its allure" if you listen to most GA fans they would say its never lost its luster, yet it never gets a full showing on either Fox or Speed.

Did you say dull lately? Its been dull since the DP's show up. The last time I made it a point to watch and not out just watch out of early season boredom was when the factory Vipers won overall, mostly because I am a Viper Fan and Mopar supporter.

When its was obvious Grand Am had to reel in the ACS Express Mustang and Boris Said from beating the pants off the DP's, never mind the Ferrari of Washington Ferrari F360, not even the all mightly F430, it already proved to be a joke of a series.

[dj4monie]

Originally Posted by Fogelhund

So, we must conclude that for now your claims are baseless, and simply your opinion based upon nothing.

I suspect that the ratings would be pretty small, as they have been in North America. It's a niche sport.

I would agree, but you have to define "niche" and "large following"

Niche in motorsports I define as Motorcycle racing actually. Racing Motorcycles on TV has never been as big in America as it is in Europe, not even close. But it has a sizable, loyal fan following that's used to seeing say Supercross events on tape-delay.

IMSA/SCCA (road racing) on the other hand has flirted with live coverage now again and IMSA during its heyday in the mid 80s/early 90's was shown live on ESPN and TNN (Spike Today) on a regular basis.

For comparison, as I have said before ALMS overall fan base is favorable to both of NASCAR's 2nd tier series and a weaken Indy Car product.

I believe ALMS does 2.5 Million Homes in America. That does not include Canada or Continental Europe. I think Hindy once said there is about 8 Million world wide listening to the stream of the Le Mans race, I'd say half of that is listening to him during ALMS broadcast.

Don't dismiss what JAG is saying completely. The ALMS is fairly popular in Europe after F1. I would say in terms of ratings it beats everything car based outside of F1. Most of the major publications cover it as well. I could find stuff about the ALMS in a Norwegian magazine while I was waiting for a plane in Amsterdam.

The ALMS is an American series with a International Following, much like Indy Car, which is explains why the CART fan base is also the ALMS fan base to some extent.

ALMS management is making some fundamental errors and not playing hard ball with promoters. With no Atlantic series, there's no reason not to have a full 2:45 race in Long Beach. If Road America approves 6 hours, take it, don't do 4 hours! Also play hard with the ACO, without the ALMS there would be no LMS and no ILMC. The ACO has not proven it knows what its doing with media.

[Mal]

In Europe with the exception of F1 all motor racing is a niche sport even Le Mans - but if you look at the people who attend Le Mans and the number of which have high end sportscars it is clear it is a good platform for such manufacturers and associated companies to place their products. It would be safe to assume that the corresponding TV & radio audience has similar demographics or at least aspirations to it.

Sportscar racing also creates a pedigree for manufacturers which enhance their appeal and desirability - most of the top end sportscar manufacturers have a history at Le Mans and its associated series and that value should not be under estimated

[Deleted]

Originally Posted by dj4monie

With no Atlantic series, there's no reason not to have a full 2:45 race in Long Beach.

I don't mind seeing a true sprint race once year. Long Beach's weekend schedule is way too overcrowded anyway, with Indycar, Toyota Celebrity and support races pushing ALMS to horrible timeslots.

[dj4monie]

Originally Posted by Chiana

I don't mind seeing a true sprint race once year. Long Beach's weekend schedule is way too overcrowded anyway, with Indycar, Toyota Celebrity and support races pushing ALMS to horrible timeslots.

What are these "support races" everybody keeps talking about?

Atlantics was one of two open wheel feeders series at Long Beach. Now its just Indy Light. I don't believe Star Mazda was there and I don't believe ALMS IMSA Lites were there either.

According to last year's schedule it was -

SCCA World Challenge, Indy Lights, Indy Car and ALMS.

So you're saying there too many series running to get an extra 65 min of racing? I don't mind the shorten format, I was just saying from a purist point of view it could be a regular distance race IF the ALMS pushed for it, IMHO.

[dj4monie]

Originally Posted by Mal

In Europe with the exception of F1 all motor racing is a niche sport even Le Mans - but if you look at the people who attend Le Mans and the number of which have high end sportscars it is clear it is a good platform for such manufacturers and associated companies to place their products. It would be safe to assume that the corresponding TV & radio audience has similar demographics or at least aspirations to it.

Sportscar racing also creates a pedigree for manufacturers which enhance their appeal and desirability - most of the top end sportscar manufacturers have a history at Le Mans and its associated series and that value should not be under estimated

I couldn't agree more. Also their should be some collective revenue sharing as all the teams/drivers have a stake in these series.

All these series should embrace streaming. Thus far, FIA GT1 and GT3 do it, but other series like British GT and International GT Open don't. ALMS has started, I would assume that will increase and expand going forward.

We'll see what the ACO does with the ILMC. I believe they'll have to embrace streaming internationally if they are going be taken seriously.

[Fogelhund]

Originally Posted by dj4monie

I would agree, but you have to define "niche" and "large following"

Niche in motorsports I define as Motorcycle racing actually. Racing Motorcycles on TV has never been as big in America as it is in Europe, not even close. But it has a sizable, loyal fan following that's used to seeing say Supercross events on tape-delay.

IMSA/SCCA (road racing) on the other hand has flirted with live coverage now again and IMSA during its heyday in the mid 80s/early 90's was shown live on ESPN and TNN (Spike Today) on a regular basis.

For comparison, as I have said before ALMS overall fan base is favorable to both of NASCAR's 2nd tier series and a weaken Indy Car product.

I believe ALMS does 2.5 Million Homes in America. That does not include Canada or Continental Europe. I think Hindy once said there is about 8 Million world wide listening to the stream of the Le Mans race, I'd say half of that is listening to him during ALMS broadcast.

Don't dismiss what JAG is saying completely. The ALMS is fairly popular in Europe after F1. I would say in terms of ratings it beats everything car based outside of F1. Most of the major publications cover it as well. I could find stuff about the ALMS in a Norwegian magazine while I was waiting for a plane in Amsterdam.

The ALMS is an American series with a International Following, much like Indy Car, which is explains why the CART fan base is also the ALMS fan base to some extent.

ALMS management is making some fundamental errors and not playing hard ball with promoters. With no Atlantic series, there's no reason not to have a full 2:45 race in Long Beach. If Road America approves 6 hours, take it, don't do 4 hours! Also play hard with the ACO, without the ALMS there would be no LMS and no ILMC. The ACO has not proven it knows what its doing with media.

The ALMS has much less than a million viewers per race in North America, last I saw it was below 600,000.

The ALMS cannot play hard with the ACO, Don sits on the ACO side.

Here are some 2009 NETWORK ratings. 0.5 (St. Pete), 0.8 (Long Beach), and 0.4 (Mid-Ohio)

I'll see if I can come up with any actual numbers for 2010, but they won't be good. ALMS certainly does not get 4 million listeners for Hindy.

The same group basically watched the Streaming live of was it Mid Ohio? That was somewhat less than 10,000 people.

[Acid09]

Originally Posted by dj4monie

For comparison, as I have said before ALMS overall fan base is favorable to both of NASCAR's 2nd tier series and a weaken Indy Car product.

Don't dismiss what JAG is saying completely. The ALMS is fairly popular in Europe after F1. I would say in terms of ratings it beats everything car based outside of F1. Most of the major publications cover it as well. I could find stuff about the ALMS in a Norwegian magazine while I was waiting for a plane in Amsterdam.

So you´re saying the ALMS is more popular than the NASCAR Nationwide Series? You got to be kidding...only in Atherton's dreams.

Major publications in Europe that cover the ALMS? I don't know about other countries but the ALMS is basically a non-topic in Germany...which is pretty car crazy in general.

There's no way the series is the most popular after F1 as DTM, WTCC & WRC rank ahead of the ALMS in Europe for sure.

[JAG]

The niche sport argument has applied to motorsport for the past thirty years, in the UK F1 recieves a couple of pages coverage following a race as opposed to twenty plus for soccer after the weekends matches. If a British driver isn't at the heart of the action coverage drops dramatically.

What we do know is major manufactuer plow hundreds of millions into motosport every year with the likes of Audi, BMW, Peugeot, Citroen and Porsche nowhere to be seen in either F1 or NASCAR.

The value from winning an event like Le Mans is wide reaching, TV viewing figures on the day of the event are only a small part. Ford are still dining out on those GT40 wins from the 60's, if you have the slightest interest in the motoring world a week doesn't go by when the car isn't refered to in a magazine, on a TV show, even in the context of a videogame.

New media should not be underestimated, GT5 which launched yesterday with an initial shipment of 7m copies. The two headline events in the game are the Le Mans 24hrs and Nurburgring 24hrs while three of the 'star' cars are Le Mans winners the Peugeot 908, Audi R10 and Mazda 787B. There's also a feature called GTTV, last night the latest shows were the Goodwood Festival of Speed and Monterey Historics, that's potentially millions of eyes on the manufactures cars and sponsors.

[Acid09]

Only a fraction of GT5 buyers will be interested in the endurance races and racing cars in general, most people are keen about the street cars and equipping them with tuning-parts.

[broadrun96]

Knowing a large number of nascar fans, the true fan base of the Nationwide cars might be as low as the ALMS. We had a radio station giving away FREE, no contest and no drawing, tickets to the Nationwide race at Atlanta, within 12 miles of the track, on a Sat night under the lights along with a Cup race raffle with 5 dollars per entry. The Sprint Cup raffle made over $1000 but we had nationwide tickets left over that they gave to the employees if we wanted them. As when I lived in Southwest Virginia, between Martinsville and Bristol, no one cared about attending non-Cup events. Well except broke college kids that would try to use the Nationwide tickets to hang out all weekend drinking.

I would love to think that the ALMS has whatever made ESPN decide to pickup NASCAR in the early 90s and helped it explode but I doubt it. I think the biggest hope for expansion is to get the ALMS to push themselves to Versus, with the small but not nearly as small as people think, subscriber base they have in hopes of later returns when the Comcast/NBC merger is done. By showing how many fans they can draw in with limited households, the ALMS might be able to get better and LIVE coverage on NBC sports during the summer when little but baseball is on. As for the ACO tie-in and their claims on the tv rights, I think we may end up getting screwed with having to deal with 2 coverage teams on multiple channels to get every race and LM24. I for one am hoping with for the short-term pain to yield some positive results in the future. If we, as viewers and ticket buyers, can keep the viewership and track attendance up for a while maybe when can get Versus/NBC sports to pick up other series/events that SPEED/NASCAR sports may not cover. That may not as good for the ALMS specifically but good for the race fan and could widen the sponsorship pool for all series when potential companies see the demand for racing has grown. No, it's not the rose colored glasses just refuse to **** and moan about something I have zero control or DIRECT knowledge about, it's just a waste of my time to cry about it.

[picchiofan]

Originally Posted by broadrun96

Knowing a large number of nascar fans, the true fan base of the Nationwide cars might be as low as the ALMS. We had a radio station giving away FREE, no contest and no drawing, tickets to the Nationwide race at Atlanta, within 12 miles of the track, on a Sat night under the lights along with a Cup race raffle with 5 dollars per entry. The Sprint Cup raffle made over $1000 but we had nationwide tickets left over that they gave to the employees if we wanted them. As when I lived in Southwest Virginia, between Martinsville and Bristol, no one cared about attending non-Cup events. Well except broke college kids that would try to use the Nationwide tickets to hang out all weekend drinking.

Nationwide still sells 30k tickets. When your track holds 140k it's not hard to get seats. Their tv ratings are still higher than anything besides the cup series, and light years beyond the Alms.

I would love to think that the ALMS has whatever made ESPN decide to pickup NASCAR in the early 90s and helped it explode but I doubt it. I think the biggest hope for expansion is to get the ALMS to push themselves to Versus, with the small but not nearly as small as people think, subscriber base they have in hopes of later returns when the Comcast/NBC merger is done. By showing how many fans they can draw in with limited households, the ALMS might be able to get better and LIVE coverage on NBC sports during the summer when little but baseball is on. As for the ACO tie-in and their claims on the tv rights, I think we may end up getting screwed with having to deal with 2 coverage teams on multiple channels to get every race and LM24. I for one am hoping with for the short-term pain to yield some positive results in the future. If we, as viewers and ticket buyers, can keep the viewership and track attendance up for a while maybe when can get Versus/NBC sports to pick up other series/events that SPEED/NASCAR sports may not cover. That may not as good for the ALMS specifically but good for the race fan and could widen the sponsorship pool for all series when potential companies see the demand for racing has grown. No, it's not the rose colored glasses just refuse to **** and moan about something I have zero control or DIRECT knowledge about, it's just a waste of my time to cry about it.[/QUOTE]

[TWK]

Originally Posted by dj4monie

I believe ALMS does 2.5 Million Homes in America. That does not include Canada or Continental Europe. I think Hindy once said there is about 8 Million world wide listening to the stream of the Le Mans race, I'd say half of that is listening to him during ALMS broadcast.

dj, ALMS' PEAK ALL-TIME television rating did not reach 2.5 million homes. However, at one time ratings around 1.0 (plus or minus .2) could be expected on "broadcast" channels, and .4 to .6 on cable only (speed). Unfortunately, from those peaks in mid-decade, they have steadily declined. The retrenchment that occurred in television over the past couple of seasons and that is rumored to continue this season has nothing to do with "embracing new media." It has to do with declining ratings, and thus declining direct ad sales revenue, and declining value to team sponsors.

You want to talk about Hindy's listeners? Very little there that a teams can sell to a prospective sponsor, in my opinion.

I believe this is a serious problem that cannot be minimized. The sport can't live just on a few rich wannabe racers. It needs to be commercially viable to its teams and tracks, and thus to "third party" sponsors.

Is Grand Am "there" yet? No, so this is not a comparason of the two series. Ultimately they both need to be commercially viable. The question now is one of trends. Which is positioned to improve its exposure, and which is not?

[Canada ALMS fan]

Originally Posted by TWK

Is Grand Am "there" yet? No, so this is not a comparison of the two series. Ultimately they both need to be commercially viable. The question now is one of trends. Which is positioned to improve its exposure, and which is not?

Perhaps there needs to be only one series to be commercially viable, I think most of us would applaud that. With the philosophical differences I don't see that any time soon though unless one dies. More manufacturers would invest more if there was only one series competing for eyeballs. They buy the ad time on TV also, making the series more attractive to the networks. Indycar looks as though it may slowly be benefiting from re-unification. They, like the ALMS, need a better TV deal too.

[TWK]

Originally Posted by Canada ALMS fan

Perhaps there needs to be only one series to be commercially viable, I think most of us would applaud that. With the philosophical differences I don't see that any time soon though unless one dies. More manufacturers would invest more if there was only one series competing for eyeballs. They buy the ad time on TV also, making the series more attractive to the networks. Indycar looks as though it may slowly be benefiting from re-unification. They, like the ALMS, need a better TV deal too.

Philosophical differences? As recently as five years ago, perhaps even two, I could tell you what those differences were. I'm not so sure I can now, though.