ALMS Media Schedule 2011

[FordCosworthPanoz]

Originally Posted by AGD

Bloomberg did a TV show about the ALMS that aired this week. Well, it was basically a 20 minute Scott Atherton lovefest. I would not watch it if you have a weak stomach. To see Atherton bash spec racing was eye rolling material, but I guess he was a bit honest about Acura and Audi so I'll cut him a little bit of slack. Anyway, it might be worth a watch if you want an Atherton high. They quote some TV rating figures from Nielsens at about the 18 minute mark, but there isn't really a context for the numbers so I have no idea what to make of it.

http://www.bloomberg.com/tv/shows/bloomberg-enterprise

WARNING: Video May contain blatant propaganda that is highly offensive to the Brains of Humans with an IQ of 80 or above. Viewer Discretion is Advised.

[deggis]

[AGD]

Originally Posted by FordCosworthPanoz

WARNING: Video May contain blatant propaganda that is highly offensive to the Brains of Humans with an IQ of 80 or above. Viewer Discretion is Advised.

What, you didn't find the chart at 13:10 to be highly informative?

[FordCosworthPanoz]

Seriously, these people are more delusional than the old Chimp Car World Series paddock. And, just like them, there are still those who defend these people. Honestly at this point, the series almost deserves to go belly up, it seems they are asking for it. I dont actually mind when people like Ecclestone, France and Cochrane spread their propaganda because they actually run highly successful series. But at a time like this for the ALMS to run a propaganda mouthpiece like this on a major network is just insane.

One of the Best parts of video is the image at 5:39

[FordCosworthPanoz]

Originally Posted by AGD

What, you didn't find the chart at 13:10 to be highly informative?

[AGD]

Originally Posted by FordCosworthPanoz

One of the Best parts of video is the image at 5:39

Ha. What is the most funny part of that image? That Ed Brown is teaching Scott Sharp how to drive or that there are 9 people in the stands (I did not actually count and I may be overestimating)? Of course, if this was a Champ Car or IRL forum, they'd tell you that there were 100,000 there, but they were all in the bathroom or they all wore silver clothes. And pants. And Raiders face paint.

Seriously, these people are more delusional than the old Chimp Car World Series paddock. And, just like them, there are still those who defend these people. Honestly at this point, the series almost deserves to go belly up, it seems they are asking for it. I dont actually mind when people like Ecclestone, France and Cochrane spread their propaganda because they actually run highly successful series. But at a time like this for the ALMS to run a propaganda mouthpiece like this on a major network is just insane.

I wonder if they paid that Bloomberg guy or if he is some sort of super fan because it almost seemed that even Atherton was getting embarrassed at the totally unbelievable inflation of reality. That's impressive. But, hey, car counts are booming (the graph said so!) and the gentleman drivers are just super duper!

Anyway, I don't think some of the decisions the ALMS have made are as bad as what some people think, but this video is just pure comedy and pure tragedy at the same time. Does Bloomberg just take PowerPoint presentations from companies and turn it into a TV show? Well, fortunately it wasn't on the Spice Network so we did not have to see the DeltaWing.

[deggis]

Originally Posted by FordCosworthPanoz

One of the Best parts of video is the image at 5:39

What track is that?

[FordCosworthPanoz]

Originally Posted by deggis

What track is that?

Laguna, which in 2011 and 2010 appeared to have horrible attendance. 77,000 tickets already sold for Rennsport at the same circuit. I just noticed that same image is actually the Thumbnail image that everybody on the website sees. Epic fail...

[porsche91722]

Originally Posted by AGD

Bloomberg did a TV show about the ALMS that aired this week. Well, it was basically a 20 minute Scott Atherton lovefest. I would not watch it if you have a weak stomach. To see Atherton bash spec racing was eye rolling material, but I guess he was a bit honest about Acura and Audi so I'll cut him a little bit of slack. Anyway, it might be worth a watch if you want an Atherton high. They quote some TV rating figures from Nielsens at about the 18 minute mark, but there isn't really a context for the numbers so I have no idea what to make of it.

http://www.bloomberg.com/tv/shows/bloomberg-enterprise

TV show ???
Blatantly obvious piece of paid for advertising. I'm not totally familiar with Bloomberg, and how they operate, but that had all the hallmarks of a marketing promotion, rather than a warm and fuzzy journalistic piece, even down to the final scene in the car, right at the end.

[Beached]

Originally Posted by FordCosworthPanoz

Laguna, which in 2011 and 2010 appeared to have horrible attendance. 77,000 tickets already sold for Rennsport at the same circuit. I just noticed that same image is actually the Thumbnail image that everybody on the website sees. Epic fail...

Longtime lurker here, finally registered!

I live not far from Laguna Seca, and have been going to events there for nearly 30 years. It should be noted that few people use the grandstands for car events as just about any spot along the track offers a better view, and people like to move from spot to spot over the course of a race.

That said, ALMS has been trying to kill what should be one of the biggest events. It had traditionally been the season ending race in October up until 2009. Near the end of the 2009 event, they announced over the PA that the race would be moved to May and would be extended to 6 hours. The added 2 hours was great news, but moving an established event so far up the calendar is never a good idea. Especially when May in this part of the country can be a dicey proposition weather wise.

Naturally there was almost no effort to remind or inform the general public of the changed date when May '10 came around. Even diehard sports car fan friends of mine were taken aback when I asked if they were going. "Wait, why isn't it in the Fall. When did they announce this?" Banners in downtown Monterey and a quick blurb in the paper the day before the race seemed to be the extent of promotion this time around. Mind you, Moto GP and the Historics get huge press in print and on TV. Attendance was not surprisingly way down. Race day was insanely cold, more so than the chilly '09 race. The wind was so extreme we watched from the track as our tents were blown nearly flat up at our campsite. People were leaving early.

So this year they moved it "back" to September, with even less press and promotion than '10. This time I heard, "Wait, what? I thought they canceled this as May went by without a race." Even Costco selling ticket 2 packs at nearly 60% off didn't make a difference. For those of us that remembered, it was an amazing day of racing and gorgeous weather. We were able to park right on the fence between Turns 2 and 3 and setup our base camp for the day. So what do they do for '12? Move it back to May of course to confuse the few people that are still paying attention! Brilliant!

To put this in perspective, I was at Rennsport today (mindblowing event), and the Friday practice/quali crowd seemed on par or greater than this year's raceday ALMS crowd. We talked to people from all over the world in the beer garden. We're heading back tomorrow and expect an even bigger crowd.

[AGD]

Originally Posted by porsche91722

TV show ???
Blatantly obvious piece of paid for advertising. I'm not totally familiar with Bloomberg, and how they operate, but that had all the hallmarks of a marketing promotion, rather than a warm and fuzzy journalistic piece, even down to the final scene in the car, right at the end.

I can't say much about Bloomberg, but I thought it was a respected business/financial channel. Maybe not. Anyway, it is worth noting that the show that did the ALMS/Atherton profile is one of Bloomber's main shows. Episodes debut on weekdays at primetime.

[AGD]

Not really media related, but this is related to the discussion we had earlier about economic impact "studies" being basically bogus. One of the most prominent sports economics professors in this country did a study of the GP by interviewing the attendees at the Baltimore GP and found that the GP had very little economic impact. Shocking! Uh, maybe not. Professor Coates is very well respected. I've been reading his stuff over at the The Sports Economist blog for several years now as well as some of his published papers. The mayor of Baltimore can make up all sorts of excuses, but this economics professor probably knows a little more about statistics than the mayor does!

Anyway, just more evidence for those of you who are against street racing and against bogus economic impact studies.

[joeb]

Indycar released an article with viewship numbers from 2011. It would be interesting to see how ALMS stacked up. Indycar avered 402,000 on Versus, and more than 3 million on their ABC races - although that was heavily biased by 6.7 million people watching the 500.

[FordCosworthPanoz]

Originally Posted by joeb

Indycar released an article with viewship numbers from 2011. It would be interesting to see how ALMS stacked up. Indycar avered 402,000 on Versus, and more than 3 million on their ABC races - although that was heavily biased by 6.7 million people watching the 500.

It would be nice if ALMS gave us actual television ratings and not internet hits...

I know that during the same timeslot, (alms td, indy live) Indycar got better ratings on Versus than ALMS received on ABC. Also, on Indycar's ABC ratings, not only do you counter in the Indy 500, the only Indycar race that gets any real mainstream attention, but also the Las Vegas Finale on ABC also received large, abnormal ratings for obvious reasons.

[JAG]

Not strictly ALMS related but Dailymotion is coming to the Xbox 360 this month, the streaming service of choice for the WEC, FIA GT, Peugeot etc, so it looks like that is going to be the easiest way to watch races on a big screen TV.

[Fogelhund]

Originally Posted by JAG

Not strictly ALMS related but Dailymotion is coming to the Xbox 360 this month, the streaming service of choice for the WEC, FIA GT, Peugeot etc, so it looks like that is going to be the easiest way to watch races on a big screen TV.

Cool, thanks

[AGD]

Originally Posted by JAG

Not strictly ALMS related but Dailymotion is coming to the Xbox 360 this month, the streaming service of choice for the WEC, FIA GT, Peugeot etc, so it looks like that is going to be the easiest way to watch races on a big screen TV.

If you plan on watching the WEC through the web, you may be best served using whatever technology option which allows you to access the ACO, Peugeot, and multiple Audi streams at one time because often two of the three don't work or one is too busy showing the company media girl pulling microphone wire for 20 minutes.