What do we actually want out of TV coverage?

What do we actually want out of TV coverage?

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groomi

Original Poster:

9,317 posts

242 months

Wednesday 6th January 2016
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NOTE: I'm ignoring the show/business of F1 for this post, because it's too far-fetched to ever imagine it changing for the better.

Take the BBC for example. They now have a void of motorsport coverage, don't have a huge budget and don't seem to have a love of any sports as such anymore. They do however have a stated aim of trying to reduce 'entertainment' for more genuine content, and they ofcourse have an obligation to try to get as many viewing figures as possible to justify the content they do produce.

Generally speaking, we all bemoan the lack of coverage of WEC. It's an excellent championship, lots of manufacturers and independents, some realistic links to cars you can aspire to buying, cutting edge technology and races at some iconic circuits, with top-flight drivers and masses of home-grown talent. In many ways it has it all, but in terms of coverage it has very little. Why?

It's not hard to see that a TV station looking at the WEC sees races of six, twelve and twenty-four hours and immediately thinks it's impossible to cover. Full coverage would appease the hard-core fans, but even they are unlikely to tune in for the whole programme and certainly not in any significant numbers so it's unaffordable. A highlights package might draw in the casual viewers, but the hard-core fans would continue to moan and likely to try to find live news/updates elsewhere instead.

So what's the alternative? What could be done to appease these requirements:
1) Satisfy the hard-core fans - the people who will 'sell' your programme for you if they're happy.
2) Interest the casual viewer enough to get them hooked.
3) Provide a degree of educational content so it isn't just entertainment.

Well, here's my line of thinking...

RACE COVERAGE

Provide coverage in a three-pronged format.
1) A Sunday evening highlights package, made into a Saturday and Sunday evening package for Le Mans. Try to attract the casual viewer and give something for the hard-core fans to actually watch.
2) Linked to the highlights package, an hourly/two-hourly update bulletin. Just a 5-minute slot with a presenter from the highlights show talking through the events of that hour with a couple of short clips of significant action. Thjs will help to catch the attention of the casual viewer and give the hardcore fan a reason to leave the TV on in the background for the duration to catch the snippets and keep abreast of the action - while all the time increasing the viewing figures of the programmes inbetween.
3) Online coverage. In the same way as other sports are covered on the BBC website - at the very least have a live text update during the event, perhaps interspersed with some short clips or heaven forbid, perhaps even a live picture feed.

OTHER CONTENT

To sell the WEC to the casual viewer, catching their eye with race coverage should be only part of the package.
1) Show a two or three part series looking at the history of sports car racing. Nothing too serious or in-depth, nothing that hasn't really been down before so no big budget required. Show some nice shots of beautiful cars sliding round tracks with a bit of an explanation dubbed over the top - appeal to the Top Gear type viewers.
2) Tap into the huge motorsport engineering industry in this country. A documentary series focussing on the different classes and the unusual one-offs through history and Garage 56. Serious content for the hardcore enthusiast and the Open University student alike. Not necessarily any glitzy cinematography required, but a good interview with the likes of Bowlby, Brawn, Gade etc.
3) Online links. Spread the net - make the online pages like a central portal for anyone interested in WEC. From there, you can find all the teams, the venues, the ticket outlets, the sponsors, the drivers, the manufacturers, the (good) bloggers etc.


I don't see anything there that needs to cost a fraction of the old F1 budget, but with a decent coordinated approach, I believe coverage could be provided in a way that will satisfy most people.


What do you all think?

jurbie

2,339 posts

200 months

Wednesday 6th January 2016
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I don't get this obsession with getting motorsport on to the BBC. There is plenty of motorsport elsewhere from ITV4 through Motors TV, Eurosport and BT Sport who all do a fine job. Yes you have to pay for some of them but nobody has a divine right to free stuff and it's all got to be paid for somehow.

Your 3 pronged approach sounds awful, I would consider myself a hardcore fan and if I'm not actually at the race then I will set aside as much time as possible to watch it. So none of what you've proposed would interest me however I am concerned that maybe your proposals would remove my ability to watch the full race. I'll be very cross if that happens.

What you're basically proposing is that during Le Mans they would have a 5 minute update either side of Strictly Come Baking or whatever happens to be on which would engage the Strictly fans and keep me watching Strictly in anticipation of a 5 minute race update? No, the Strictly fans will be off making a cup of tea and the hardcore fans will be at the race, watching on Eurosport, watching on the WEC app or listening to Radio Le Mans.

The other thing you're missing is that beyond F1 the general public aren't interested in motorsport. Go and check out Martin Brundles twitter feed, he asked only yesterday if close racing and noise are so important to fans why do so few take any interest in GP2? The many replies were eye opening with many of them using a football comparison of asking why watch league 2 football when you've got the Premiership?

Your other content ideas remind me of Alan Partridge pitching to the BBC a detective show based in Norwich because it would put Norwich on the map. The response from the BBC was why would we want to do that?


Edited by jurbie on Wednesday 6th January 12:04

groomi

Original Poster:

9,317 posts

242 months

Wednesday 6th January 2016
quotequote all
hehe So you're not a fan of the idea then?

marshall100

1,124 posts

200 months

Wednesday 6th January 2016
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I'd like to see the WEC on ITV4, they have the time on the schedule to go all in or just highlights. With the BTCC and the coverage of the TT on going I'm more than happy with what we get on free to air. They alos have the formula E which provides some decent live entertainment when lets face it, there's sod all else on TV.

I think the world rallycross championship would also do quite well with them, but I'd have to wonder if at that point the channel was becoming a bit one dimensional?

RobGT81

5,227 posts

185 months

Wednesday 6th January 2016
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Motors, Eurosport and RLM do a good enough job of WEC. All races live, I think? Not sure what else you expect really!

groomi

Original Poster:

9,317 posts

242 months

Wednesday 6th January 2016
quotequote all
I also consider myself a hardcore fan, however I also have other responsibilities in life, so sitting to watch any TV over a weekend is a treat and 6, 12 or 24 hours is just never going to happen for me.

Sportscar races are interesting to see the strategies unfolding, but the actual action on-track is not usually lights-to-flag but happens in odd moments here and there. I think it's ripe for a highlights package or a 'dip in and out' format such as online text commentary with video clips of specific action. It would make it more accessible.

Full races on Motors TV are great, but that's never going to happen on mainstream TV channels.

I'd like to see something similar for the Dakar too. They have good potential with the App, but there's too little content on it. A nightly highlights package would be enough to keep abreast of the event.

This is nothing unusual - it's similar to the way other long sporting events are covered (cricket, Tour de France etc).

jurbie

2,339 posts

200 months

Wednesday 6th January 2016
quotequote all
groomi said:
hehe So you're not a fan of the idea then?
Yeah sorry I got a bit ranty there but what I was trying to say and was said so much more succinctly above is that the coverage now is fine, it may not be entirely free to air but folks are going to have to get used to that. Trying to give something like WEC mass market appeal just isn't going to work and in many respects it's better for it.



coppice

8,562 posts

143 months

Thursday 7th January 2016
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Motorsport rarely, if ever, works on TV. It's a 2D image with rubbish sound with somebody deciding what part of a race you should actually see and somebody else telling you what to watch so you can put your brain in neutral and turn into a couch potato . I'll stay awake for Belgian and Italian Grands Prix, Goodwood and that's about it. I have tried occasionally to watch Motors TV and am open mouthed at how utterly rubbish it is. Do people actually watch this - and if so why ?

Motorsport for me can only be a live experience - a weekend at Cadwell is far more memorable than a season's worth of cliched F1 or BTCC coverage

fatboy18

18,930 posts

210 months

Thursday 7th January 2016
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I love the WEC and Le mans Sports car series, but even being a motorsports fan I find myself losing concentration from time to time frown Some of the commentators seem to be just rambling on with their voices laid over previously recorded vt.


I actually prefer the mini fly on the wall documentaries they have made about individual teams running their cars during the season.
Road to lemans was brilliant, also Patrick Dempsey's team quest to race at le mans was also great. Even my missus took an interest (which was a first). smile

As much as I like the LMP1 type cars, I feel there is far too much coverage of the Top Dogs and many times after the racing has finished they show the Top Dogs on the podium then drop coverage of everyone else frown

Rather than just the race coverage it would be good if they could do a technical section asking teams what they have changed from the previous season be it Aero development or something else. Even a little profile clip of various teams where are they based etc

Just some thoughts smile

groomi

Original Poster:

9,317 posts

242 months

Thursday 7th January 2016
quotequote all
fatboy18 said:
I love the WEC and Le mans Sports car series, but even being a motorsports fan I find myself losing concentration from time to time frown Some of the commentators seem to be just rambling on with their voices laid over previously recorded vt.


I actually prefer the mini fly on the wall documentaries they have made about individual teams running their cars during the season.
Road to lemans was brilliant, also Patrick Dempsey's team quest to race at le mans was also great. Even my missus took an interest (which was a first). smile

As much as I like the LMP1 type cars, I feel there is far too much coverage of the Top Dogs and many times after the racing has finished they show the Top Dogs on the podium then drop coverage of everyone else frown

Rather than just the race coverage it would be good if they could do a technical section asking teams what they have changed from the previous season be it Aero development or something else. Even a little profile clip of various teams where are they based etc

Just some thoughts smile
Agreed, those are the things that add interest. Now I guess if you're Motors TV covering the whole event, the technical sections could be say 10 minutes long and during quiet periods of the race they could go to a split screen format while the feature is played?

DanielSan

18,745 posts

166 months

Thursday 7th January 2016
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If we're talking BBC specific motorsport then the best thing they could show as a decent hour and half highlights show would be Rallycross. Short, relatively action packed races so the casual viewer doesn't get bored. Cars that look like mad versions of the stuff most people drive. And the majority could relate to it because 'it's what they tried on Top Gear once'

fatboy18

18,930 posts

210 months

Thursday 7th January 2016
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Indeed, why not smile

fatboy18

18,930 posts

210 months

Thursday 7th January 2016
quotequote all
DanielSan said:
If we're talking BBC specific motorsport then the best thing they could show as a decent hour and half highlights show would be Rallycross. Short, relatively action packed races so the casual viewer doesn't get bored. Cars that look like mad versions of the stuff most people drive. And the majority could relate to it because 'it's what they tried on Top Gear once'
Strange the wide differences in motorsport, I would have no interest in watching that, Just being honest... getmecoat

Eric Mc

121,779 posts

264 months

Thursday 7th January 2016
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I really used to like BBC's mid week roundup that they used to run in the mid 1990s. It was called "Top Gear Motorsport" and it was an excellent way of keeping abreast of what was happening in the world of motor sport outside F1 without having to devote hours and hours of your time. Something like that would be appreciated by me.

Vocal Minority

8,582 posts

151 months

Thursday 7th January 2016
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Eric Mc said:
I really used to like BBC's mid week roundup that they used to run in the mid 1990s. It was called "Top Gear Motorsport" and it was an excellent way of keeping abreast of what was happening in the world of motor sport outside F1 without having to devote hours and hours of your time. Something like that would be appreciated by me.
i remember it well - it was pretty good.

Thats how 13 year old me picked up on Mr Button going through Formula Ford

Eric Mc

121,779 posts

264 months

Thursday 7th January 2016
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It was usually introduced by Tony Mason and Tiff Needell. I used to video tape some of the episodes and I still have them on VHS tapes gathering dust.

DanielSan

18,745 posts

166 months

Thursday 7th January 2016
quotequote all
fatboy18 said:
trange the wide differences in motorsport, I would have no interest in watching that, Just being honest... getmecoat
To be honest I don't, for every one decent race there's a lot of follow my leader. But for the casual viewer not interested in anything longer than 10 minutes it's spot on, plus the more casual viewers will find it entertaining because the cars are pretty mad.

eastlmark

1,654 posts

206 months

Friday 8th January 2016
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whatever the channel showing it....less interviews please. How often is great race cut away from to interview some driver or team
manager. At least show these on a portion of the screen and leave the live racing feed on the rest.

fatboy18

18,930 posts

210 months

Friday 8th January 2016
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More coverage of the Pitt Girls biggrin

Eric Mc

121,779 posts

264 months

Saturday 9th January 2016
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Ingrid Pitt's daughters?