(Photo by Donald Miralle/Getty Images)
Robin Miller has written an excellent column, detailing IndyCar's ratings and, by extension, its sponsorship problems due to most its races being on Vs., a fledgling sports network that many people (including all DirecTV subscribers) do not get and is not a go-to network among casual channel-flippers (as ESPN, for example, is).
Miller shares this little anecdote from Paul Tracy, who has struggled to put together sponsorship to compete in IndyCar full time, despite being one of the most popular open-wheel drivers in North America:
"Paul Tracy recently met with GEICO, which sponsored him at Indianapolis and Watkins Glen this season. The insurance company said it was happy with PT’s efforts and wanted to help him again in 2010.
'But they’re only interested in the races on ABC,' said Tracy."
The reasons for the abysmal ratings on Vs. are many.
First, the channel is not in nearly as many homes as ESPN and ABC, the networks that have carried IndyCar/CART racing for decades. Those cable systems that do carry it often place it away from the mainstream cable channels or even as part as an additional sports package that costs extra money.
ESPN is almost always part of a cable provider's basic cable package.
Losing DirecTV, which has more than 18 million subscribers, most of them in the U.S., worsens this problem.
Additionally, even those who do have the channel aren't likely to flip to it unless they specifically want to watch what is on Vs. Vs. has done a nice job of putting together a nice little sports lineup, but they are all niche sports: IndyCar, the National Hockey League, World Extreme Cagefighting, mid-major NCAA college football and basketball, and hunting and fishing shows.
These are sports that have passionate fan-bases, but lack a following among casual and mainstream sports fans.
Outside of its sports entertainment show Sports Soup, Vs. has not developed any non-event programming. By this I mean shows like a daily sports wrap-up show like ESPN's SportsCenter, as well as shows built around specific sports. It seems to me that a This Week in IndyCar show would be a no-brainer.
It also doesn't help when Vs. convinces the IRL to make stupid decisions, like starting the Chicagoland race after 10p.m. eastern standard time, but I digress.
But Vs. isn't doing any of these things and, therefore, nobody is watching the races. If IndyCar doesn't want to fall into sports oblivion, they need to scrap the 10-year contract with Vs. (if it doesn't have an out clause, then shame on Terry Angstadt) and do whatever it takes to get back on ESPN/ABC, CBS or NBC, even if it means resorting to time-buys.
Logically, it would be best to go with ESPN/ABC in the spring and summer and NBC in the fall. ESPN's college basketball coverage ends in March, leaving its Sunday afternoon lineup wide open.
If IndyCar can't get the races on ESPN, at least get them on ESPN2, which is nearly as ubiquitous as its sister network and usually found right next to it on most cable lineups. After the NBA basketball finals end in June, some of the races could go onto ABC, except when it's showing golf.
In July, ESPN/ABC's NASCAR schedule kicks in (and we all know that they won't tolerate any competing racing series) and ESPN and ESPN2 start to fill their schedule with college and NFL football preview shows, so at this point a move to NBC would make sense.
Other than some golf and tennis, NBC has very little in the way of weekend afternoon sports these days, so there is a hole to be filled there. NBC's brief coverage of Champ Car in 2007 worked out quite nicely.
This, along with the reduced cost of competition that needs to come in 2012 or earlier (something IndyCar CEO Brian Barnhardt doesn't seem to understand -- I'll have more on this in a future column), should attract more full-time sponsors to the series.
As Miller notes in his column, the annual cost of IndyCar competition is $4 million, but at least one sponsor (Monster energy drink) said it's only worth $1.2 million. And that was when the series was on ABC/ESPN. With most of the races on Vs., the series' value to sponsors is almost certainly less than $1 million annually.
Clearly, something has to give for the series to survive.
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