On online streaming, Versus conspicuous in its silence
IndyCar commentary — By Steph Wallcraft on March 18, 2011 2:01 pmIt appears that, at least in the short term, the NBC/Comcast merger has hurt INDYCAR fans far, far more than it has helped.
The hope, of course, is that Comcast’s purchase of NBC Universal means that Versus, INDYCAR’s part-time broadcast partner, might see increased viewership and that NBC may even become INDYCAR’s network broadcaster and air more races in more homes.
But these changes are expected to be long term, if they happen at all. Meanwhile, in the short term, Comcast’s purchase of NBC Universal and the resulting change of staff at Versus appear to have resulted in the stomping out of one of INDYCAR’s best and most fan-friendly initiatives: free online streaming of every session on its schedule.
It turns out that by offering online streaming, INDYCAR has been in violation of its contract with Versus since the beginning. But until now, the parties involved either missed the fine print or were willing to turn a blind eye. However, it appears that Comcast now wants to force INDYCAR fans to pay for cable or satellite service in order to view races, and INDYCAR is unable do a thing about it. (It was a terrible thing to agree to in the first place, but that’s another matter.)
There’s a major flaw with the logic behind this: no one is going to sign up for cable as a result of the loss of online streaming. Fans will either seek out a bootleg stream or they simply won’t watch. With any amount of research, the number-crunchers responsible for this would find that the crossover between those people watching INDYCAR streams online and those capable of acquiring Versus through legitimate means is very low. There’s precious little profit to be gained by shutting out fans who couldn’t or wouldn’t pay for the cable product whether the stream is available or not.
And this move hurts every INDYCAR fan, domestic and international. The international fan base gets burned the most, of course — many countries don’t have broadcasters who carry INDYCAR races at all, and even those that do rarely receive everything Versus offers. Take Canada as an example — TSN broadcasts the races (when it feels like it — it’s not at all unusual for a race to be preempted and shifted to another time or channel, messing up PVR programming and making the broadcast all but impossible to find). But TSN has never aired the qualifying show or anything related to Firestone Indy Lights, which means that Canadian fans now have no venue for watching these sessions.
But even fans in the U.S. with access to the full Versus line-up will see reduced coverage as a result of this move, and it’s unfortunately the dedicated fans who will be hurt the most. There was a fair number of people who would wake up at the crack of dawn on Sunday to watch the morning warm-up sessions, despite the fact that they were usually uneventful. These people form the group that would watch IndyCars on track at any time of the day or night simply because they are there. Now, all practice and morning warm-up sessions will be off-limits to anyone not physically present on race weekends. Talk about taking a step backward in fan base development.
The crux of the problem is that the television world has yet to figure out that Neilsen ratings are on the verge of becoming useless data. There’s no doubt that someone in the Versus or Comcast offices took a look at the INDYCAR situation and followed this line of thinking: ratings are low because people are watching online, so let’s take away online streaming and the ratings will go up. Too many broadcast outlets are still using this antiquated way of tracking viewers to sell advertising space instead of being forward-thinking and using page hit statistics as well as ratings to demonstrate value in their products. Instead, fans will now move to third-party streaming sites, and those potential viewership numbers are being lost. And either way, cable companies stand to lose if television stations go this route on their own, which means an iron fist will be applied to keep profits rolling in the traditional way whenever possible.
If a large cable company is ever able to adapt to the times and find a way to create a product offering online, that company stands to profit substantially. It’s been said over and over by fans from around the globe that people would be more than willing to pay a fair price for a quality online stream of INDYCAR events. One would think that the revenue from selling access to the stream could offset the loss in profits from those same people not paying for cable service, especially since a large number of those people either can’t or weren’t going to give that money to Comcast anyway.
But unfortunately, there’s no forward-thinking involved in this decision, so it’s highly unlikely that any of these changes will be made, and INDYCAR coverage will now return to the dark ages.
Thus far, Versus has been completely silent on this issue. Versus isn’t feeling much like a valuable broadcasting partner at the moment, and INDYCAR is stuck in this contract for another eight years. At a minimum, the station owes the sport’s most serious fans — the core of its INDYCAR viewership — an explanation for taking away access that it doesn’t intend to replace.
And in the meantime, INDYCAR should be watching the ALMS very closely to see how its decision to go online-only plays out. As online content becomes more accessible and acceptable to the general public, INDYCAR shouldn’t rule out the possibility that a similar move could be of benefit if its partnership with Versus continues to be a ball and chain on its expansion efforts.
Tags: Verizon IndyCar Series - Administration, Versus
I might be in the minority, but I will now be purchasing the cable package that includes Versus. In the past I watched online and I will definitely miss it but at least this way I can record it and watch later
An an international fan who used to watch everything I could get through the streaming, and signed up to IndyCar Nation on the back of that – I’m disappointed to lose my feed.
Just at the point where Plowey is poised to join the other brits in IndyCar stepping up from Indy Lights this year.
Very sad.
As you point out, on cable they’re hardly going to carry the extended programming of practice and qualifying they they could put online – it only appeals to us hardcore fans.
They can put on a lot of coverage of other sports that I am not the least bit interested in during practice and qualifying.
Even during race coverage, I bet they will show the races with advert breaks in. I don’t want to pay for adverts – I want IndyCar!!
–so people who watch on computers, once that’s taken away, will refuse to pay for cable TV to watch races? I’m not really all that upset for that tech-savvy consumer.
–I’d like to think that Comcast/NBC could figure out a way to offer streaming of stuff for those who enjoy that. But the only fans I feel bad for are those who can’t see the races any other way–I guess that’s in other countries. (Except for Europe who I guess has SKY and Australia who has SPEED and doesn’t anyone in Canada carry the races?)
But I get it. They’re selling a product…why give it away?
No one’s asking them to give it away. I’ve yet to talk to a single person who used the online stream who wasn’t willing to pay for it.
that seems fair. it just seemed like everyone was beating up on Indycar when it wasn’t really their fault.
has nbc/comcast said why they wouldn’t do that (stream for a fee)?
and also–(my lack of knowledge here)–if NBC streams the events do they still show the commercials, just like a normal broadcast?
We sought comment from Versus, but we didn’t receive anything concrete back.
How the stream would integrate advertising depends entirely on how they choose to go about it. INDYCAR’s didn’t show ads because it was a direct mirror of the track video feed, but Versus could theoretically opt to just stream their broadcast as shown on TV, which would include their ads. (But if you go to a third-party site to pick up the stream, you get those ads anyway.)
While I agree that pulling the streaming is a dumb idea, I’m going to put out an alternate idea even though it has yet to be proposed by Versus. You are correct in the statement that with streaming, DVR, etc., the Neilsen rating is fast becoming a meaningless number. My day job is planning and buying broadcast, cable, radio and online advertising for clients. I know first hand the limitations of Neilsen and they are not new, they are just compounded by a multi-platform media environment. That said, the age of mom, dad and 2.4 kids sitting on the sofa watching the Zenith are long over. Television is no longer a single screen experience. Part of the issue may lie in the fact that the streaming was on IndyCar.com and not on Versus.com. If I’m Versus, I want those hits going to my site and the revenue from the annoyingly ubiquitous “I Racing” ad going against my bottom line.
Programmers who are “doing it right” realize this and capitalize on the opportunity to engage the audience. Last night, I watched “Destination Truth” on SyFy (which coincidentally is owned by NBC, the company Versus now owns). Normally, I’m not a fan of the program, but it was live from Ireland on St. Patrick’s Day, they were hunting the legendary Banshee, & I’m a so so basketball fan so it looked fun. In addition to the TV broadcast, they had a site with live streaming of multiple static cameras, floorplans of the castle they were in and locators for all the team members. If viewers saw something unusual, they could tell the producers what they saw and where. By a couple hours in, there were enough reports from a certain area, that the team moved the ghost investigation. It made for a real enjoyable evening.
One can hope IndyCar and Versus will take a cue from their sister network and get with the program.
“The international fan base gets burned the most, of course — many countries don’t have broadcasters who carry INDYCAR races at all, and even those that do rarely receive everything Versus offers.”
“But even fans in the U.S. with access to the full Versus line-up will see reduced coverage as a result of this move, and it’s unfortunately the dedicated fans who will be hurt the most. There was a fair number of people who would wake up at the crack of dawn on Sunday to watch the morning warm-up sessions, despite the fact that they were usually uneventful.”
Exactly. NBC is preventing people from watching practice unless they travel to the track and preventing non-US fan to watch qualifying unless they take a plane Stateside. Is there any win on this other than saving servers broadcasting the video?
Versus is versus us.