Ritter v4.0

"but it is better than SPEED and it is better than nothing."

Better than nothing - er, yes. Better than readily available 8 hour (out of 12) coverage on SPEED in HD, with arguably better coverage and commentators- not IMHO.

Brinkley

Has anyone looked at ESPN3.com since the race?

Everyone relax, the ALMS is in great company on that site. Just look today they are showing the "National Professional Paintball League"!!! Now that's niche programming.

Ritter v4.0

Hows the car coming along? Well I hope.

Btw- if you need a race fix this w/e check here for last week's FIA GT1 action from Dubai- http://www.gt1world.com/
Next week is Zolder. Races sometimes on Bloomberg TV

Brinkley

David,

Thanks for asking, the car is at the frame shop being straightened. Parts have all been ordered and I hope it will be done by the end of the month.

Matt Lane

Pooh. Tripe. Rubbish. Yup, the coverage was all of that and more.

I am not reading any ALMS hate in this thread. If we hated it, we'd be laughing at them and enjoying their great failure and misstep.

Most of us are just deeply disappointed.

Best,

Matt

DER951

http://www.autoweek.com/article/20110403/FREE/110409971

Streak

Well this is scathing from across the pond. Big troubles over there as well. He also legitimately points out the fallacy of the "record numbers" reports:

http://www.dailysportscar.com/viewAr...24BAB93340BB14

Brinkley

Wow, I just read the autoweek article and can't believe some of the statements from ESPN. Keep in mind that TV networks make most if not all of their money selling advertising time to corporations/business that want to reach the people watching. Therefore, the one thing that these networks have to have a major handle on is the question that every single potential ad buyer wants to know; how many are watching and who are they? Are they young, old, rich, poor, men, women?

Understanding that they couldn't sell ads without this information means that we know they have it down to the millisecond. That is, their computer tracking folks can tell you who signed on, how long they watched, and if they came back one to one hundred times. So anyone sophisticated enough to turn on a TV is also smart enough to know they have the data. ESPN isn't going to crow about it because it's CRAP! Do you think Scott would sit on the sidelines and watch his company go down in flames on the countless forums and websites if he could simply produce the facts, that is the actual numbers of ESPN3 viewers. He would be wagging those statistics in everyone of our faces. Saying, look we had 900,000 viewers online and 200,000 for the ABC show. That's an increase over last year by X amount and that means flat out that more people watched the 12 hrs!!! He didn't. He can't. He won't because the web numbers SUCKED.

I'd love to be a media buyer for a company right now. I'd walk into his office and say show me the data for ESPN3. I'd love to hear him tell a major advertising rep who is looking to buy media for a Fortune 500 company we don't know the numbers because ESPN3 doesn't give that out. It just proves that they have it and don't want to disclose it because it's still very difficult to slap lipstick on this pig and sell it.

I'm just sick and tired of people like Scott trying to work us as if we are "hay seeds" from the era of snake oil salesmen!

OK I'll get off for now.

mdrums

+1 Brinkley.

ALMS is in trouble if they can't get the races on TV. The fan base will dwindle and the sponsors on the cars certainly will not pay for ad space...think trickle down effect! Fans and sponsors makes the wheels turn. ALMS kind of reminds me of APBA Offshore Racing....no more TV...no more fans...no more money. They use to have 200 boats show up in various classes to race now they are lucky if 20 boats show....oh and there is no more APBA Offshore either.

Rolex Grand Am is looking good. Excellent sports car racing...I know I know...not the mega buck Audi Pugeot and Ferrari's but still exciting excellent racing with TV exposure and sponsors. Hummmm......

Veloce Raptor

Figures lie & liars figure....

Flying Finn

This sucks *****.

And the fact that Grand-Am has TV exposure while ALMS doesn't has nothing to do with TV viewers interest or lack of. It has a lot to do with France & NASCAR.

AutoAtlanta

Even in racing, it isn't about what you know, it is about WHO you know.

I know this doesn't address any of the problems, but here is a quick ALMS guide that I wrote.

http://www.carguydad.com/guide-to-am...e-mans-series/

jamuz

message to alms: THIS IS HOW U WEBCAST LIVE EVENTS!!!!

gentlemen, check out how much the Masters is being shown on their free website with multiple channels to follow the action in various ways. why on earth can't we get coverage like this???

http://www.masters.com/en_US/tournament/schedule.html

let's see, today they are following two featured groups from 12pm to 7:30pm ONLINE, from 10:45am to 6pm amen corner live coverage, from 2pm masters radio LIVE, from 3pm to 7:30pm ESPN (LIVE COVERAGE!!!!!), and above all else they have 2 hours of 3D coverage!!!!!!!!

ps. similar to alms they have highlights show on cbs, but for 15mins from 11:30 to 11:45pm hahaha. sigh

kabel_Boxster

Who is the core target audience of the ALMS, really? I know we are all passionate fans...
Is this a series that is actually highly dependent on consumer level sponsorship? Or is this series really a manufactures playground? Just a random thought I had.

neros

Here is some of the race action of the 12 Hours of Sebring this year