Fox Pleased With NASCAR Ad Support, But Still Have Concerns
 |
Fox Anticipates Reduced Ad Revenue Of Up
To 25% This Year For NASCAR |
Fox Sports execs said that they are "pleased with advertiser support" for the current NASCAR Sprint Cup Series season, "but still plenty concerned," according to Erik Spanberg of NASCAR SCENE. The network reportedly anticipates reduced ad revenue of up to 25% this year, and industry sources point to lower rates for 30-second spots "as evidence." Auto manufacturers, which "rank among the top spenders for all sports advertising on TV," have "had to reduce their NASCAR spending as car sales plunge." But Fox Sports Chair & CEO David Hill said, "We have been very gratified about the people that are stepping up to the plate. Obviously, the automotives that everyone thought would not be stepping up, they have bought a lot of time. The financials have bought time. The phone companies have bought time. So we're very, very comfortable about where we are." But Spanberg noted the "true test, of course, is whether Hill and Fox executives are comfortable with their NASCAR advertising haul in June, when the network finishes its" '09 schedule. NASCAR's new TV deal that began in '07 mandated rights holders pay on average 40% higher rights fees than under the former deal, and thus making money on the partnership was "going to be harder than ever for NASCAR's network partners even before the sport's popularity began waning and the economy nosedived." That explains, in part, "why Fox executives spent the weeks leading into the Daytona 500 searching for ways to cut production costs." Hill: "Very carefully, over the last 18 months, because we could see this coming, we have been looking minutely at every aspect of every production -- football, baseball, NASCAR, (college football). And determining what changes we could make that weren't obvious to the viewer" (SCENEDAILY.com, 4/2).
DRIVING IN THE WRONG DIRECTION: In Las Vegas, Mike Smith noted NASCAR TV ratings have declined this season, and the "underlying frustration that fans feel toward the sport is causing many of them to abandon their racing habit, or at the very least it's making them only tune in for the last 20 laps." Some tracks have "done a great job filling as many seats as they can, but it is the declining TV viewership that may be harder to reverse." Smith: "I suspect those numbers aren't as much a result of fans' economic considerations as they are an indication of fans' changing attitude toward the sport" (LASVEGASSUN.com, 4/1).
|
Related Stories By Company
|
Related Stories By Sport
|
Goren Confirms Fox Bidding For Olympics
March 18, 2010 :
SportsBusiness Daily
NASCAR Sponsors Becoming More Diverse
March 18, 2010 :
SportsBusiness Daily
Carl Edwards Only Gets Probation For Wreck
March 10, 2010 :
SportsBusiness Daily
U.S. Census Sports Advertising Discussed
March 10, 2010 :
SportsBusiness Daily
NASCAR Sponsorships Holding Steady
March 5, 2010 :
SportsBusiness Daily
|
NASCAR Sponsors Becoming More Diverse
March 18, 2010 :
SportsBusiness Daily
Top ISC Execs See Pay Increases In '09
March 12, 2010 :
SportsBusiness Daily
IndyCar Series Fan Demographics
March 12, 2010 :
SportsBusiness Daily
IndyCar Series Entering '10 With Changes
March 12, 2010 :
SportsBusiness Daily
USF1 Employees File Complaint With NCDOL
March 12, 2010 :
SportsBusiness Daily
|
|
