NASCAR on Nothing But Commercials, fans mad at NBC for ad breaks during the race.

[Will_H_69_9]

NASCAR on NBC's second season of it's current run as the second half of the season home of NASCAR TV coverage did not get off to a good start for NASCAR fans as most of the Coke Zero 400 at Daytona International Speedway broadcast was mostly commercials as they kept going to breaks a couple of minutes after returning. in fact complains were being made by very vocal NASCAR fans who were ticked at the amount of commercials that aired last night on NASCAR on NBC's Facebook page, which some threating to boycott NBC and watch the Race via NASCAR.com and listen to audio coverage from MRN/PRN to some wishing Fox had the entire season and saying they miss the NASCAR on Fox coverage.

in fact, according to Fansided's Beyond The Flag section the total amount of ad time spent during the race was 47 minutes and 143 minutes of racing aired on TV, compare to last years Coke Zero 400 which had a total of 168 minutes of racing on TV and 35 minutes of ads and that race last year was ran in the late night/early morning hours and didn't end until almost 3 AM local time due to a several hours of rain delay to delay the race start of the race. the race last year was NBC's first NASCAR race since the end of the 2006 season when NBC's previous NASCAR coverage contract ended and ESPN/ABC took over the second half of the season rights from 2007-2014.

this is not the first time NBC did this, in fact during the 2001-2006 run of NASCAR on NBC (which was co-produced by NBC Sports and Turner Sports as NBC's cable partner for the NASCAR coverage back then was TNT), fans criticized NBC for airing more ads then the actual racing. in fact, in the movie Talladega Nights: The Ballad of Ricky Bobby, they poke of NBC's coverage of NASCAR by having a bit where during a long epic wreck between Rick Bobby and Jean Girard, NBC went to a Applebee's commercial then they return to the wreck, still in progress.

https://beyondtheflag.com/2016/07/03/nascar-interrupt-commercial-race/
http://www.sportingnews.com/nascar/news/daytona-commercials-coke-zero-400-ads-tv-ratings-nbc-broadcast/r512jeletb1n1w9ufpsx75ote

 

[landtuna]

I noticed this too but especially cutting to commercial with as few as 13 laps remaining. Unlike that other network which splits the screen during commercial time NBC just announces they will break out of commercial if "something" (a wreck, duh!) happens. Since most wrecks are shown multiple times and in slo mo following the actual event breaking out of commercial time seems a waste.

Myself, I am watching fewer and fewer NAPCAR races now than in the past and usually record them. I can then FF through all the BS time and concentrate on the very few exciting events (if any).

 

[Mr Tony]

There was a helluva lot of commercial breaks. They were in side by side when Smoke (Stewart) spun out and crashed. Yet they (NBC) showed 2 more commercials before going back live. FOX would have cut out of commercial or at the worst at the end of the commercial playing gone back..not shown 2 more.

Hope it gets better....but doubt it.

 

[TheBigA]

Some of the races will be on NBCSN, which may have a lower spotload, but it's probably on a sports tier with a small extra charge.

 

[oldvnewschool]

My goodness, you act as if FOX shows their commercial free. That's why they have Non-Stop. I'll admit they didn't use it that much. That being said for the first 90 laps of the race, they're was a reason for them to show commercials. How can NASCAR be taken as a serious sport if we keep having issues over what I think is pity arguments over TV advertising.
Especially since advertising is the lifeblood of the sport to begin with. 15 years later and we still have this argument about NBC and NASCAR. To play Devil's advocate, FOX's announce crew, with the exception of Gordon, have done pretty much the same old hack trick for 15 years, and adding their old music back makes it even worse. It shows that they are pretty much not in the same league with their other properties. I for one am extremely upset that they still employ Michael Waltrip who shills ads like crazy during the Hollywood Hotel segments whenever there is a chance, while his race team went under and cost people jobs in the process. And demoting Larry McReynolds who actually knows what he's talking about to soundbites while Gordon has to awkward himself to those two tired old hacks is getting bored fast. Gordon has a lot of potential as an announcer, but he can go only as far as he can with this beaten up old system that FOX continues to shove down our throats. NBC on the other hand has a crew that skews younger, and treats it like a sporting event the best way they know how. Because above all else NASCAR and auto racing is a sport 1st, entertainment 2nd.

 

[landtuna]

"A sport is an athletic competition between two or more human participants whose purpose is to outscore the opponent within a given set of rules, judged by absolute scoring and not esoteric judging, without intentional injury to either party, and does not include the use of vehicles, weapons, cards or animals."

Even if you don't buy into the above as the pure definition of "sport" you have to admit NASCAR is pure entertainment. Although judging by recent comments, not as much as before.

 

[crainbebo]

Oh, I think Fox is ridiculous on commercial loads as well. They do the same "nonstop" thing as NBC. NBC has done their split screen since at least 2000.
But when there's a big wreck, you don't keep going with your commercial break. Once cars are crashing all over, stop the break and go to live coverage. There was a good-sized crash during the Coke Zero 400, during their Nonstop break. Cut the ads and go to live coverage! We don't know if there's any injuries, or who is getting a DNF...all I'm hearing is Geico ads!
I don't watch Sprint Cup as much as I used to. It seems like every time I watch, it's either Harvick, one of the Busch's, Keslowski or Logano up in front. Never any one else...and Dale Jr is always below the top 10, or crashed.

 

[CTListener]

"A sport is an athletic competition between two or more human participants whose purpose is to outscore the opponent within a given set of rules, judged by absolute scoring and not esoteric judging, without intentional injury to either party, and does not include the use of vehicles, weapons, cards or animals."

Even if you don't buy into the above as the pure definition of "sport" you have to admit NASCAR is pure entertainment. Although judging by recent comments, not as much as before.

Where does that absurd definition come from?

 

[ftballfan]

Where does that absurd definition come from?

NASCAR is still sport in my eyes as the finishing order is not predetermined (contrast with professional wrestling, where outcomes are predetermined)

 

[nomadcowatbk]

NASCAR is still sport in my eyes as the finishing order is not predetermined (contrast with professional wrestling, where outcomes are predetermined)

do you consider poker, spelling bees, o video game tournaments to be sports? ESPN airs those, they started out airing Scrabble tournaments

 

[CTListener]

NASCAR is still sport in my eyes as the finishing order is not predetermined (contrast with professional wrestling, where outcomes are predetermined)

Pro wrestling is athletic but not a sport. Auto racing takes coordination and stamina, but I'm not sure it's athletic.The machine is doing nearly all the work. But as you say, the outcome isn't predetermined. There ought to be a term between "game" (chess, for example, or pool) and "sport" for competitive events that don't have strength or speed (human, that is) as dominant criteria.

 

[landtuna]

do you consider poker, spelling bees, o video game tournaments to be sports? ESPN airs those, they started out airing Scrabble tournaments

ESPN has "entertainment" as well as sports in its title. In any event, ESPN does not define sports. The above would all be games.

 

[TheBigA]

ESPN does not define sports.

Nor do you. Nor does anyone. It's just TV. It's not brain surgery. No one cares if CMT airs shows that really aren't country or The Weather Channel runs movies.

Joey Chestnut thinks he's an athlete. I don't care.

 

[philosofy]

ESPN has "entertainment" as well as sports in its title.

Perhaps at one time but not now. These days ESPN is just ESPN. Similar to how TLC no longer stands for The Learning Channel and hasn't for several years.

 

[JeeperOne]

Perhaps at one time but not now. These days ESPN is just ESPN. Similar to how TLC no longer stands for The Learning Channel and hasn't for several years.

Actually ESPN has been THE ONLY channel (Other than HGTV, Food Network, the shopping channels, C-SPAN, local Public Access channels & PERHAPS A&E) to LARGELY stay true to form whereas TruTV no longer airs true things, HLN stands for SOMETHING OTHER than HEADLINE NEWS (Though it still has news in the mornings) & TVLand has given way to MeTV & has basically become Nickelodeon 2

Speaking of Nickelodeon, it too is not the channel it once was neither

The fact is THE ENTIRE LANDSCAPE of cable TV has changed. Channel names don't matter to companies & advertisers as much as the programming does because it doesn't matter WHAT the channel is called if people aren't watching the programs on it. That is REALITY

Cheers & 73

 

[crainbebo]

Even TBS is airing video game tournaments now. They air "ELeague" on Friday nights. It is a "Counter Strike - Global Offense" competition.
I sure miss the old SuperStation days...

A&E staying true to their old days? How about not. They wouldn't dream of greenlighting shows like "Duck Dynasty," "Storage Wars" and "Wahlburgers" back in the 1990s.
They were a great channel to watch in the old days. Lots of British mystery shows; Biography and American Justice. Plus Breakfast with the Arts on Sundays.
Food Network is also jumping the shark...all I see are cooking competitions now.

Back to the topic at hand, I don't have an opinion on whether NASCAR is a sport or not. Your results may vary.

 

[Mr Tony]

So since the race was on NBC SN I had to resort to "other" ways to see the race (via the NBC Sports Xtra app) and compared to Fox Sports Go NBC Sports Xtra App is a joke!
First off in the "live an upcoming" they had six icons that were just NASCAR logo and "Kentucky" as the title. You go into them and they had the race, an overhead view and 4 channels that were driver specific channels. But the issue was the actual race one wasn't the 1st icon...no it was 7th. 6th was NASCAR America which had ended already. Very hard to find the actual show

Now the commercials. Unlike FOX Sports Go which has same commercials as the commercial feed, NBC Sports XTra shows the same sad commercials every commercial break
-a Toyota one with NASCAR "fans"
-the Geico "your mom calls at the worst time" one
-the Sonic one where the one idiot orders all the shakes and has names for them
-the sprint one with 1/2 off rates
-cricket one (isnt that a competitor??) saving money by moving to them

and the best one
-a commercial for THE RACE! They show last year what happened and then "see NASCAR at Kentucky Saturday at 7". No sh*t...THATS WHAT I'M WATCHING!!! But thanks for reminding me 3 hours into the race

And to make it worse...when they went "side by side" they hard cut to the crap above! So I had no "Side by side" commercial breaks.

UGH!

 

[crainbebo]

What was the commercial load when ESPN/ABC had the summer/fall races?

 

[Mr Tony]

I don't remember what I had for lunch yesterday...much less remember that (if I had time I'd look it up)

The point I was making was that on the app they run different commercials than what is on TV, they run the same 5 or 6 commercials, and they cut away when the TV side goes "side by side". At least the FoxSportsGo app kept the commercials as they were on the feed and not switch them.

 

[TheBigA]

What difference does it make?