Bernie has a Silver Moment...

  • Thread starter Thread starter WheelmanSteve
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I've been watching F1 for some 30 odd years, seen hundreds of thousands of adverts and never bought anything remotely close to being of any value to Bernie. If it wasn't on free to air TV I would know very little of the sport. Even having 2 WC.

If motorsport interest you, F1 will find you, through local advertising probably.(although here in Aus the showing times are way out of general time slots, small audience here though)
Bernie does not need to find them they'll find him, then if it right, then they'll know where to advertise when the time is right.
 
I imagine that Bernie is under a lot of stress at the moment, given that he has just come out of his trial and has landed headlong in the current cost crisis. Hence, he has let his guard down, and the net result was this little outburst.

But maybe there is something in his comments, if you look at them holistically. Has Formula 1 been chasing the wrong demographic? One of the biggest complaints about the likes of DRS is that it's turning Formula 1 into Mario Kart. The sport has emphasised spectacle for a while now, and it hasn't been popular with the fans.
 
People will stand advertising to access a given content. But putting advertising behind a pay wall is a rather ambitious if not hazardous prospect.

Free to air needed the fundings to cope with increasing broadcast fees, and the overall switch to subscription’s base channels has result in a drop of audience.

If Bernie does indeed target the wealthy baby boomers that should not be to much of a short term problem. It seems however that the youngsters don’t sit in front of a TV set that much. They are mobile, second screen, social media, whatever... Solutions may exist here and there, but then again the pay wall could probably be set too high for any kid who’s grandfather does not own a Rolex and a swiss bank account. (Sky Now or whatever it’s called has a new media friendly Day Pass at £6.99)

Racing Teams (or should I say brands) have a different view on the subject it seems, because they obviously need the audience to justify their presence.

Wether Bernie is too old fashion to stand with his contemporaries remains to be seen as things are reportedly being examined behind the scene.

On the oder hand, some say dinosaurs disappeared because they couldn't stand a change of environment...
 
If someone like Roger Goodell was running the show then chances that F1 would probably be in a good position now when you consider the fact how much he have grown the NFL year over year at the tune of billions.

As for F1 not needing young fans, its not just F1 who need young fans but motorsports as a whole...it for this reason why I think organizers from the big 4 champions like FOM/FIA, Dorna, Indycar and NASCAR really need to do a much better job in terms of promoting these championships not just to the hardcore gearhead, but to the mainstream.
 
A2K78
If someone like Roger Goodell was running the show then chances that F1 would probably be in a good position now when you consider the fact how much he have grown the NFL year over year at the tune of billions.
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When Bernie first ran a team the sport was about as amateur as you could imagine. Make the comparison by all means but understand both roots ;)
 
A2K78
As for F1 not needing young fans, its not just F1 who need young fans but motorsports as a whole...it for this reason why I think organizers from the big 4 champions like FOM/FIA, Dorna, Indycar and NASCAR really need to do a much better job in terms of promoting these championships not just to the hardcore gearhead, but to the mainstream.
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I agree.
That's why I love the initiative of the Gamma Racing Day at the TT circuit in Assen.

It started out as the Rizla(previous sponsor) Racing Day in 2000 and grew to be one of the largest combined motorsports event in Europe with about 82.000 visitors this year.
Access to the event is free of charge and for a small fee you can access the paddock, kids are free of charge.
It is a great way to let children come in to contact with motorsports and making it accessible for everyone.

It's got motorcycle, superkart, supercar, classics races and more.
Also special demo's from Dakar teams and the Red Bull F1 demo team.

I've visited it for about 6 or 7 years in a row and it's a really great event.
TV is great but nothing beats the sounds, smell and excitement of being at races in person.
 
A2K78
If someone like Roger Goodell was running the show then chances that F1 would probably be in a good position now when you consider the fact how much he have grown the NFL year over year at the tune of billions.

As for F1 not needing young fans, its not just F1 who need young fans but motorsports as a whole...it for this reason why I think organizers from the big 4 champions like FOM/FIA, Dorna, Indycar and NASCAR really need to do a much better job in terms of promoting these championships not just to the hardcore gearhead, but to the mainstream.
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All this might be true. But in the end it may be useless to fight demographics and a changing culture. No amount of shoveling will turn back the tide.
 
Dotini
All this might be true. But in the end it may be useless to fight demographics and a changing culture. No amount of shoveling will turn back the tide.
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No its not a useless fight, but the fact is you have organizers who aren't really trying from a marketing POV. Instead what I continue to see is nothing but these organizers continuing to waste time with pointless gimmicks and rules all in an effort to satisfy some segment of the core base as oppose to evangelizing the sport to the mass market.

That said unless the big organizers actually do some real work motorsports whether you're talking about NASCAR, F1, MotoGP or whatever would continue to bleed fans, sponsors and money.
 
The only way he would remotely think about young people, is if Google, Facebook, PlayStation, Microsoft were buying cars to field a team. He's holding onto F1 until he gets buried.
 
05XR8
The only way he would remotely think about young people, is if Google... Microsoft were buying cars to field a team.
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Remember that he doesn't care about team sponsors, but the series sponsors. And if Ecclestone would care about the team sponsors, it would still depend on what type of Microsoft/Google owned brands Microsoft/Google would use in their F1 car. There aren't many young people that care about Microsoft Office products or Google's Picasa.
 
Legro
Remember that he doesn't care about team sponsors, but the series sponsors. And if Ecclestone would care about the team sponsors, it would still depend on what type of Microsoft/Google owned brands Microsoft/Google would use in their F1 car. There aren't many young people that care about Microsoft Office products or Google's Picasa.
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For sure. It's why he doesn't care if Melbourne council don't want to host at Albert Park. He'll get his money from somewhere else. Disney could say they want to sponsor races in the US. I know that doesn't mean he'll start kissing babies. It's why I mentioned, remotely.

He doesn't care where the zeros come from. Just as long as the cheques clear. ;)
 
A2K78
No its not a useless fight, but the fact is you have organizers who aren't really trying from a marketing POV. Instead what I continue to see is nothing but these organizers continuing to waste time with pointless gimmicks and rules all in an effort to satisfy some segment of the core base as oppose to evangelizing the sport to the mass market.
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Actually, I'm not sure if it was @prisonermonkeys who said it, but someone did note that some of these gimmicks seem tailored for that mass market who might not appreciate the technical side, and who might simply want action, however artificial it is.

The core audience, on the other hand, is the one that hates DRS, KERS/MG-UK and "artificially fragile" Pirelli tires.
 
niky
Actually, I'm not sure if it was @prisonermonkeys who said it, but someone did note that some of these gimmicks seem tailored for that mass market who might not appreciate the technical side, and who might simply want action, however artificial it is.

The core audience, on the other hand, is the one that hates DRS, KERS/MG-UK and "artificially fragile" Pirelli tires.
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May we add carbon brakes to this list, please?
 

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