TV ratings dud in spite of Max Siegel pandering to L.A. retreads Rafer Johnson, Bruce Jenner, Khardashians, Paris Hilton

[quote]Bad as it is, DAMN! wrote:

Add to that... Cable subscribers are less than 5% of U.S. households and cable TV news anchors are paid the same as medium-sized market broadcast TV anchors. T&F has got a long way to go to get out of the cellar.[/quote

I think you are off here. Cable and satellite is in the vast majority of homes.

http://www.usatoday.com/money/media/2011-08-10-cable-satellite_n.htm

fly a kite wrote:

The average person doesn't care about T&F, and why should they? Therefore ratings will never be "good". BUT, those who are interested in the sport may well watch. It's hardly a "normal" betting sport, which attracts many (even some women) who otherwise wouldn't watch i.e. baseball (can a sport be more boring?!). TV dramas appeal to a broader range of spectator, so it would hardly be fair to pit T&F against it.

I wouldn't "pit" televised track against a broadcast television drama; my point (such as it was) is that a live broadcast, on network, of what was/is an "important" U.S. track & field meet, drew a small audience in comparison to a repeat of what is (to me, at least) "just another television show."

I suppose my only real point is, why do so many people here care if track & field is "popular," whether it appeals (or can be "made to appeal") to the "average person," or the sort of television rating it draws? If you like track & field, and like to watch it on television, be happy that it is on television (even if, to some, the coverage itself leaves a lot to be desired), watch it, and leave it at that.

I dunno. It's almost as if some people here question their own judgment in liking and following a sport that "most people" aren't interested in, or don't care for. Kinda weird.

I watched part of the swimming trials last night. In less than 40 minutes I saw seven races. In one hour of track coverage sunday I saw 3 semifinals and 3 finals for 6 races total. After the three tape delayed men 100m semi finals, the other three races were men 400 final, women 400 final, and men 100 final. In the last 45 minutes of broadcast, they showed all of THREE races! There was 20 minutes between the 400 finals! Those races each took 50 seconds or less. WTF do they need 20 minutes between races for?!?! Track is presented in the US soooooooo slow.

70% is for 'homes passed' I.E. where cable is offered.

The USATF, NBC, and the athletes need to get together at the same table if we're going to make any progress. We need legitimate buildup to the trials. No one but us message boarders are going to follow this and tune in unless there is proper build up.

The athletes need to face off before the trials to build familiarity and rivalry. The average sports fan is just watching a bunch of skinny or ripped runners they have no connection to. They should promote some 30 or 60 minute meet series in the US where they rapid fire events - 100 (2 minutes), 200 (5 minutes), 400 (5 minutes), 800 (7 minutes), 1500 (10 minutes) - roughly 30 minutes total (we can only show the end of the 5k - sorry 10k) - with little time in between. The athletes can handle it. Hell, if we're worried about times give auto passes to the trials for the athletes that run these things, the USATF is already handing them out based on sponsorships... If they show an hour of human interest stories before the NYC diamond league meet we can get two of these things aired.

Only a fraction of homeowners pay for ESPN via cable or satellite.

Free OTA TV is still king.

Very sad to hear that NBC/OT tied with MLB/ESPN given the former was FREE and accessible to every TV set in the United States.

*slow clap*

You are all being over dramatic. DC United is a major league MLS soccer team and the MLS game drew less than 150,000K. I say 3.9 million and 4.5 million for track is a decent number. I don't think network or cable TV execs are running the other way because of this. It beat MLS and everything else except Nascar. Yes it was on network TV and not cable but the point is that 4 to 4.5 million people found it sufficiently interesting to watch it. With a little promo it would have done better too. I did not see any promos for it on TV till I think one or two days before. With a better more effective marketing and promotional strategy track can do even better.

Bad as it is, DAMN! wrote:

Add to that... Cable subscribers are less than 5% of U.S. households and cable TV news anchors are paid the same as medium-sized market broadcast TV anchors. T&F has got a long way to go to get out of the cellar.

BWUH? According the the National Cable Television association, they are currently supplying service to over 61 million homes in the U.S. According the Neilsen, 88% of U.S. households are serviced by traditional Cable or private Satellite or FiOS or U-Verse. 88%, not 5%....According to an FCC 14% of U.S. homes receive their television "off-the-air" (i.e. not cable or satellite)...so the FCC estimate is 86%.

Basically, stop making shit up.

P.S. According to ESPN, they are available in over 99 million homes in the U.S....about 86% of all U.S. households. So far down from the 111 million households that get NBC.

A new Rolls Royce is "available" to 7 billion human beings in the world, yet only a scant few of us own a Rolls Royce, myself not included.

Many U.S. homes are not wired for coax even though coax TV predates broadcast TV.

Except for a few flats blocked by buildings, satellite is "available" to every home in the U.S. yet not every home has purchased satellite TV.

Available means the homes can watch it. ESPN is the second most commonly available pay channel behind TBS.

As I pointed out above, 86-88% of households in the U.S. HAVE CABLE OR SATELLITE or something similar like FiOS. Not have the possibility of having them...THEY HAVE THEM. 68 million homes actually have Cable...another 49 million are wired for cable but dont purchase it. About 38 million households HAVE satellite. The term "available" here means households where they can watch ESPN if they choose, not that they could possibly buy it at some point. It is available for their immediate viewing should they so choose.

Itinerant Wet Back wrote:

Far too many tangential interests are involved in marketing. The LOC is concerned about homeless, methamphetamine prohrams, and green this and that. USATF has a new CEO and COO. USOC is totally dysfunctional with politicians who know nothing of sports. It's up to Max Siegel and Renee Washington to grab control of USA T&F and market it properly. I'd like to see High Performance and Long Distance move to Westwood or West Los Angeles to be in the middle of the sports and entertainment center of the planet earth in order to sell track and field to the broadcast TV networks.

This is of course what the Oregon trash is afraid of. And the TV ratings show why Max needs to go the way he seems to eb going.

TV ratings are good by T&F prior standards only. The NY Diamond League had the highest ratings of any such meet in five years (better than Prefontaine during that period). The TV rating of the OT are probably better than expectations, especially the NBCSN shows.

BUT, track is being handily outwatched by the swimming trials, being held in a real city, Omaha. The track ratings from Sunday were 2.6 share. The swimming ratings were a 4.4 share and the highest since the 7.2 share from the 2000 gymnastics trials. The coverage of track and field OT in the New York Times is almost nonexistent. Star power sells--and the Oregon joggers are not stars.

While Nike has been buying off USATF to use as a marketing arm to sell joggers overpriced shoes they don't need, Track and Field is failing even as an Olympic sport compared to swimming and gymnastics. If Max can't get sponsorship money away from Nike, there won't be a competitive track sport in the US for our kids.

"Available" is not the same as "Subscribed". Every home in the USA cannot get OTA because of mountains. Some need cable to feed in only the broadcast channels. Those homes have cable but no pay channels. The same for satellite. Only a fraction of cable and satellite subscribers pay for ESPN. Overall FREE broadcast channels get far more coverage in the US. Free is always good.

If Max can't get sponsorship money away from Nike, there won't be a competitive track sport in the US for our kids.

Penn Relays will be packed in 2013 no matter if Nike is around or not. Every lane, evey flight, etc. will be take. Kids will be heartbroken for not getting in. Coaches will raise hell over being rejected. Similar situation for Florida relays, Drake Relays, Mt Sac Relays, Stanford Invitational, Kansas Relays, and Texas Relays. T&F is more popular than ever in the United States. T&F has never had it better at the major relays. I can't speak for other meets though.

Free is always good wrote:

"Available" is not the same as "Subscribed". Every home in the USA cannot get OTA because of mountains. Some need cable to feed in only the broadcast channels. Those homes have cable but no pay channels. The same for satellite. Only a fraction of cable and satellite subscribers pay for ESPN. Overall FREE broadcast channels get far more coverage in the US. Free is always good.

58.4 million households subscribe to basic cable. ESPN is included in most basic cable TV packages.

Randy Oldman wrote:

Free is always good wrote:

"Available" is not the same as "Subscribed". Every home in the USA cannot get OTA because of mountains. Some need cable to feed in only the broadcast channels. Those homes have cable but no pay channels. The same for satellite. Only a fraction of cable and satellite subscribers pay for ESPN. Overall FREE broadcast channels get far more coverage in the US. Free is always good.

58.4 million households subscribe to basic cable. ESPN is included in most basic cable TV packages.

Pretty sad to respond to a two year old post.

Four Words:

Naked Track and Field.

Cinemax.

Bad as it is, DAMN! wrote:

Add to that... Cable subscribers are less than 5% of U.S. households and cable TV news anchors are paid the same as medium-sized market broadcast TV anchors. T&F has got a long way to go to get out of the cellar.

Pay Cable Subscribers

Comcast 22 million

Direct TV 21 million

Dish Network 14 million

Time Warner 12 million

Verizon 4.7 million

AT&T 4.5 million

Charter 4 million

Cablevision 3 million