NASCAR: Are Dueling Agendas An Impossible Balancing Act?
By Mike Hutton
USA Today Sports
Media Partners
Task: Deliver the product to its fans through traditional and modern delivery channels.
This group could perhaps be divided into smaller parts and an article written on each of those components. On one hand, we have television networks, who pay huge sums of money for the broadcast rights to events and in turn somehow feel they then control them. On the other hand, other forms of media include radio, print media, social media, websites, blogs, mobile technology, etc.
Media is also technology driven. Fans demand WiFi access now at race tracks. They want to watch events on laptop computers, tablets and smart phones. As previously stated, fans’ attention spans are shorter now, so the opportunity to capture their interest is a very narrow window indeed. You also have to keep them engaged. They want instant gratification and will find it elsewhere if they don’t get it.
For the most part, the media has been responsive to all of this. There are still instances however, where improvement is possible. Start times are an example. They need to be consistent. For the money that the networks have invested, they deserve a voice in the process — they do not however, need to have the last say. Money talks – we get it. Just make sure that what it says is part of a solution and not a problem.