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Author Topic: Bernie's greed strangling F1  (Read 2489 times)

Offline Scott

Bernie's greed strangling F1
« on: February 16, 2016, 11:06:34 AM »
Ok, that bit isn't news, but the latest is that Antena 3, the Spanish free to air channel that has until now broadcast F1, has failed to meet Bernie's demands and from now on only Spaniards with pay TV will be able to watch F1.  Nothing new for our British friends, but at least BBC carried a handful of races free and the rest on a highlight show shortly after the race aired.  The other interesting bit is that RTL has managed to renew their contract for half of what they were paying years ago, and that with expanded coverage.  Could it be that there aren't enough Spanish companies invested in F1?  I bet Mercedes had something to do with RTL getting favourable terms.

http://thejudge13.com/2016/02/15/shock-for-spanish-formula-one-fans/


The Honey Badger doesn't give a...

Offline Jericoke

Re: Bernie's greed strangling F1
« Reply #1 on: February 16, 2016, 02:47:58 PM »
It does seem like a regressive approach to business.

For the longest time, there was a belief that if something was free, there was a perception that it was worthless.  (i.e., if I can watch F1 for free, why should I pay for it?)

However Facebook and Google have proven that 'free' can make you very rich.

Offline cosworth151

Re: Bernie's greed strangling F1
« Reply #2 on: February 16, 2016, 04:11:12 PM »
This reminds me of a discussion we were having about boxing at the Amvets Post over the week-end. It used to be that most everybody could name the heavyweight boxing champ. Then boxing moved to pay-per-view. Now nobody there, including me, could name any heavyweight champ after about the mid-1980's.

Bernie seems intent on taking F1 down the same road.
“You can search the world over for the finer things, but you won't find a match for the American road and the creatures that live on it.”
― Bob Dylan

Offline Dare

Re: Bernie's greed strangling F1
« Reply #3 on: February 16, 2016, 05:30:40 PM »
Boxing has always had pay per view[for the big matches]
I remember pating to see the Ali-Frazier fight back in the 70's

Boxing problems is the lack of class boxers and times chande
Mark Twain once opined, "it's easier to con someone than to convince them they've been conned."

Offline Jericoke

Re: Bernie's greed strangling F1
« Reply #4 on: February 16, 2016, 06:06:55 PM »
Boxing has always had pay per view[for the big matches]
I remember pating to see the Ali-Frazier fight back in the 70's

Boxing problems is the lack of class boxers and times chande

Not to mention that MMA has been exclusively PPV for the big matches since day one, and they seem to be doing okay.

F1 has been on a pay tv in Canada for at least 15 years (occasionally the Canadian GP is on over the air 'free' TV).  The Montreal GP doesn't seem to suffer from that.  Alternatively, much of IndyCar is on free TV, or on cheaper Pay TV than F1 is, and the Toronto Indy is a virtual ghost town even though there are usually Canadian IndyCar drivers.

I don't think it matters for the growth of the sport if it is free over the air or pay TV.  Both models can work very well, if the product is there.

Offline John S

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Re: Bernie's greed strangling F1
« Reply #5 on: February 17, 2016, 12:12:37 AM »
Time was F1 teams got big bucks from many sponsors keen to reach the biggest audience possible and free to air was essential. Now the F1 model is changing and teams get much more of their money from the FOM divvy up and pay driver sponsor backing that doesn't stand or fall by global TV viewing figures. Stands to reason therefore that FOM(Bernie) gets the nod from teams to generate more money from Pay-TV contracts, what's good for him rewards them as well.

 
Racing is Life - everything else is just....waiting. (Steve McQueen)

Offline Scott

Re: Bernie's greed strangling F1
« Reply #6 on: February 17, 2016, 06:19:57 AM »
It's amazing that the big sponsors still in the sport just sit there and take it while country after country is slashing their audience as they move to PPV.  I won't pay for F1.  If it becomes a higher tier of cable that I have, then I'll simply download it later.  I prefer to watch it live, but I can live with it delayed.

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Offline John S

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Re: Bernie's greed strangling F1
« Reply #7 on: February 17, 2016, 10:42:10 AM »
It's amazing that the big sponsors still in the sport just sit there and take it while country after country is slashing their audience as they move to PPV. 

Which big sponsors would those be Scott? I can only think of Martini at Williams, to a lesser extent Smirnoff at FIF1 and Santander at Ferrari as big untethered sponsors. All the rest, including Petronas at Merc and most of Red Bull stable's list, are in F1 for reasons of trade off or personal sponsorship - well as far as I can see anyways.   

Quote
I won't pay for F1.  If it becomes a higher tier of cable that I have, then I'll simply download it later.  I prefer to watch it live, but I can live with it delayed.

Ok you won't pay but you still watch at some point - so will loads of other people - so in reality there is still a large audience for the racing, which is probably what those untethered sponsors count on. 
Racing is Life - everything else is just....waiting. (Steve McQueen)

Offline Scott

Re: Bernie's greed strangling F1
« Reply #8 on: February 17, 2016, 01:48:03 PM »
Red Bull is a marking company as it's been pointed out many times.  The last thing they want is a smaller audience.  A bit unique in that they manage to do most of their advertising on social media and internet, but TV audience is an important way to increase that.  Honda/Renault/Mercedes are all in it for maximum brand recognition = TV.  So are the fuel companies like Mobil and Shell.  TV audience is key for all those companies.  I'm not sure what you mean by trade-off, but I don't think any of those companies are involved with driver sponsorships.   
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Offline John S

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Re: Bernie's greed strangling F1
« Reply #9 on: February 17, 2016, 02:53:25 PM »

Petronas is rumoured to have signed a deal with Merc for supply of lubes into their worldwide network, I think the other petroleum companies have tie ups with the manufacturers - including Total with Renault, that's what I mean by trade off. 
Racing is Life - everything else is just....waiting. (Steve McQueen)

Offline Scott

Re: Bernie's greed strangling F1
« Reply #10 on: February 17, 2016, 03:52:24 PM »

Petronas is rumoured to have signed a deal with Merc for supply of lubes into their worldwide network, I think the other petroleum companies have tie ups with the manufacturers - including Total with Renault, that's what I mean by trade off.

Sure, but why even involve F1 if it's simply a trade services to one another?  They'd be better off advertising somewhere else that all Renault's are lubed by Total or something like that.  Just because I see Shell on a Ferrari in F1 doesn't for a second make me think that all Ferrari's are greased by Shell products.
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Offline John S

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Re: Bernie's greed strangling F1
« Reply #11 on: February 17, 2016, 04:32:11 PM »

Petronas is rumoured to have signed a deal with Merc for supply of lubes into their worldwide network, I think the other petroleum companies have tie ups with the manufacturers - including Total with Renault, that's what I mean by trade off.

Sure, but why even involve F1 if it's simply a trade services to one another?  They'd be better off advertising somewhere else that all Renault's are lubed by Total or something like that.  Just because I see Shell on a Ferrari in F1 doesn't for a second make me think that all Ferrari's are greased by Shell products.

You're right of course Scott, however when manufacturers, or oil company people, want to justify being in F1 these interconnected deals sooth the furrowed brows of the board of directors/shareholders on the financial spend.

 
Racing is Life - everything else is just....waiting. (Steve McQueen)

Offline Alianora La Canta

Re: Bernie's greed strangling F1
« Reply #12 on: February 24, 2016, 03:00:55 PM »
Sports that have too many matches to show all on free-to-air (such as football) inevitably have a big advantage from using a mixed model of broadcast - and even in the UK it is mixed, for a few matches a year get broadcast, even if it's mostly in Match-of-the-day super-short-highlights format.

Boxing and similar sports had their free-to-air access restricted in the 1980s and 1990s, and thus changed their models from TV-orientated to mixed-media-orientated strategies, while also optimising for a smaller audience.

F1 hasn't had a problem getting its score of races broadcast, at least in markets like the UK, since 1976. The only problem it has now is that it charges too much - something that could easily be fixed with a small change in mindset.

As for the lubricant/manufacturer team deals, it's a contract thing. If your contract is for all the cars a manufacturer makes, that means all of them - including the cachet-creating racing cars. Toyota had this happen to them as early as 2006, when they had to switch to Bridgestones at short notice because the road car company had signed a contract for Bridgestones to be original-fit tyres on every single Toyota... ...and "car" was interpreted by Bridgestone to include the F1 tyres. The road car division saw things Bridgestone's way, the race car leaders acquiesced, and the actual racers were furious.
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Offline J.Clark

Re: Bernie's greed strangling F1
« Reply #13 on: February 24, 2016, 04:47:20 PM »
One is wrong, in my opinion to compare boxing to Formula 1.

First, there is not the following around the world of boxing, which F1 has.

Second, boxing matches that are on PPV are a contest between only two while F1 has multiple international teams and drivers.

Third, if one looks at how many use PPV for boxing and try to extrapolate that into the audience of F1, I think one would quickly realize (maybe not Bernie) that two things would happen.  A large percentage of the fan base world-wide would drop off, both on TV and attendance at races, which by all appearances is already in a bit of a slump.  In addition, and as a result of the first, sponsors for teams would begin to fall as well, as sponsors with deep pockets would start realizing they were reaching far less people and begin pulling out of F1, putting their advert money elsewhere.

I for one, would have to think about whether or not I would continue to watch, if all of a sudden, it was going to cost me to watch the races on TV.
Life is short - live each day to the fullest.

Offline Jericoke

Re: Bernie's greed strangling F1
« Reply #14 on: February 24, 2016, 06:37:09 PM »
One is wrong, in my opinion to compare boxing to Formula 1.

First, there is not the following around the world of boxing, which F1 has.

Second, boxing matches that are on PPV are a contest between only two while F1 has multiple international teams and drivers.

Third, if one looks at how many use PPV for boxing and try to extrapolate that into the audience of F1, I think one would quickly realize (maybe not Bernie) that two things would happen.  A large percentage of the fan base world-wide would drop off, both on TV and attendance at races, which by all appearances is already in a bit of a slump.  In addition, and as a result of the first, sponsors for teams would begin to fall as well, as sponsors with deep pockets would start realizing they were reaching far less people and begin pulling out of F1, putting their advert money elsewhere.

I for one, would have to think about whether or not I would continue to watch, if all of a sudden, it was going to cost me to watch the races on TV.

It is wrong to not compare F1 with boxing, or football, or Spongebob Squarepants.  They are all designed to get access to your disposable income, and they are in direct competition for a limited resource.

Bernie's job isn't to get the most viewers for Formula One, it is to get the most money for Formula One (and therefore himself).  That latter part is key though.  He will never intentionally do anything that shrinks his share, so any moves he makes (or approves of) are things he thinks will improve the sport, therefore his bottom line.  Giving F1 away for free makes people think it is not worth paying for.  How much will you pay for something not worth paying for?  Nothing.  3 billion non paying fans are worth less than 500 million who are paying.

I'm not suggesting that Bernie's approach of a 'rich fans only' is good (I will happily watch something else if I don't feel I'm getting value for my F1 dollar), but if I'm not prepared to pay a share of a multibillion dollar industry, how can I expect all the drivers to be on a full salary, unlimited engine development, in season testing and everything else that no one wants to pay for?

 


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