We don't normally see tracks streaming NASCAR content online because the rights to footage and interviews are actually owned by other companies. Thursday, the Daytona International Speedway starts the season off right by streaming a press conference for all the fans through the track's own website.
At 12PM ET from the Infield Media Center, track president Joie Chitwood will be joined by NASCAR's Robin Permberton live online. Drivers attending will be Jeff Burton, Kurt Busch, Jamie McMurray and Bobby Labonte.
Click here for the direct link to the webcast. The address is daytonainternationalspeedway.com/tiretest for you folks who prefer to type.
Although it's only an hour long, the reason I am so excited about this is because it moves slowly toward breaking down the technology wall for NASCAR fans. Normally, we hear reporters ask questions on webcasts but it would be just as easy to get some fan questions live on the phone or from Twitter or Facebook.
Letting down the walls and streaming from the various track websites in advance of races would allow fans to begin to feel involved behind the scenes. SPEED and the various NASCAR partners deliver the on track action and some news recaps, but social media and online streaming is different. It's portable, it's personal and it's interactive.
Right now, there is absolutely no opportunity to use a laptop, iPad or desktop to access NASCAR video content from the tracks. Sure, TNT gives us RaceBuddy but I mean the meat and potatoes of the Friday practices, qualifying and live news.
Turner Sports is the online audio and video rights holder for NASCAR. The website they operate, NASCAR.com, does not even provide a live garage cam with sound for the racing weekends. It just might be time for the tracks to step-up and get in the game.
It should be interesting to see the fan response to the press conference tomorrow. There is no NASCAR Now or Race Hub, so there is only a slight chance some video might leak onto SportsCenter or the FoxSportsNet recap show. Slight being the keyword.
Since all the Sprint Cup Series tracks have professional PR folks who are very familiar with online technology and social media, it would be great to have them open up the online window for the action at their respective tracks with a garage cam, some live streaming of media events and even hosted news updates.
TV might be the big dog on the block, but after what the tracks have been through with attendance over the past season, it might be worth the risk to get some active streaming and social media interaction going early and carry it through the racing.
Let's get the fans back by getting them involved long before they have to tune-in to a TV network at a set time to watch something once again that excludes any interaction and instead sandwiches NASCAR content between all too frequent three minute commercial breaks.
Thanks, Daytona for starting the ball rolling. Let's hope it picks up speed once the season starts. You can click on the picture above or any of the testing pics below to see them fullsize. Right click to save to your computer.
We welcome your comments on this issue and the live press conference on Thursday. To add your opinion, just click on the comments button below. This is a family-friendly website, please keep that in mind when posting. Thanks for taking the time to stop by The Daly Planet.
17 comments:
Daytona didnt get the ball rolling. Bristol has been doing ustreams for over a year. They usually do giveaways and talk about ticket packages. Martinsville even did one a couple weeks ago.
I do believe with the exception of one "through the looking glass" chief excutive, NASCAR is lost in the fifties. Oh, to turn back the hands of the clock to a simpler time-where we turn a deaf ear to complaints...oh, wait, we do that now.
really don't care about testing, p & q.
if nascar believes these are the keys to growth in the sport they have missed the boat..
it's all about the races
Sounds like a good idea to me.
NASCAR and the tracks need to do better, both before the races AND during them, to get the fans back.
I've gone from watching every snippet of coverage I could find to "who cares, I'll find out what happened later on the internet" in the span of 5 years.
Take a step into the here and now, NASCAR, the fans aren't going to go back to waiting for reading about it in the paper - we've all become "reality based".
I appreciate that Bristol streamed the tweet-up. I hope they expand the live streaming and fan interaction this season.
Anom 8:12am. "it's all about the races"
I could not agree with you more. Absolutly correct. 100%. Anyone willing to twit, tweet, whatever it's called, watch Nascar on a cell phone are already hard core fans that are not going anywhere.
The casual fan has left do to the TV broadcasts and the circus event it looks like. It's no longer a true sport and people see that.
It needs to be about the RACES on TV. Until that sinks into Nascar's head, the sport is doomed no matter what "online" stuff is offered.
Online content is just the icing on the cake for the hardcore fans.
Nascar needs to fix the cake first. And that cake is the TV broadcast.
thanks for the pictures of the cars during the tire test at Daytona. If NASCAR keeps at it, they may actually make the ugly car look a little more like a race car.
For those of us "traditionalists", NASCAR needs to improve the quality of the live TV broadcasts before they work on the live-streaming video, etc. With NASCAR being locked into these long term contracts with Turner on anything having to do with the internet, fixing the TV problem seems like a more pressing concern to me as shown by the declining ratings over the past several years. If the races were regular TV shows, they'd have already been replaced because of the poor ratings.
Just now got a chance to tune in and was kind of disappointed to only see JeffB and Kurt, but I guess they're doing them in groups? I'll take whatever I can get. They'll know how many viewers they get. I feel it's good to support what they do provide rather than just complain about what they don't, because those hard stats from web logs can be used to justify growth of what the fans like.
JD if I remember correctly they used to have a garage cam on Nascar.com a few years ago. It would allow you to select from 3 or 4 different views in the garage area. I don't know what ever happened to that and can't remember exactly how many years ago it was. It's not something that I'd sit there and look at for hours, but it'd be nice to be able to look in to see what was going on once and a while if you wanted to.
Vince,
It became an issue and was ended by NASCAR.
Nice effort by DIS, but underwhelmed is a word that came to mind.
JD
During the last NBC Sunday Night Football telecast, Bob Costas mentioned all of the
alternatives that were available to viewers other than merely staring at the TV set.
Online streaming with multiple camera options, Facebook, Tweets, Blogs, etc.
NASCAR is still running on carburetors while everyone else is running computer controlled fuel injection both on and off the track.
Scott
Couldn't agree more on information access while at the track. I attended races at Martinsville and KY Speedway this year and on huge thing missing was WIFI and 3G cell service. Without that, keeping up with Twitter, which for now is the only way for fans to get info out of the garage during events, is nearly impossible. I understand supplying WIFI for such a large crowd at large venues can be difficult, why not a special grandstand section with WIFI available for purchase? That could go hand in hand with live streaming of Friday press conferences, Post qualifying interviews, and pre-race interviews. Also, with word that the Sprint Fanview likely going away, a NASCAR app for smartphones/tablet devices makes even more sense. How great would it be for ALL fans to have the same Fanview access anywhere that you can get at the track. Trackpass almost fills that niche, but there is no live video or in car. Plus it is tied to a PC and not viable on a portable device.
Glad effort was made by DIS to DO SOMETHING. May other tracks follow suit.
Until audience measuring gets out of the Dark Ages ie 20th Cen (hello Nielsen) TV ratings are going to continue to decline no matter what gets done & they will still be scratching their heads. This is NOT just a NASCAR problem, other TV shows are also wondering where their viewers have gone (HELLO NIELSEN!!!)
Yesterday I was told by an INDUSTRY person that DVR & time shifting is killing TV ratings & if the ratings are ever going to recover, viewing habits like that, internet viewing & downloading have to stop. ???!!! Got news. Ain't stopping. Only increasing.
H E L L O N I E L S E N ! ! ! !
Donna in FL, I have a friend who works for Nielsen. They measure a lot more than just tv viewers. You need to check out their web site. Web, mobile, retail, cross platform, radio, etc. It's Nascar with the problem, not Nielsen. Nielsen just provides access to the numbers. What Nascar and the media does or doesn't do with the data they are provided, that is the problem.
I don't see NASCAR changing their bipolar ways. Even if the ratings have no reading and the attendance at races are no shows it is not going to change the way Brian Francedoes things nor should it, and i hate to defend BZF, but it is his sport and he can run it the way he wants to and they are not going to let anyone from the outside. The fans, the media, anyone tell him how to run NASCAR. I think he runs it lousy, I think he is the worst executive in sports. But lousy ratings and attendance is not going to change what NASCAR did or is doing. It will blow over the next day and it will be back to business as usual and they will be well on their way to horrible seasons.
And if they think the case is going to turn fans back, including me. They are thinking wrong.
Why can't NASCAR improve the races on TV and supply some new media avenues?
I am not exactly a geezer, but close...lol! Never watch anything live, except breaking news. I do Twitter (read, don't post), will watch online streaming (ARCA practice with our fav Danica, last year, tire test, etc.). I get all info, news/racing via internet or select TV viewing...no newspapers or magazines for me.
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