ALMS Media Package Paying Off

The American Le Mans Series introduced a unique multi-platform media package for 2011, and took a lot of heat from fans and teams about it.

With eight of the season’s nine races complete, it appears that the series made the right call. With one race—and one of the biggest—left on the schedule, the series expects to double its TV audience compared to the year before.

According to figures released by Edward Triolo, Vice President of ALMS Integrated Marketing Communications, 2.2 million households watched the first six races of 2011, compared to 1.7 million watching the first seven races of 2010.

Add to that the as-yet-unreleased numbers from the immensely popular Baltimore street race and the six-hour Laguna Seca enduro, plus the ten-hour Petit Le Mans, which has vastly increased appeal because it features the biggest European teams as well as the Americans, and “together with the more modest internet viewing totals, we expect the year-to-year totals to be double the audience of 2010,” Triolo said.

With NASCAR losing viewers and the recently reorganized IndyCar struggling for ratings, ALMS is the only North American racing series actually adding viewers right now—proof that its media gamble is paying off.

Multi-Platform Media Gamble

The American Le Mans Series found itself in a bind after the 2010 season. The series had been broadcast live on SPEED-TV, with select races on CBS. For 2011, the networks refused to devote the airtime; no network wanted to devote three, six, or twelve hours to a single event. Half-hour reality shows were cheaper and safer than twelve-hour live race broadcasts. No network wanted to serve the ALMS fanbase.

ALMS had started experimenting with online broadcasting in 2010, offering two of its longer endurance races on the Internet, while hiring famed sports documentary company Intersport to produce two-hour docu-dramas about those races which were aired a week later.

Heading into 2011, ALMS put together what will likely be the media format soon used by every sport outside of baseball, football, and basketball: a combination of live Internet coverage and taped, edited cable and over-the-air broadcasts shown in optimized timeslots.

The possible downsides were many: for one thing, Internet TV is just starting, and not everyone has or knows how to use the hardware. Also, not every fan has broadband Internet. Most important, advertisers aren’t yet convinced that the Internet offers sufficient exposure to justify investing in sponsorship.

The ALMS plan cleared the economic hurdle: by moving from SPEED (about 77 million households) to ESPN (about 100 million households) the series significantly increased market penetration. Further, ESPN is the gold standard of cable sports; being on ESPN raised the series’ profile immediately.

The increase in market penetration and stature made up for the lower ad returns from the web.

Live Versus Taped

Another part of the gamble was the reliance on taped, edited race programs on ABS and ESPN. This was a calculated gamble: some of ESPN’s most popular programming is taped and edited, and casual fans likely wouldn’t miss the edited caution laps.

Of course, hardcore fans demand live, flag-to-flag coverage of every race, which is now only available via the Internet. There was a lot of resistance among the diehards initially, but most seem to have adapted; while the picture quality isn’t always high-definition, the coverage is complete.

Also, ALMS made an ingenious move: the series hired the tremendously popular British commentary crew from Radio Le Mans, headlined by John Hindhaugh. “Hindy” as his fans call him, is deeply knowledgeable and also incredibly enthusiastic: he injects excitement into every broadcast.

A measure of his popularity—before ALMS hired Hindhaugh, many fans would watch the SPEED video and listen to Radio Le Mans for the better commentary. Hiring Hindy made the transition for TV to Internet hugely more palatable for the serious fans.

Numbers Tell the Story

Racing is a numbers game: tenths of seconds on track, hundreds of thousands of dollars to buy a car, a hundred million households getting the race broadcast. The success or failure of the ALMS’ media plan comes down to numbers.

The numbers say, “Success.” While the Internet adds only a few tens of thousands of viewers (so far,) it has kept the hardcore fans satisfied. More important to the long-term health of the series, the switch to ABC and ESPN has exposed the series to a wider audience, and to an audience not necessarily looking for racing.

New fans are what every series needs; pleasing existing fans is important but attracting new fans is essential. Based on TV numbers, ALMS seems to be attracting new fans.

Equally important, the series needs TV exposure to attract sponsors. Sponsors are the sole source of income for the teams; no sponsors, no racing. Further, races need sponsors; having title sponsors ensures that the track owners make a healthy profit.

When the new media plan was first announced, critics (including some teams) complained that no sponsors would be interested in the series; since it was no longer live on TV, the series would be “invisible,” some predicted.

Quite the opposite; the series has gained viewers and increased its exposure. The hardcore fans are mostly happy with the live Internet broadcasts, and the TV broadcasts this year are more popular than the lives broadcasts of past seasons.

It will take a few years before people start praising ALMS for its new media package, but if the series’ figures are accurate and the trends continue, other sports will be bragging about creating their own “ALMS-style” media plans.