Split Screen Advertising Works
Written by Patterson Belser, Sunday May 24 2009
by Patterson Belser
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It is Sunday and, this week, that means that it should have been race day. Now, this week is different from every other week, as the Indianapolis 500 is run in the afternoon and the Coca-Cola 600 is run in the evening, typically. Yet, today, we saw a postponed Coca-Cola 600. Alas, that is beside the point right now, as it is not the subject that I am here to discuss this evening.
Earlier today, I sat down in front of my television after having some brunch. The main goal was to double-check the time for the Blackhawks / Red Wings game. But, while perusing the channel guide, I saw that the Indy 500 was being run, so I decided to check in on it. While I am not an Indy Racing League fan, it is the 500, so I wanted to see what it was all about. I was amazed by what I saw, not due to the racing, but because of the coverage from ABC.
Watching NASCAR on FOX can be quite annoying. But, for once, I am not going to take this opportunity to complain about the announcing team (but do not think for a second you guys are off the hook just yet, as you STINK). This time I am going to take the opportunity to complain about something completely outside of the announcers. I am not even going to take this time to gripe and moan about Digger (who also sucks). No, I am going in a different direction all together, based one what I saw while watching portions of the Indy 500.
FOX still has issues with commercial breaks during race coverage. By this, I mean that this season, there have been a few issues where some action happens on the track during a commercial break, and we, the television viewers, miss it. Commercials have been known to cause us to miss a yellow to green restart or an on-track incident that brings out a caution flag. Even though this happens, commercials on FOX during the race take precedence over the racing. I know that I can not be the only one out there who finds this unbelievably frustrating.
Before I go on, I want to make it perfectly clear that I understand the importance of advertising, especially now. NASCAR needs the money, the networks need the money and the products being advertised need the exposure. Plus, with NASCAR, we actually get to see the occasional funny or interesting commercial. The advertising helps keep the sport on TV so that we can watch it every week. I just think there is a way around completely interrupting the action on the track for advertisements.
NASCAR is one of the few televised sports that has non-stop action. Football and baseball have regular advertising blocks, yet each sport has built-in breaks in the action that fit commercials perfectly. Commercials during time-outs in football or between innings in baseball allow for ads to run and no one misses anything that happens on the field. But the only break in the action that comes during a NASCAR race is from the occasional red flag, which stops an event. So, while watching most NASCAR broadcasts, we will see full commercial breaks while there is action still going on at the track. Is there no way to work around this?
This is what amazed me about ABC’s coverage of today’s Indy 500. While the network took regular commercial breaks in some instances, they did something that was by no means revolutionary, yet it was great to see. Sometimes, instead of actually stopping race coverage and going to commercials, ABC would split the screen. The commercials would air on the right side, in a slightly larger screen, and the race continued in the left screen. On the top of the screen was a banner that said that the race was brought to you by whatever product was currently running that advertisement, whether it was Kia or Firestone or any of the others. Advertisers got their products featured and fans got to see both the ads and the race in a pleasant fashion.
I think this works so exceptionally well, not just for those of us that were watching the race at home, but also for the advertisers. Advertising in sports generally means that the viewer will use the time to get up, use the restroom or get something to eat and drink. Especially in this age of TiVo’s and DVR’s, where users can just fast-forward through commercial breaks. But, if the commercials run on one side while the race is still being broadcast on the other side, people actually will stick around to keep watching the race, and are then basically held captive and have to see the commercials as well. Advertisers, this works in your favor in spectacular form and function.
This past year TNT broadcast the Pepsi 400 at Daytona. During this event, TNT ran commercials in the bottom of the screen, leaving the top-half of the screen devoted to race coverage. It was great to see this happen, and the viewers missed none of the on-track action. This type of telecast was quite similar to what I saw while watching some of the Indy 500 today, and I really do not understand why this would be so difficult to do for all networks televising NASCAR. It is a win-win for everyone involved.
Yet, while ABC did this successfully with the Indy 500 and TNT did it for last year’s Pepsi 400, I have not seen this form of advertising utilized for motorsports. I believe that this is completely absurd. Doing split-screen advertising would benefit everyone, from the sponsors to the fans watching at home. I would love to be given the option to not have to have multiple laps of a race that I am watching taken away from me by the networks and advertisers. It has been done before, and today’s Indy 500 showed that it still is a viable option.
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2 comments
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NASCAR absolutely stinks in some instances. The split-screen was amazing. Maybe I'm just an advertising nerd (ok, I am), but this worked ridiculously well. Thanks for checking in, Hopper!
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Patterson, let me tell you why side-by-side is not seen in NASCAR. When ABC started televising the races in 2007, they wanted to use side-by-side. But, naturally, NASCAR said no. They barely even considered it! Maybe it seemed too advanced, or perhaps they were afraid that the fans might like it. LOL. I don't watch IRL much, but I like the way they run their series. They're actually open to good ideas that benefit the fans, as opposed to only thinking of themselves. Great article!