I’m always curious about streaming numbers and the revenue distribution and the amount of exposure it creates for the possibility to gain new fans. Last week on the fabulous Castrol Flo Race Night, Michael Rigsby asked for the number of people watching. If I’m not mistaken the number was 33 thousand. I thought that to be an appropriate count. One reason I think about it is here in the great state of Indiana, which is the epicenter of true sprint car racing, we have only one track enlisted on the big stream forums, and that’s Kokomo on Flo. I wish the other big sprint tracks would see the benefit and join Flo as well. Last Wednesday on Castrol Flo Night, they had a very good crowd. If streaming kept anyone away you couldn’t tell by looking at the stands. And in the meantime, 33 thousand other fans were basically looking at an advertisement of your track and product, not to mention well placed signage around the track. Here in Indiana, we’ve got the best racing in the country on a weekly basis. Let’s hope the other popular sprint tracks consider getting on board the major stream services. To me there’s very little to lose but a lot of eyes to gain
Yea I think the Crowds recently for big shows that are on either DV or Flo have put to rest the idea that streaming hurts attendance. If 33 thousand people are watching a random LM race I can only imagine how much money these two big apps are pulling in.
1600. I agree. One thing though I didn’t originally consider but your reply made me think of is t on a Wednesday they had no competition for viewers. On a weekend someone might have to choose which feed to watch. That said I don’t see how they lose if the stream provider pays them anything. What the tracks get seems to be top secret
No doubt lack of competition plus I think Larson was there so that probably drove it up, but if that 33k number is accurate, man that just makes me think Flo might have over 100k subscribers. That’s $15m of revenue per year at the $150 price point. Total speculation on my part, but that’s some decent revenue.
Originally Posted by opnwhlmnd:
Flo also has many other sports they stream live not just racing. To me that's why they can offer a one year subscription for $150.
Got Flo and Lucas. Know burg and other tracks use speedsport. some racingboys Boss the Cushion. Sorry, Im subscribing to two that I can afford. I look at Dirt Vision and say. No freakin way.
Not and still be able to attend races in person which is always best. I admit I've stayed home a few times and just watched on Flo. But not local or within a hour and a half. Im there. Only way to be.
Absolutely love the Ovals and Westernworld and Bubba, wish they could add a couple races to that week.
Also to my point, take a look at the F1 race this past weekend. The crowd was massive! I heard somewhere the number of 400 thousand for the weekend. A lot of folks credit that to Netflix show Drive to Survive, the documentary of Formula 1 racing. It’s actually pretty good if you haven’t seen it. Exposure equals customer’s in most cases. Also, Ken Dobson who runs the Jacksonville Illinois Speedway, had a tweet or 2 that almost makes you think he feels privileged to have his track on Dirtvision. (Kenny if you read this and feel I might have read it wrong, please feel free to correct me) Charles I certainly understand your thoughts. There’s only so much that the entertainment budget allows, and Dirtvision is a bit salty. I justified it by the fact that it has one of the best wing series and one of the best Late Model series, both plus all of the Knoxville Nationals if you buy the platinum package, and also Jacksonville as well as the Grove I believe. So I think it has some value. I know not everyone’s business model is the same but I don’t see how it can negatively affect the big picture if you run a race track.
FlagBoy - Yes, I thanked DirtVision for playing a significant role in allowing us to make $2,000 to win wing shows a part of our regular program. If you go back over the past decade we had been working toward that but could never quite get over the hump. Don't kid yourself into thinking the payment to a small niche track in Central Illinois that people outside of the Midwest have barely heard of turns the weekly P&L on it's head... but it picks up that gap of where I think we've been short or reluctant in putting a quality show together every night. It allows us to more confidently put on a show that our fans generally turn out to see - even in weeks when you are fighting clouds, cold, high school football, a local festival or similar things. I know that we can at least get close to our target to make the checks clear on Monday. In our case that extra revenue is figured into a purse that we wouldn't otherwise pay. In essence it goes to the racers, but the intangibles of having a better program, the exposure it brings to the track, the engagement it creates with our fans is what we hope in time drops a little extra to our bottom line.
We do it a little different in that a core promise we try to keep is that all of our events will be on one platform. Without a doubt that limits us in scheduling some specials that might be aligned with our friends at another streaming provider, but it lets me tell our fans, the racers, their wives, aunts, uncles, grandparents, the bars in town, old-timers that can't get to the track as often etc. that if you purchase a single subscription you will see absolutely everything that happens at our track. The trade-off in giving up some special events that might not be able to be broadcast on DV, is that our races on the rest of the nights are better, higher quality with more exposure etc. And by no means is that exclusivity a requirement of DV - just something we think is an important expectation of locals when they subscribe.
There's no doubt it has been good as we continue to try to build a quality reputation and brand. The quality of production we have coming out of here each week, along with the extra eyeballs is also something that is valuable in convincing the powers-that-be in town that having a race track making noise on Fridays in the middle of town is beneficial. When locals that aren't into racing come across our highlight clips on social media, we will regularly hear about how "big time" the race track in town must be. Who would want to kill one of the only things bringing notoriety to your town?
Finally, every track has a different market - but for us, DirtVision was the perfect fit because the majority of tracks are primarily wing tracks and the number of programs on a given night won't bury us in the offerings. Usually we are one of two or three different things on DV when we race - not 20. Plus, when you fancy yourself a wing sprint car track and you get to keep company with the World of Outlaws, Knoxville, Husets, Williams Grove and Attica... I mean really? We will gladly put on our clip-on tie and try to mingle at that party!
I know that based on the action I've seen on DirtVision, Jacksonville is absolutely on my list of tracks to visit in the next couple of years. I don't think it was before. Great to hear that the streaming services are paying the tracks and that it's helping the drivers.
