Vegas to Reno and AMA Motocross TV Ratings From Weekend of 8/9

This week we’ll stick with just the simple weekend TV ratings from Network TV.  For the purposes of our conversation we’ll define Network TV as those stations most commonly broadcasting an “over the air” signal—signals you can pick up for free with a pair of “rabbit ears” (this would most commonly be your local NBC, ABC, CBS and Fox stations).  The weekend of 8/9 and 8/10 saw two “offroad” motorsports broadcasts, both on NBC.

The first of these was the Saturday, 8/8 live broadcast of the 450 Moto2 from 3-4PM Eastern at the Red Bull Unadilla National in New Berlin, NY.  Trey Canard and his Muscle Milk Honda would follow up his 4^th place Moto1 result by taking the Moto2 win followed by Moto1 winner Ryan Dungey.  The hour long broadcast produced a 0.3 rating which equates to an estimated 347,000 households tuning in to watch.  If you figure that a few of these households had more than one individual watching the program (say 1 in 10) then you end up with about 380,000 people were exposed during this time frame to the sport in general and to the advertisers (Red Bull and Lucas Oil were foremost amongst these) in particular.  As a point of contrast, during this same time period, ABC was broadcasting the NASCAR Nationwide event a stone’s throw away in NY over at Watkins Glenn, obtaining a 1.2 rating.

Sunday 8/9 would bring another offroad event on NBC.  This time, its broadcast wasn’t so clear to the casual observer.  If you looked at your available TV programs on Sunday you would have seen the “World of Adventure Sports presented by GoPro” on NBC from 3-4 PM Eastern.  Great, but I’m busy revalving my shocks or watching the final round of the PGA Championship over on CBS you say.  Well, then you would have missed some sweet HD coverage of the 2013 Vegas to Reno BITD race.  Won by Jason Voss in Trick Trucks and CJ Hutchins in the 1500 class, the coverage here would not be for the full hour as within this program was also coverage of other non-motorsports events such as a marathon on Mt. Blanc in France and downhill mountain biking.  Still, the program did generate a 0.4 rating, reflecting about 462,000 households tuning in with about 508,000 viewers.  When you consider that this broadcast was competing directly against the culminating hours of the PGA Championship (6.0 rating) and the NASCAR Sprint Cup race on ESPN (3.1 rating) it’s really quite decent.

Both of these broadcasts are well within what I would consider the “norm” for offroad motorsports ratings on Network TV over the past few years—though the Unadilla motocross event is on the very low end of what Moto/Supercross typically generates. 

TELECAST	DATE	NET	TIME (ET)	RATING
NASCAR Nationwide Series: Zippo 200 at The Glen	8/9	ABC	2:15-5:00pm	1.2
"ESPN Sports Saturday"	8/9	ABC	5:00-6:00pm	0.7
Major League Fishing: Summit Cup Championship	8/9	CBS	1:00-2:00pm	0.5
PGA Championship: Third Round	8/9	CBS	2:00-7:15pm	3.2
AMA Motocross	8/9	NBC	3:00-4:00pm	0.3
U.S. Swimming National Championships	8/9	NBC	4:00-6:00pm	0.5
World of X Games: Games of Skate	8/10	ABC	5:00-6:00pm	0.4
PGA Championship: rain delay coverage	8/10	CBS	2:00-3:00pm	2.0
PGA Championship: Final Round	8/10	CBS	3:00-9:00pm	6.0
Ironman World Championship	8/10	NBC	1:30-3:00pm	0.6
World of Adventure Sports	8/10	NBC	3:00-4:00pm	0.4
U.S. Swimming National Championships	8/10	NBC	4:00-5:30pm	0.5

New Garmin VIRB Action Camera

As the owner of a Replay XD action camera and a constant observer of GoPros and other action cams I'm always interested in new and affordable, high quality video recorder that can take a beating.

Garmin (the company known for all its GPS related devices) is attempting to diversify itself with its Garmin VIRB action camera.  Likely a good idea as GPS information is becoming ubiquitous in seemingly every device that we own and turn by turn directions are available on nearly everyone's phone.

Though I haven't used the VIRB personally, I will say that upon initial impressions I'm not sure this is going to offer Garmin a new, viable, revenue stream.  For one thing its price point is too high at $299 and $399.  With middle of the road GoPros and Replay XDs going for significantly less and WiFi capabilities being built in on other models, the VIRB doesn't offer that much extra to justify the higher cost.

Secondly, it just LOOKS big and bulky right down to its attachments.  While the Replay XD is downright miniscule and unobtrusive and the GoPros have sleek mounting units (comparatively) the VIRB looks like it belongs mounted on some sort of crane or boom at a movie shoot and not on your head or bike.

Lastly, the video footage that Garmin has put up on their site is, well, less than impressive.  While GoPro has the marketing aspect of their product down tight (LOVE the videos of surfing in Hawaii or boarding at Mt. Hood or on a baby's head in the kitchen) with just gorgeous TV advertisements making everyone think "Wow, I could look that cool in my own video.  Look at the colors and clarity!!" the videos on the Garmin site reportedly from the VIRB look drab and boring without emotion or humor.

Again--I haven't used this camera myself so it could certainly surprise me...It just screams that it is a first effort from a company that has traditionally been focused on satellites rather than producing more fun and artistic products.

Wired GadgetLab on Garmin VIRB...

Sony Action Cam Review...

Since I would like to capture more of my on stage rallying in '13 than I captured in '12 I have been looking at various action cameras like the GoPro series which is likely the best known in the business.  Seeing the Sony mentioned got my attention as while GoPro is the industry standard it is also fairly expensive and other up and comers might have a better price point and features.

Evidently Sony's Action Cam is a mixed bag with most of the mixed bag being of the negative variety.  Read for yourself Wired's review here: Sony Action Cam Review...