Internet is the great neglected area of F1

[ArrowsFA1]

I would revolutionise the way we do the Internet.The Internet is the great neglected area of F1...The technology exists. It is just annoying because the potential is vast.
This is what Max has to say recently and I totally agree with him. F1 is behind the times when it comes to internet coverage of the sport, but Bernie says his hands are tied because of the contacts FOM has with broadcasters.

http://www.autosport.com/news/report.php/id/73223

What do you think?

[blito]

Bernie is quite right, he sells the rights to the TV companies and then its up to them what they do with those rights and he cannot then do additional coverage in those areas. Also, until the Internet can generate revenue then there is no incentive for TV companies to "go mad" on providing (at their cost) additional coverage.
So, for the time being, Max will have to go on dreaming until Bernie finds a way of getting the net to make money for FOM, and belive me as soon as he does then it WILL make a lot of money for FOM :D

[race aficionado]

I lost my YouTube privileges when I posted F1 footage.

That was a while ago when my man Juan was on board an F1 car.

Fortunately we do get at least this Official F1 site.

http://www.formula1.com/services/play_video.html

f1 needs to be more viewer friendly, it can only help the sport.

Also, how about some HD coverage . . . .
but that's another story and another thread.
:s mokin:

[ioan]

This is what Max has to say recently and I totally agree with him. F1 is behind the times when it comes to internet coverage of the sport, but Bernie says his hands are tied because of the contacts FOM has with broadcasters.

http://www.autosport.com/news/report.php/id/73223

What do you think?

I'd ask Bernie who signed the contracts with the TV companies and what was in his mind ATM (other than $£&#8364 ;) !

[AndyRAC]

Bernie/FIA should embrace You-Tube, and have a channel on there for F1 highlights. I know the NHL, WRC, for example, have channels on there. It should be done, but, as ever, money talks..........

[52Paddy]

Reading the thread title, I thought you meant forum posters and internet users' opinions are being neglected by the F1 elites. Funny in hindsight.

[wedge]

Bernie/FIA should embrace You-Tube, and have a channel on there for F1 highlights. I know the NHL, WRC, for example, have channels on there. It should be done, but, as ever, money talks..........

Double edged sword - who's going to buy £20 season review DVDs if its up on the net?

WRC, IRL - they could do with the exposure that they can get. English Premier League, F1, NASCAR - they over exposed themselves to the point they hassle youtube to protect themselves.

Personally I think its down to the TV companies to come up with good presentation but I've been on the otherside of the world, tried to decifer F1 races in foreign commentary and relying on the net.

I'm as guilty as the next guy for watching motorsport via the internet but the problem with the internet is that users expect something for nothing.

[truefan72]

Double edged sword - who's going to buy £20 season review DVDs if its up on the net?

WRC, IRL - they could do with the exposure that they can get. English Premier League, F1, NASCAR - they over exposed themselves to the point they hassle youtube to protect themselves.

Personally I think its down to the TV companies to come up with good presentation but I've been on the otherside of the world, tried to decifer F1 races in foreign commentary and relying on the net.

I'm as guilty as the next guy for watching motorsport via the internet but the problem with the internet is that users expect something for nothing.

This siotruation is quire simple for F1 to remedy

1. Use the F1.com site as the portal for race streams
2. make people pay a fee to watch it...say $1.99 per race
3. share the generated revenue with the world feed broadcaster they use for that week

OR BETTER YET,

Get a major sponsor to sign up and offer the live feed in HD online, with multiple camera angles and stuff.

1. the NFL does that with the Monday night and Sunday night football game. With Sprint as the sponsor all year long. Very nice.

2. TNT does that with either the first or the second game of their Thursday NBA coverage and it works very well. Unlike the NFL , they don't offer the televised feed, but 4 different alternative feeds with the broadcast audio. works fine

3.NBC set up and Olympic channel and did the same thing with most events (even though some were delayed and others were simply kept for prime time TV...but that's a different beast)

4. I know MLB will be doing a similar thing with coverage this year.


The powers to be know that the masses still watch the televised feed, and the numbers still justify the fees and licensing, They also know that monetizing the internet is not an exact science but via sponsorship is a decent cash source.

Pretty much all major TV channels offer their programming online now with sponsors. and sites like hulu which were developed in partnership with several of the big stations, are completely revolutionizing the way programs are watched.

F1 can do the same and gain a larger audience in doing so.

[Powered by Cosworth]

30 min F1 highlight shows on the iTunes store, i'd pay 2 quid a race, have every race back to the 50s, buy seasons in full etc...

A man can dream :(

[leopard]

It seems that TV is the most effective promotion media to introduce place where to obtain the proper knowledge and everything about F1 is internet. Not all people who like watching F1 are pretty good familiar with internet. They may look for more information about F1 by watching sportainment or reading paper.

Despite of a lot of advertising found during the race, TV would remain the more favorite place for its practicability, although internet doesn't offer too high price for streaming.

There may need more creativity to attract more viewership so that people are tempted to learn F1 zestfully in internet. The general condition may be useful to adopt the system from that we found people is fine watching the sport from TV, but they will get connected to internet as soon as whenever they feel they need someone for friendship and flirt...

[ArrowsFA1]

Fortunately we do get at least this Official F1 site.
We do, although is the official F1 site coverage really much different to what is available on Autosport.com (http://www.autosport.com)? The official F1 site should offer more fan-friendly content IMHO. Adding race highlights was an improvement but there is scope for so much more. Where are the press conferences for example?

By comparison Nascar.com (http://www.nascar.com/), in the build up to Daytona, has numerous driver interviews, features and race highlights available online. Obviously NASCAR has TV contracts as well, so what's preventing F1.com (http://www.formula1.com/) having similar content? What's preventing FOM providing their own online video content separate from the tv coverage?

The internet is an opportunity to engage with fans of the sport, and by so doing the fans can identify far more with what goes on, and more particularly, the personalities involved.

Bernie may use the excuse of contracts, but it seems he doesn't fully understand how the internet can be used. If he did those contracts he talks about would be changed. Yes, it's about money and earning money from the internet is a black art, but it's also about providing fans with content which engages with them and involves them more than happens now.

[555-04Q2]

30 min F1 highlight shows on the iTunes store, i'd pay 2 quid a race, have every race back to the 50s, buy seasons in full etc...

A man can dream :(

:up: I would also like to purchase DVD's covering F1 seasons and/or races.

[ioan]

Double edged sword - who's going to buy £20 season review DVDs if its up on the net?

I've always wandered who the heck is buying those useless dvds.


30 min F1 highlight shows on the iTunes store, i'd pay 2 quid a race, have every race back to the 50s, buy seasons in full etc...

A man can dream :(

Now this is a different story.
Full races from the past would be something I would happily pay for too.

[Ranger]

Full races from the past would be something I would happily pay for too.
There are several from the early to mid-80's that are around, I'm not sure TV covered full races before then.

Now I'm not advocating you watch races without paying ( ;) ), but I've seen the full version of the following races on Youtube, there are a lot more that I have not bothered watching.

Monaco 1984
Australia 1991
Belgium 1995
Monaco 1996
Belgium 1998
Japan 1998
France 1999
Europe 1999
Germany 2000
USA 2001
Australia 2002
Brazil 2003
Britain 2003
Japan 2003
Monaco 2004
Japan 2005
Monaco 2006
Hungary 2006

Otherwise yes, I would pay for full races.

[ShiftingGears]

The DVDs would be worth buying if they had whole races on them instead of crappy highlights packages with the first 3 minutes of each 10 minute race highlight consisting of the director trying to show off how glamourous the people watching F1 are.

So as far as media is concerned, they can improve a lot, ignoring the internet.

[wedge]

We do, although is the official F1 site coverage really much different to what is available on
Autosport.com (http://www.autosport.com)? The official F1 site should offer more fan-friendly content IMHO. Adding race highlights was an improvement but there is scope for so much more. Where are the press conferences for example?

By comparison Nascar.com (http://www.nascar.com/), in the build up to Daytona, has numerous driver interviews, features and race highlights available online. Obviously NASCAR has TV contracts as well, so what's preventing F1.com (http://www.formula1.com/) having similar content? What's preventing FOM providing their own online video content separate from the tv coverage?

Simply because there's no advertising on F1.com.

You can read press conference transcripts on the net. Personally I find press conferences hit and miss and that largely depends on the race itself.

TV is improving eg. BBC red button but you need something viable for revenue streams such Trackpass on Nascar.com where you can view onboards for all the drivers and listen to radio.


The DVDs would be worth buying if they had whole races on them instead of crappy highlights packages with the first 3 minutes of each 10 minute race highlight consisting of the director trying to show off how glamourous the people watching F1 are.

So as far as media is concerned, they can improve a lot, ignoring the internet.

I've got a few season reviews and I honestly enjoy them even though they're quick edits and seem to make races a lot more enjoyable than real life. Good example being the 2004 season - yes Ferrari dominated the front but people have forgotten 'best of the rest' was very competitive.

Personally there are very very few races - particularly in the dry - which I would want to watch in full again because there tends to be periods where things settles down and not much happens.

[PolePosition_1]

Bernie/FIA should embrace You-Tube, and have a channel on there for F1 highlights. I know the NHL, WRC, for example, have channels on there. It should be done, but, as ever, money talks..........

I agree, if you can't beat them join them, as have most big multimedia companies. Or at least provide an alternative, which TV stations in UK have done with iPlayer etc.

[nigelred5]

It seems that TV is the most effective promotion media to introduce place where to obtain the proper knowledge and everything about F1 is internet. Not all people who like watching F1 are pretty good familiar with internet. They may look for more information about F1 by watching sportainment or reading paper.

Despite of a lot of advertising found during the race, TV would remain the more favorite place for its practicability, although internet doesn't offer too high price for streaming.

There may need more creativity to attract more viewership so that people are tempted to learn F1 zestfully in internet. The general condition may be useful to adopt the system from that we found people is fine watching the sport from TV, but they will get connected to internet as soon as whenever they feel they need someone for friendship and flirt...


I'd love to have complete races from past seasons on DVD!!


If you're looking for F1 coverage in a newspaper in the states, You wouldn't know F1 exists. The only time I"ve ever seen more than a 1" blip in our papers was when Hamilton won the WDC, and it was more about his race than the sport. If you want any kind of detailed F1 information, it's going to come from Auto(Bi-)week, maybe Racer magazine or from the NET.

[Knock-on]

It doesn't really bother me too much as I'm fortunate enough to have it live on TV.

However, i hate it that FOM wont let clips of incidents be published on youtube. If it was complete races then they would have a point but a 30 sec clip :?:

Don't really know what all this has to do with the FIA though. He gave F1 to Bernie and pocketed £millions as a kickback so it's a bit late to get on his high horse about how it's run.

[wedge]

However, i hate it that FOM wont let clips of incidents be published on youtube. If it was complete races then they would have a point but a 30 sec clip :?:

That I entirely agree with.

[trumperZ06]

This is what Max has to say recently and I totally agree with him. F1 is behind the times when it comes to internet coverage of the sport, but Bernie says his hands are tied because of the contacts FOM has with broadcasters.

http://www.autosport.com/news/report.php/id/73223

What do you think?

:dozey: One problem with Bernie & Max supplying internet coverage as I see it...

They want to CONTROL the information available to the public.

Censorship... at it's finesse would be the product supplied.

A free press is our best hope for untainted information... and I've seen nothing from either of these two gangsters that represent that philosophy.

[gloomyDAY]

How could you not exploit the internet? Even the WRC is now showcasing live stages and the WRC is eons behind in terms of investment. I just find it to be ludicrous.


Bernie should hire the man who invented the internet, Al Gore.
Imagine the title of the new F1 web page....