DIRTRACKR Daily Podcast - Episode Transcript
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Offering LESS and charging MORE, where will these new dirt racing streamers find customers? | Daily 2-27-2023
News today on another new dirt racing streaming service and what it means for the future, plus Tyler Courtney and Clauson Marshall have confirmed their series choice, and we've got weekend results. Let's go!
It's Monday, February 27th, I'm Justin Fiedler. This is DIRTRACKR Daily.
The great unbundling of dirt racing streaming continues, and back on Friday we got the news that Russell Motorsports is creating their own service for weekly action at Placerville Speedway and for the Sprint Car Challenge Tour. Both the track and the 360 sprint car series had been on FloRacing as part of their subscription package, but now it will be much costlier to watch those events online. The new CaliDirt.TV will charge $19.99 a race for Placerville weekly shows, and $24.99 a race for Sprint Car Challenge Tour events. You can also sign up for a monthly subscription that will cost $39.99. If you buy all the Placerville shows pay per view, it will cost $339.83 for the year, the Sprint Car Challenge Tour pay per view shows would be $349.86. So combined, you'd be paying $689.69, but the monthly subscription will save you $209.81, with a year costing $479.88. It looks like 17 weeks of racing at Placerville, plus 14 Sprint Car Challenge Tour events, means 31 shows for $480, or about $15.50 per show. Obviously that will change though with rainouts, driving the per race price higher. For comparison, DIRTVision is also $39.99 on a monthly subscription, but you can buy the whole year for $299.99. And FloRacing continues to be $149.99 for a year. The pricing for these promoter controlled streaming services is fascinating, because you can see how they view it the same as the at track ticket pricing. They want it to be an option, but hopefully for only people outside the area, or those who flat can't attend the races. They believe if they make it too cheap, it will keep people from the track. That's why it's so much more expensive when compared with Flo or DIRTVision. You won't get a better experience than those other services, but you will pay more because the promoters are afraid.
In the release, Scott Russell said they did have negotiations with Flo, but decided this was a better direction. He also said quote "we need to have access to data, otherwise there isn’t a value to streaming for a track or series. We feel live streaming is still evolving but to maximize the value and benefits, we truly needed to have increased access to data, in order to reach a broader market from a marketing standpoint" unquote. To me, and I'm just speculating here, this feels like Flo either presented a deal that was pretty low, based on their understanding of the marketplace, or walked away completely. As we've discussed before on this show, Flo continues to hone their offerings based on what moves the needle for them in terms of subscriber growth, and they are either going to offer much less for lower drawing tracks and series, or not make deals at all. On the flip side, Chris Graner and the Speed Sport TV platform are the ones in this instance to pick up the pieces, offering more control, access to that quote unquote "data", and taking their fee for using their turn-key, white label platform. And Russell took the chance to take a shot at Flo on the way out with the data comment. Looking through Speed Sport TV, they are approaching 30 different niche providers now covering dirt racing using their setup. It's actually a really interesting process to watch play out, because you are learning where the real value is and what tracks and series are worth having, versus those that aren't. DIRTVision will remain in a strong position, because they will continue to stream the owned WRG properties, and fill out their schedule with tracks based on their relationships. Flo on the other hand, because it's venture backed, is almost forced to double down on the big revenue drivers and shed anything that doesn't make a big difference. There is no reason to keep paying rights fees for low performing shows. As we are seeing, this continues to be smaller regional and local racing. The total addressable market for these niche providers will continue to shrink though, because race fans only have so much disposable income to spend on streaming and at track experiences. Only the really, super, die-hard fans will buy these smaller shows, and the rest of the fans will be forced to make purchases where they can get the most bang for their buck, and that will be with services like Flo and DV.
Moving on, also back on Friday we got confirmation that Tyler Courtney will indeed return to the All Stars to chase a third straight series championship. All signs had been pointing towards a rookie run with the World of Outlaws for Sunshine, but in recent weeks I'd heard they had changed their minds and were planning on an All Star return. Their announcement also said they will compete with High Limit and other high profile events. Courtney will be the heavy favorite to repeat this season as champion, especially if Justin Peck and Buch Motorsports don't end up running the full schedule. I certainly like other guys like here like Hunter Schuerenberg and Zeb Wise, but they'd have to make big leaps in performance and consistency to match that 7BC. We are still almost six weeks away from the All Star points opener at Attica.
There wasn't a ton of racing over the weekend, as some stuff was lost to cancellations, and none of the national tours were racing anyway. Terry McCarl swept the USCS weekend at Southern Raceway in Florida and Tim Buckwalter bagged the Indoor Dirt Nationals in New Jersey. The Saturday portion of the Icebreaker at Lincoln Speedway was cancelled, but we did get to see 410 sprint cars yesterday afternoon. Brandon Rahmer and Dylan Norris led the field to green, and Rahmer was in control through the first half. Justin Peck though was on the move, and he grabbed the lead on lap 14 and never let it go. Brent Marks got to second on a late restart, but couldn't reel Peck in for the win. So Peck your winner after finishing second to Freddie Rahmer last Thursday. Marks second, Devon Borden third, Danny Dietrich fourth, and Anthony Macri faded to fifth after running second late. It was a tough start to team ownership for Chase Dietz, who we've been keeping track of via his TikTok account as he's built out this new organization. His new team was out on lap one after tangling with Riley Emig.
Looking ahead to later this week, we will have some dirt racing action to look forward too. The World of Outlaws Late Models are headed to Smoky Mountain, and we'll get to see the Spring Nationals and Southern All Stars late models. The World of Outlaws Sprint Cars return to Volusia on Sunday and Monday as well. The schedule should continue to pick up in the coming weeks as we get closer to spring.
Three items on the streaming schedule today. Speed Sport has IMCA racing from Northwest Florida, and there is FloRacing 24/7 and DIRTVision Now. To see the full daily streaming schedule with links to watch, visit dirtrackr.com/watchtonight.
Have a good Monday out there, we'll see you guys tomorrow!