Commercial breaks

[Bollocks#999]

What is it like fella's in your respective countries?


I ask this as it's getting to me big time, especially after the Montreal race


The race was telecast here at 0230AEST, which is fair enough considering the time difference, we then proceed to have an ad break 5 laps into the race, followed by breaks after 7, 8, 8, and then 11 laps later, in a stange turn of events then, we got the last 16 laps ad free

These commercial breaks would last up to 3 laps each, so all I saw was a 55 lap race, completely missed Alonso's fuel problem and if it wasnt for Martin saying so later on in the race (I know myself) and probably others here (in AUS) would not have known what had happened


Why they (Channel 10) have to have ad breaks that last that long are riduculas and is beyond my understanding, it really is going to be the die hard fans that get up at that time to watch a race in any case, so why all the ad breaks?

I understand the fact that the broadcaster here is a commercial network and they need the ads to make money, but why become a commercial network only when Motorsport is on the TV?

 

[Blake]

Well I think Channel 10 have to get a certain number of ads into a live broadcast so they chuck breaks in early in the race after the first lap incidents have died down so they can leave the end of the race relativly break free. We get breaks when Martin and, ummmmm, whatever his name is (I forget), go to breaks and we are usually back from the break before them when Bill Woods and Niel take over commentating for a few minutes.

I don't think we get it that bad and they try to put the ads in when nothing much happens so...yeah

 

[Eagle]

James Allen co-commentates with Martin Brundle, and has for the past 2 seasons. He used to work the pit lane before that, for 20 or so years to the best of my knowledge.

The Canadian race was actually telecast live, which is different to most of them. You'd notice we didn't have Bill Woods and Neil Crompton pretending they know what they're doing during Canada after the breaks, because they were synchronised with those of the British ITV telecast, so all we got was Martin and James just like the Brits did. However, in most races, the telecast is delayed by at least an hour, if not 2. So, Channel 10 actually reproduces the entire race, you don't miss a second when they cut to the ads. That's why Neil and Bill have to cover up for a few minutes in between, because there's no commentary for that part of the race as James and Martin were on a break.

Commercials piss me off but I haven't been too fussed by them this year. There has been the odd moment like Alonso's pit stop incident (which for some reason the director didn't switch back to so we knew wtf happened) but for the most part it's been sufferable. The thing that annoys me more is the fact when Channel 10 picked up the coverage from Channel 9 it was on the condition all races be telecast no later than 45 minutes after the actual commencement of the race, if not live. This hasn't been adhered too from the second race of their contract, and it ****s me. Channel 9 delaying the season close in 2002, a race which is only 2 hours later than my time zone (Suzuka vs Sydney) until about 11pm at night was just pathetic. It won't happen this year because the close is in Brazil, so it'll be live at 2-3am, but if the championship is wrapped up well before, I won't be surprised if Suzuka gets pushed back for Bathurst, Big Brother or some other bull****.

 

[Nasadus]

Guess we should feel lucky here in The Netherlands.We have no commercials during the entire race.

 

[Blake]

I hate you

 

[TsLeng]

We have very short breaks. Petronas ads into and at the end of the break.

Usually it will have some ads on cars, lubricant........

Over here, the local comentators would try and comment(on qualifying day) but usually run out of things to say then switch over to james and co.

 

[Eagle]

We get a 15 minute recap of the weekend before the coverage of the race starts, at best. One of the few good things has been to hear from Mark Webber before each race, he writes the Channel 10 guys with some interesting info from time to time.

Am I the only one completely aggravated by the Shannon's Insurance ads? They're on every ad break of every grand prix, and have been for years now. It was sorta interesting the first few times, but thousands of playings later, I want to kill the guy in them.

 

[Jimmy Enslashay]

i like lubri...oh that kind of lubricant...sorry it was an opening for my corny jokes.

like blake said, its not too bad here in Aus (except for the fact that we got shot down by Mr. Netherlands!), but its better than in, say, cricket or footy where whenever an over is finished or a goal or try is scored they go to an ad break. V8 Supercars' ad breaks annoy the crap out of me for some reason.

 

[ExigeEvan]

In the UK we have 1minute or so breaks every 10 laps I think. Generally its a chance to go to the toilet or get a drink.

 

[Diego440]

I used to live in Venezuela, and there what they used to do was have a commercial break every 10 mins or so, and what they'd do is divide the screen in 4. The top left side would still transmit the race, the bottom right would transmit the commercial, and the other two would just show the sponsoring brands. All the audio would be of the commercial. They also make live mentions of the product, but these cannot be interrupted, so, I happen to remember this one pretty well; remember Spa-Francorchamps' race of 2000 I think, where almost all the cars crashed at the start? Well, the caster was mentioning some product, which he had to do for 30 seconds, and he couldn't interrupt it. The crash was going on, all the cars were totaling each other and the guy was ranting about some cel phone company.

I've recently moved to Spain, and what they do is take a commercial break every 20 mins or so, and since F. Alonso is Spanish, 70% of the commercials are of Renault or some other Alonso-endorsed product (and there are a lot!). Either way, what they do is have a small screen showing the race and a larger one doing commercials. The problem is the smaller screen is so small you can barely make out the cars. During the Canadian GP, when Barrichello passed Raikkonen, it looked as if he was lapping a Minardi. The problem is that the commercial break lasts for about 4-6 laps. Oh, we also get a blackout from a 10 second Renault commercial, which invites you to live Formula 1 with Renaul.... bastards!

Anyway, I must say I prefer this to not knowing was happens.

 

[Brett]

Well commercial breaks in general on SPEED are crap. During the race at Canada, the first of the race was pretty good about not breaking for commercials. But towards the end of the race, it was a commercial every two laps, if even that. Once they went to commercial, came back, and as soon as they come back they tell they are going to take another break. Soon I was fed up with the commercials. SPEED was pretty much just as bad during the 24 Heures du Mans.

 

[Bollocks#999]

Guess we should feel lucky here in The Netherlands.We have no commercials during the entire race.

I'm moving there


I think what Exige said about the breaks in the UK is pretty fair, only runs for a minute, gives you time to take a leak and then back into it, not the sort of crap tht we get here

Maybe its just me, but I actually prefer to watch my motorsport than watch the friggen ad's in between, it's just as bad as the V8 coverage, or should I say lack of

"Home of motorsport"?!? my arse


Vash: You mentioned the Le Mans 24Hour, all we got here on free to air TV was about 20 seconds worth on SBS Monday night, nothing at all from any of the so called "major" networks is this country

If it aint AFL (Aussie Rules Football) or up north Rugby, the big networks just dont want to know


My boss related a story he heard on the radio to me yesterday which really sums up this countrys attitude towards motorsport:
ABC radio was going about AFL this and AFL that, this one fella rings in and says

"There are 4 major motorsport events going on in the world right now (F1@Montreal, V8's@Barbagello, Le Mans 24 Hour and Moto GP) how about we hear some of that?"

This fella gets my vote

 

[sinner]

Here in Asia (Hong Kong) our F1 is broadcasted by ESPN Star Sports... the commercials come every 15-20 mins and last around 90 secs which I guess is not that bad... it just so happens that every so often, over-takings and engine failures occur during the commercial breaks... we don't get split-screen commercials but they do show us a replay if something did happen during the commercial...

 

[Eagle]

I like the split screen idea.

Channel 10 is the home of motorsport because they paid for it, but they're very unprofressional and pathetic at presenting it.

Fox boasts very little in the way of motorsport most of the time, they get some IRL and some Nascar stuff, and we should get a 1 hour Le Mans package sometime soon, and they do do nightly WRC stuff when a race is on, but it's not much.

You know what I'd like to see? A company come along that buys up the advertising time during a race and uses it to show us the damn race. I'd buy products to support whatever company did that.

 

[Mike Rotch]

I also get commercial breaks every 15 mins or so. They are sometimes syncronised with the ITV breaks, but most arent. Usually they occur in the middle of the pit stops so I miss the reshuffling of positions on pit entry. I guess i shouldnt complain. Maybe without the ads, we wouldnt get the coverage to start with.

 

[Blake]

Am I the only one completely aggravated by the Shannon's Insurance ads? They're on every ad break of every grand prix, and have been for years now. It was sorta interesting the first few times, but thousands of playings later, I want to kill the guy in them.

G-O-G-G-O

 

[Jimmy Enslashay]

No, not the DART, they always think its the DART. , i laughed when i saw the ad years ago, but its old now.

 

[Diego440]

A question to all you Aussies.... with Mark Webber being from Australia, does he endorse a lot of products?

Here in Spain about 90% of the commercials that air during the race are either Renault or Alonso, or Alonso driving a Renault or something of the kind.

 

[heero 12]

I don't really mind the comercials, because I understand that without them I'd be staring at a wall.

 

[SouL]

SPEED broadcasts F1 events here in California. They do an okay job, I suppose.

Commercial can be a bit random... sometimes they'll go through many laps without a break... and sometimes they'll go through several breaks within the span of 10 or so laps. I think they're obligated to have a set number of commercial breaks throughout a broadcast. If they feel that sometime big/major is about to happen... they'll cram 2 - 3 commercial breaks within a short period of time to make sure that if something does happen later on... it goes uninterupted.

If something big happens during a break... SPEED is kind enough to do a replay of what happened.

Overall it's not that bad.

Though, I do feel that commercial breaks should be cut down since I'm paying to get SPEED Channel service. But whatever... as long as I get to watch, I'm fine.

 

[Eagle]

I haven't seen one Mark Webber endorsed product actually, which is almost strange when you think about it.

 

[Bollocks#999]

I like the split screen idea.

You know what I'd like to see? A company come along that buys up the advertising time during a race and uses it to show us the damn race. I'd buy products to support whatever company did that.

👍 on the split screen idea

As I would and quite a few guys I know would do so as well, or better still someone (that has the money to spend) just start up their own network that will show us all the available motorsport there is going on in the world, WITHOUT ad breaks, or at the least the very minimum

 

[Blake]

A question to all you Aussies.... with Mark Webber being from Australia, does he endorse a lot of products?

Here in Spain about 90% of the commercials that air during the race are either Renault or Alonso, or Alonso driving a Renault or something of the kind.

No, I've never seen Mark Endorse a product on Australian TV. Of course he does what he has to for the team but we never see any of it.

 

[Race Idiot]

No, I've never seen Mark Endorse a product on Australian TV. Of course he does what he has to for the team but we never see any of it.

Jenson Button did a commercial for the BBC's new Digital service. It was godawfull, every time it came on I cringed.

 

[GilesGuthrie]

The breaks in the UK are more like 2 minutes long. I think it's 5x 2-minute breaks, which gives you 10 minutes of ads in a 100 minute race.

They're reasonably irritating, but not nearly as irritating as James Allen, who frankly needs to be taken outside...

The annoying thing is when they have 2x 2-minute ad breaks in the British Touring Car races, which are usually only 20 minutes long.

 

[Eagle]

Hmm, I haven't actually heard anyone have a gripe with James Allen yet, care to elaborate?

 

[Jimmy Enslashay]

MW will become British or the Kiwis will claim him like the rest of our stars...Russell "30 Odd Foot of Hair" Crowe (kiwi), Kylie Minogue (pom), Greg Murphy (kiwi lol)...sorry..Grig Mirphy .

 

[Blake]

No, I think Mark is going to stay loyal to us. I hope he is

 

[Jimmy Enslashay]

lol im only joking, but alot are claimed by the poms or kiwis. it sucks. lol, even though some are born in NZ, we had them when they claimed fame!! and the poms...what is it with u bastiges??

 

[Blake]

No offence to Famine but all poms should be shot

Sorry, pommy friend at school, he's a tool.