zzdcar
Home
/
Reviews
/
Racing
/
This Is The Problem With Motorsports Broadcasting In America
This Is The Problem With Motorsports Broadcasting In America-June 2024
2024-02-19 EST 22:11:46

It's the middle of the race, and the battle for the lead is heating up. Oh my gosh, the leader takes a hit! Aaaaaand it's time for a commercial break. HUH?!

This clip comes from today's Formula E Buenos Aires ePrix broadcast, and it shows the biggest problem with American motorsports on television.

This ePrix was a hour of sheer insanity, with nearly constant action from start to finish. If you haven't seen it yet, I highly recommend acquiring a copy. Just, uh, maybe look for a different version than the Fox Sports 2 broadcast.

I don't understand it, but commercials tend to interrupt the action at the most inopportune times during races. Maybe it's because there are few breaks, and breaks only happen if something significant has gone wrong, such as a red flag for impassable track conditions or a major crash. There's no convenient "time out" to take a commercial break.

That being said, maybe we should use picture-in-picture style commercial breaks more often, where the race is still shown continuously in a little box on screen, and advertisers still get the time they paid for.

Cutting to commercials when the leader taps a wall demonstrates that the focus is on broadcasting ads over showing the race. Sorry, we're all tuned in for the race instead.

Comments
Welcome to zzdcar comments! Please keep conversations courteous and on-topic. To fosterproductive and respectful conversations, you may see comments from our Community Managers.
Sign up to post
Sort by
Show More Comments
Racing
Getting Audited Sucks For Race Cars, Too
Getting Audited Sucks For Race Cars, Too
All of the Mazda MX-5 teams that participated in the Continental Tire Sports Car Challenge race this weekend were found yanking out their engines after the race on Friday night. Why? According to IMSA, it was time to do a routine audit to make sure everything was in spec. Yes,...
Jun 5, 2026
Sebring Marshals Know How To Party
Sebring Marshals Know How To Party
Well, this is one way to keep track of the race when you can only see it from one turn for long periods of time. Here are a couple other little things I found on the photo trail around the track. I understand the fire extinguisher. I only sort of...
Jun 5, 2026
Tony Stewart Is Pissed And Wants Martin Truex Jr. To Know About It
Tony Stewart Is Pissed And Wants Martin Truex Jr. To Know About It
Martin Truex Jr.'s number 78 Chevy had a bit of a run-in with Tony Stewart's number 14 Chevy during today's NASCAR Sprint Cup Auto Club 400. So, Stewart let Truex know in the pits after the race—rather heatedly. (At least no one threw any punches or grabbed onto any firesuits...
Jun 5, 2026
The New Audi R18 E-Tron Quattro Has Way More Hybrid Power
The New Audi R18 E-Tron Quattro Has Way More Hybrid Power
Audi will be switching from the two-megajoule to the four-megajoule sub-class this year within the LMP1 class in the World Endurance Championship. What does that mean? This year's Le Mans prototype racer gets more hybrid power, delivering more of electric boost for longer periods of time. The R18 has been...
Jun 5, 2026
Mercedes Driver Lewis Hamilton Celebrates Win By Buying A LaFerrari
Mercedes Driver Lewis Hamilton Celebrates Win By Buying A LaFerrari
Things are going great for Lewis Hamilton these days, thanks for asking! He won last year’s Formula One driver’s championship in what was unquestionably the most dominant car on the field, and he’s off to a great start in 2015 after last weekend’s win at the . How does the...
Jun 5, 2026
I Need An Off-Road Porsche 911 In My Life
I Need An Off-Road Porsche 911 In My Life
The best car in the 12 Hours of Sebring paddock wasn't one of the party trucks that wandered around with fans yelling "WOOOO" in the bed, or any kind of latest-and-greatest supercar. Nope. Not even close. It was this 1986 Porsche 911 jacked up on nubby tires with a million...
Jun 5, 2026
Copyright 2023-2026 - www.zzdcar.com All Rights Reserved