NASCAR races during the first half of the season are broadcast on Fox. TV ratings have been down an average of 10% for all of the races broadcast so far. This has got NASCAR, Fox, advertisers, and team sponsors worried. Most of the blame is being directed towards the economy.
I have a different take ... blame it on the damn gopher.
Fox came up with a camera buried in the pavement, which captures some truly dramatic shots of cars as they pass inches overhead. Shortly after introducing it, they added a cute little graphic of a gopher diving into his hole just before a car went overhead. People supposedly fell in love with the gopher, and Fox held an internet contest to name it. "Digger'' won.
Digger became a marketing opportunity for Fox. All kind of merchandise appeared with the gopher's likeness on it.
Over this past offseason, the folks at Fox decided to push this little critter more and more. At Daytona, we were subjected to an obnoxious cartoon with him and his NASCAR loving family during the pre-race coverage. We are repeatedly assaulted with this gopher during race coverage, and not just when the pavement cam is active.
I like Fox's broadcast team. However, their constant attempts to 'gimic' up their coverage is offensive, and tiresome. From Digger to the obnoxious theme music and patting themselves constantly on the back on air, it is too much.
NOTE to Fox, NBC, ESPN, TNT, and Speed (all broadcasters for NASCAR) - dump the gratuitous B.S. and get back to basic, thorough coverage of the race, the drivers, and the teams. That is what your audience is tuning in for, not crappy little cartoon characters.
That's why people are tuning out (or at least turning down the sound).
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