BTCC 2024 News & Rumours

[auroan]

Originally Posted by peebee2

Anyway, thanks for all that, it was suggested to yesterday that MSV is about to buy TOCA, hence I posted it. Not MSVR. Not BARC.

I don't believe that's the case. I think someone has got the wrong end of the stick regards who runs the events on the weekend and when that bit of the contract runs out.

[MarcusH26]

According to Instagram, Jade Edwards is joining the ITV team for the whole season alongside Paul O'Neil.

[Daverb]

Originally Posted by MarcusH26

According to Instagram, Jade Edwards is joining the ITV team for the whole season alongside Paul O'Neil.

Why

[TinTopGrumpy]

Originally Posted by Daverb

Why

Why not? Good idea to bring on some new people as far as I can see.

[Mike Harte]

Hypothesising, if Rider is leaving at the end of this year, we might see Louise Goodman taking over seat that seat with O'Neill filling her place with Jade Edwards replacing him.

[SSmith]

Originally Posted by Daverb

Why

- She has much more recent BTCC experience than Tim and Paul
- She's raced in multiple categories and can share some of that experience
- She's confident on camera and a good communicator (hence she's worked in F1s Paddock Club)
- She is younger than ITVs other broadcasters and being ITVs first regular woman pundit may help inspire girls watching the coverage (especially with a new audience on TikTok) to get involved in motorsport in any role, and is an additional role model to Louise Goodman
- If contracts are up at the end of the year for ITVs broadcast team (as Paul O'Neill suggested recently), then it's a good time for ITV to start looking to the future

[SSmith]

Originally Posted by Mike Harte

Hypothesising, if Rider is leaving at the end of this year, we might see Louise Goodman taking over seat that seat with O'Neill filling her place with Jade Edwards replacing him.

I think that is a very good hypothesis, and I wonder if ITV might try that lineup out at somewhere like Knockhill to minimise Steve Rider's travel/workload

[sceptic]

Originally Posted by MarcusH26

According to Instagram, Jade Edwards is joining the ITV team for the whole season alongside Paul O'Neil.

Jade's own X (formerly Twitter) post says it is for "selected rounds only", not the whole season.

[houston]

Originally Posted by Mike Harte

Hypothesising, if Rider is leaving at the end of this year, we might see Louise Goodman taking over seat that seat with O'Neill filling her place with Jade Edwards replacing him.

Oh no, I remember hearing that he may be looking to step away from the BTCC but didn't realise it had actually been confirmed.


He'll be missed.

[redshoes]

She's doing co-comms for F4. They've had a number of drivers and ex-drivers filling that role for different support series over the year. Haven't seen anything to say it's a wider presenting role.

[STEVN111]

Do you think the "Big News" that Creesy was teasing could be the same role but for the rounds that jade cant make?

Could be they want a driver on the TV coms side of things, much like Karun in F1, to give a bit more detail about the cars and tyre strats etc. with this new worldwide audience

[crmalcolm]

Originally Posted by redshoes

She's doing co-comms for F4. They've had a number of drivers and ex-drivers filling that role for different support series over the year. Haven't seen anything to say it's a wider presenting role.

Her FB post reads:

'I’m over the moon to announce I will be joining the ITV pundit team for the British Touring Cars at selected rounds in 2024… kick starting this weekend at Donington Park for the opener!
I will be part of BTCC line up as well as joining @arejayenn in the comms box for both of Sundays F4 races! '

[tocatrucky]

Originally Posted by STEVN111

Do you think the "Big News" that Creesy was teasing could be the same role but for the rounds that jade cant make?

Could be they want a driver on the TV coms side of things, much like Karun in F1, to give a bit more detail about the cars and tyre strats etc. with this new worldwide audience

creesy777 (on instagram)
? So very excited to announce il be working with @itvsport , @btcc and @tiktok this weekend!!! Il be doing live Q&A’s on @itvsport page on @tiktok so make sure you come over and say hi and ask anything you want!! I also be doing lots on my own @tiktok channel @creesy777 behind the scenes and having bit of fun with my old colleagues!!! Head over to my TikTok page now and make sure you follow as going to be big !!

[cxx666]

They really are trying to push the tiktok thing hard aren't they? :/

[ahobson98]

Originally Posted by cxx666

They really are trying to push the tiktok thing hard aren't they? :/

Why is that a bad thing? The more coverage the better, and trying to increase exposure to a younger audience is excellent for sponsors and to increase the championship following in future years. The existing ITV4/ITVX coverage isn't affected.

[thetool]

I feel the strange thing is how they've been so bad for so long at it to then jump into the social media that attracts probably the youngest audience and also probably the audience least likely to be attracted to the BTCC.

It's a bit like your granny suddenly replacing her 2002 Dell computer with a modern gaming PC.

[coffinpilot]

Originally Posted by thetool

I feel the strange thing is how they've been so bad for so long at it to then jump into the social media that attracts probably the youngest audience and also probably the audience least likely to be attracted to the BTCC.

It's a bit like your granny suddenly replacing her 2002 Dell computer with a modern gaming PC.

That's the thing. I'm led to believe that because this isn't say TCR or club racing or karting that if they wanted to mirror the livestream on YouTube/Facebook/Twitter there would have to be solid deals with each platform and ITV (I've been told that's the case with SRO streaming everything from GTWC to Brit GT - it's not just a case of plugging a stream and putting it on a channel) but having a man with good connections, digital nous and passion (Halstead) has opened the TikTok avenue.
Or in other words it's an experiment on the cheap.

At the end of the day all you need to do is hook the same stream up to the other social media platforms to grab other demographics. I can kind of understand not hitting certain platforms because it'll take away (age group wise) from the UK TV broadcast numbers, but a simple YouTube geolock (which is what NASCAR does) to hit a worldwide audience of that age group seems the most obvious path, but what do I know??!! My 14 year old won't watch it on TikTok, he actually said when we were talking about it that if he was interested he'd either come to the races or watch on TV with the family.

I hope that embracing the digital future helps the BTCC grow, I hope it's part of a wider strategy going forward with other platforms, but I fear that beyond say people getting a laugh at Tingram and his media mate, 25-30 minute live videos on the channel (no matter whether or not the algorithm loves them) isn't going to fit.

Just my (middle aged man) opinion!!

[Mike Harte]

Thinking about it and trying to be positive, I actually feel that if a good broadband link could be provided at circuits, then a live stream whilst spectating at an event could be beneficial because, apart from Brands Indy and Knockhill (I think) there are no points on the other tracks where you can see the whole circuit. Obviously, if you are able to see a big screen that negates the need, however, certainly last year, there was one less screen available on the infield at Oulton.

[ahobson98]

I mean sure, there are definitely other avenues they could take to increase/improve the social media presence further (YouTube the obvious example), however using TikTok is not a bad thing in itself, it simply could be better.

At the end of the day, anybody middle-aged living in Britain who would be interested in the BTCC probably already watches it. By trying to appeal to that demographic the returns are probably pretty small.

However, by using the social media platforms that young people use (TikTok/Instagram e.t.c.), the potential number of new viewers is much greater. I don't think anybody will watch the full broadcast on TikTok, however it could serve as a good way to catch the attention of people on the platform, where they might then be tempted to check it out on TV.

Would love to see the viewing figures after this weekend, would make interesting reading.

[Moneyseeker]

I think this is TOCA testing the water ahead of what is likely to be streaming only coverage after 2026.

[porsche962fan]

Originally Posted by ahobson98

However, by using the social media platforms that young people use (TikTok/Instagram e.t.c.), the potential number of new viewers is much greater. I don't think anybody will watch the full broadcast on TikTok, however it could serve as a good way to catch the attention of people on the platform, where they might then be tempted to check it out on TV.

modern young kids have very short attention spans , they want to see things happening not see processions otherwise they check out quickly

[cxx666]

Originally Posted by ahobson98

Why is that a bad thing? The more coverage the better, and trying to increase exposure to a younger audience is excellent for sponsors and to increase the championship following in future years. The existing ITV4/ITVX coverage isn't affected.

The only part of this new deal I agree with is that it will mean the championship can be broadcast to more across the globe. I, like others, don't think tiktok is an app to be encouraged. In my experience it's full of kids messing around, try hards who think they're hilarious, and half baked "life hacks", none of which are worth the time of day. When the news first came out that the championship was to team up with them, I had thought it was a wind up. It certainly shouldn't do anything for the credibility of the BTCC. If anything, they should have gone with a live broadcast on far more credible and respectable apps like Facebook, Instagram or YouTube.

I think it will help overseas fans to watch something they already know about, but I can't see it attracting the big numbers of new followers that Nick Halstead and co were talking about, realistically I can only see it getting the occasional viewers who dip in and out with the "oh yea, you get some good crashes in that!" mentality. As was mentioned earlier, the short attention span of social media and that app in particular doesn't fit with a race being broadcast live