Originally Posted by
rcmiket
ESPN2 will show five Drone Racing League events
Now ESPN has moved drone racing to traditional television, on ESPN2. It is a bet on the growing popularity of a still-very-niche techie pastime. As a sign of how niche: On Sept. 18, ESPN re-aired an edited version of the DSA’s 2016 national championships from August. It was the first time drone racing has been shown on ESPN (the TV channel, not digital-only).
According to Nielsen, just 223,000 people tuned in.
In October and November,
ESPN2 will show 10 episodes covering five races of the Drone Racing League (DRL). The programming began on Sept. 15 with an “Intro to Drone Racing” (
106,000 viewers, Nielsen says) and starts up in full on Sunday, Oct. 23, with a re-air of the Intro followed by the first race.
The events have flashy names like “Miami Lights,” “L.A.Pocalypse” and “The Ohio Crash Site.”
We all know how much I love numbers (when I can actually get them) well here's some on drone racing viewers.
Mike
It is,and will remain a niche hobby/activity, just like longboarding, or Kite surfing, both things that have been shown on ESPN.
I do love the bold and emphasis on
"just 223,000 people tuned in", or even the
106,000 viewers.
Remind me again what "traditional" RC event has been broadcast by ESPN (or any channel for that matter). Wait, I'll make it easier, what "tradtional" RC event has anything close to even 106,000 spectators a year? Or even over 3. As a lover of numbers, I presume you have some stats?
First these things weren't popular, then they weren't really having events, and then they weren't really attended or popular, then they were but were all about money. Now they make it to Network TV and the viewership numbers weren't enough.
