Marketing Disaster for Horse Racing

For starters, I’m not a horse-racing fan. The closest I’ve ever been to that is watching Seabiscuit on DVD. However, like many Americans, I became greatly intrigued again this year when the same horse, “I’ll Have Another” was scratched from the final leg of the Triple Crown. This ends his chance to be the first to win the 3 races since the late 70’s. I wonder how ratings and last minute ad revenue will suffer from this horses sudden retirement? I likely would have watched the race today, but now I will not. I believe this is where most people are with this sort of situation.

It goes with most sports really.  How many people watch a regular season of a given sport? Only big fans do this, and the rest of us only watch the big games. This is where I think marketing changes. Take for example the Super Bowl. Now you have the casual fan watching some games during the regular season and playoffs but certainly viewing the Super Bowl. Then, you have the die-hard fan like me. You watch the NFL Network all the time, watch the Chicago news and read blogs on training camp then watch every preseason, regular season and post season game out there.  Then you have the TV viewer that really only watch the Super Bowl, but nothing else.  I think the marketing for the Super Bowl is geared to the first and last people I mentioned.  It only makes sense. If you look at ratings for this show, you’ll see a huge spike in viewership. The difference between the every day fan and the Super Bowl watcher is so great, it becomes the majority. They can’t be ignored. They must be catered to. I don’t see how it works any other way, but it’s my best guess.