Universal Sports charging for Giro Race Tracker

Note: It turns out the the Tour of California and Giro Tour Trackers are basically the same product. See this post for details and a comparison the the Tour de France tracker used by Versus.

In a recent column for ROAD, I argued that teams and events should more directly serve and monetize the sport’s existing core fan base. Here’s why:

The foundation of my argument here is that I see cycling’s pursuit of the “mainstream” as single minded and quixotic. The world is changing; the mainstream is shrinking. We’re not far from a time when even network television will reach only a niche audience. Granted some niches will be bigger than others, but the challenge for every form of entertainment will be to sustainably make money off a smaller audience.

One of my suggestions was that AEG charge for the Tour of California’s Tour Tracker website that features multiple live video streams, real-time GPS tracking per rider, photos, chat, etc. And guess what? Universal Sports has done exactly that with its Race Tracker for the Giro coverage that it scooped up from RCS just before the race started.

At $3.95 for a stage and $34.95 for the whole race, the Giro Race Tracker is pricier than the $25 I suggested in my column for the Tour de France. But I gave it a shot today, watching side-by-side with Universal Sports’ free live online video. As you can see from these screenshots, video quality on the free live video (first screenshot) is better than on the Race Tracker (second screenshot). But both were adequately watchable.

I should add that the Race Tracker offers “standard” and “premium” video, but I didn’t notice much difference in quality. There’s also a bunch of low-quality pirated streams out there. And RAI offers unrestricted coverage with multiple camera angles that I hear is good, although I can’t imagine it will be available much longer in countries where folks like Universal Sports have paid good money for online broadcast rights.

(Note: I watched the RAI coverage the day after this post. It has some Tracker-like features but they don’t outweigh the fact that I don’t speak Italian. Video quality was about the same as Universal Sports, which wasn’t loading. RAI’s archive of interviews and highlight clips would be a great feature for the Tracker.)

Race Tracker vs. Tour Tracker

Compared to the ATOC Tour Tracker, the Universal Sports Race Tracker isn’t a fully baked product. You can’t see the GC or information about any stages other than the one you’re currently watching. Nor does the Race Tracker allow you to follow individual riders by GPS or see their bios. It also lacks photo coverage.

Common features are live video (obviously), text play-by-play (Universal gets Cyclingnews’ live coverage with AEG’s is written in-house), interactive course profile, and public chat. Both are really slick Flash sites produced by Adobe.

The fundamental difference between the two is that the ATOC tracker is produced by AEG, who owns the event, while Universal Sports is limited by their role as a broadcast rightsholder. AEG can duct tape GPS units on everyone’s bike, while it seems like Universal Sports just has one in the Garmin-Slipstream car (Garmin sponsors the Race Tracker).

Of course, video quality and streaming consistency are the only things that really matter. Everything else you can get from Cyclingnews. I didn’t use the ATOC Tour Tracker at all (I was pretty busy that week) but my Twitter query gives me the impression that it was good, although frequently unavailable due to the crappy weather. Based on this morning’s stage, I’d give the Universal Sports Race Tracker pretty good marks as well.

But is it worth the money?

You’ve got four basic options:

• Various pirated streams (free)
• RAI with multiple camera angles (free but I don’t speak Italian)
• Universal Sports standard (free)
• Universal Sports Race Tracker ($3.95/day or $34.95 for the whole race)

For now, I’ll go with Universal Sports free coverage. But if that weren’t available, the Race Tracker would be my choice.