Oct 8, 04:25 PM
For those of you NASCAR fans that like stats and love to hate commercials, here is the breakdown from the race on Sunday afternoon.
Here is my breakdown, thoroughly unprofessional, and, hopefully, easy-to-understand.
I started recording the times as the Invocation for the race was given at 2:20 PM, and stopped at the announcement that Brian Vickers was the winner at 5:55 PM (all times are EST). I did not keep records for the pre- and post-race coverage.
Please note that in addition to all of the following, there is always a company logo visible in the upper right hand corner by the race ticker scrolling across the screen.
UAW-Ford 500 Race and Commercial Breakdown of 10-08-06
Total number of commercials: 151
Total number of companies or entities advertised: 75
Total number of brief promos of products/services during the race broadcast: 17
Total number of companies or entities advertised in brief promos: 14 (companies: Allstate, Bud, B of Am., Team Chevy, Sony HDTV, Coca-Cola, Fed Ex, Nextel, Star/Yamaha, NAPA, UPS, DirecTV, Wrangler, Sunday night football –NFL)
Total amount of time these brief promos take during broadcast: app. 2 min.
Also, there is the following race statistics during the broadcast, sponsored by companies:
Budweiser ‘Pole Award’
Harley Davidson ‘Starting Grid’
Auto Zone ‘In the Zone Drivers’
Cingular ‘Race Talk Question of the Day’
DLP ‘Race Fact’
DLP ‘Race Recap’
NAPA ‘Field Summary’
Allstate ‘Good Hands Driver Award’
AFLAC ‘Trivia Question of the Day’
Restarts missed due to being away at commercial: 0
Start time to record race/commercial periods: 2:20 P.M.
End time to record race/commercial periods: 5:55 P.M.
Total minutes: 215
Minutes of race broadcast: 150
Minutes of commercials: 65
Breakdown of what the commercials were for, by category:
Previews/Promos
‘Heroes’ – 4
PM – ’30 Rock’ ’20 Good Years’ – 3
PM – ’20 Good Years’ – 3
Sunday Night Football –NFL – 3
‘Deal or No Deal’ – 2
‘Friday Night Lights’ – 2
‘My Name is Earl’ ‘The Office’ – 1
‘Law & Order: CI’ & ‘Law & Order: SVU’ – 1
Total: 19
Movie Previews
‘Click’ – 1
‘Grudge 2’ – 1
‘Flags of our Fathers’ – 1
Total: 3
Local News/Sports/Points-of-Interest in Penna.
Local news – 4
Local sports – 1
Total: 5
Restaurants/Food
Pizza Hut – 5
Little Debbie – 2
Subway – 2
Dominos – 1
Uncle Charlie’s sausage – 1
KFC – 1
Banquet – 1
Total: 13
Beer
Bud – 4
Miller Lite – 3
Total: 7
Car/Truck/Bike
Ford – 5
NAPA – 4
Suzuki ATV – 3
Duralast Auto Parts at Auto Zone – 2
Enterprise Rent-a-Car – 2
Chevy – 2
Harley Davidson – 1
Auto Zone – 1
Prestone – 1
Sunoco – 1
Star/Yamaha – 1
Yamaha ATV – 1
GM 100,000 mi. warranty – 1
GM Goodwrench – 1
Total: 26
Credit Cards/Financial
Bank of America – 4
Principal Financial – 3
AmeriQuest – 1
Total: 8
Insurance
Allstate – 4
Safe Auto – 3
AFLAC – 2
State Farm – 1
Total: 10
Wireless Phone
Nextel – 7
Cingular – 1
Total: 8
Technology
Sony SXRD HDTV – 5
DLP – 4
DirecTV – 3
Total: 12
Home Improvement
Home Depot – 3
Lowes – 2
Total: 5
Products/Services for the Home and Personal Use
Old Spice – 2
Tylenol ‘Go Tabs’ – 2
Sears – 1
Gillette Fusion – 1
ADT Security – 1
Value City Furniture – 1
Sharpie Minis – 1
Patio Enclosures Inc. – 1
Total: 10
Health/Medical
www.cancerproject.org – 1
Total: 1
Motel
Holiday Inn Express – 1
Total: 1
Shipping
UPS – 2
Fed Ex – 2
Total: 4
Racing Related
nascar.com Trackpass/RaceDay Scanner – 6
Wrangler – 3
Coca Cola Racing Family – 2
Dew Action Sports Tour – 1
NASCAR Auto Zone Elite Division – 1
NASCAR Busch Series – 1
VJGC – 1
Tylenol ‘Go Tabs’ – 1
Ford ‘Race to the Dream’ – 1
Lowe’s Motor Speedway – 1
Talladega Speedway – 1
Total: 19
Breakdown of specific times, broken into two categories (race broadcast times, and commercial broadcast times):
Race brdcast times:Total min:Comm. brdcast times: Total min:
2:20 PM – 2:23 PM -3//2:23 PM – 2:25 PM – 2
2:25 PM – 2:29 PM – 4//2:29 PM – 2:31 PM – 2
2:31 PM – 2:35 PM – 4 //2:35 PM – 2:38 PM – 3
2:38 PM – 2:51 PM – 13 //2:51 PM – 2:54 PM – 3
2:54 PM – 2:58 PM – 4 //2:58 PM – 3:01 PM – 3
3:01 PM – 3:05 PM – 4 //3:05 PM – 3:07 PM – 2
3:07 PM – 3:11 PM – 4 //3:11 PM – 3:14 PM – 3
3:14 PM – 3:21 PM – 7 //3:21 PM – 3:24 PM – 3
3:24 PM – 3:28 PM – 4 //3:28 PM – 3:32 PM – 4
3:32 PM – 3:46 PM – 14 //3:46 PM – 3:48 PM – 2
3:48 PM – 3:55 PM – 7 //3:55 PM – 3:58 PM – 3
3:58 PM – 4:03 PM – 5 //4:03 PM – 4:06 PM – 3
4:06 PM – 4:09 PM – 3 //4:09 PM – 4:12 PM – 3
4:12 PM – 4:20 PM – 8 //4:20 PM – 4:23 PM – 3
4:23 PM – 4:27 PM – 4 //4:27 PM – 4:30 PM – 3
4:30 PM – 4:35 PM – 5 //4:35 PM – 4:37 PM – 2
4:37 PM – 4:38 PM – 1 //4:38 PM – 4:41 PM – 3
4:41 PM – 4:42 PM – 1 //4:42 PM – 4:43 PM – 1
4:43 PM – 4:52 PM – 9 //4:52 PM – 4:55 PM – 3
4:55 PM – 5:01 PM – 6 //5:01 PM – 5:04 PM – 3
5:04 PM – 5:09 PM – 5 //5:09 PM – 5:11 PM – 2
5:11 PM – 5:12 PM – 1 //5:12 PM – 5:14 PM – 2
5:14 PM – 5:22 PM – 8 //5:22 PM – 5:24 PM – 2
5:24 PM – 5:30 PM – 6 //5:30 PM – 5:32 PM – 2
5:32 PM – 5:36 PM – 4 //5:36 PM – 5:39 PM – 3
5:39 PM – 5:52 PM – 13 //
5:55 PM – Brian Vickers announced as winner
Total race brdcst time: 150 min Total comm. brdcst time: 65 min
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Mel Krause Says:
Oct 9, 07:30 AMHow about a comparison of SPEED Channel’s Formula 1 broadcasts regarding commercials? I assume that a world-wide audiance viewing the Formula 1 feed would absolutely freak if they had to watch it on NBC!
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h. jerry ray Says:
Oct 9, 09:53 AMIt would be nice to have the broadcast station used that week added to your print out so we don’t have to go back to compare.
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Glenn Parker Says:
Oct 9, 01:00 PMThanks for puttin’ this together – it takes alot of work. I’ve always said the radio coverage is superior to TV. The split between actual race coverage and commercials is probably the same…radio just isn’t as irritating.
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former na$car fan Says:
Oct 9, 01:09 PMWhile I think the commercialism is unchanged I do think the overall broadcast quality has improved over the last two races from where it was. They still missed things when coming back from commercial; like the beginning of the first pit stop sequence. And they also missed the follow-up on what happened to the 24 tear off that was half on and half off. However I did smile when Webber said let’s go “around the field” (although the graphics still said through the field). It’s also good to hear Benny back on air, and I thought the debate with Wally over the 8 cars ability to lead or push was good. More Benny and Wally and less Webber is a good thing. It’s a shame they couldn’t provide the points standings after the race but that was more a NA$CAR thing than NBC $ports. Good point above about the F1 broadcast; I TiVo’d both races and I was on the FF button much less but for longer with the F1 race compared to the NA$CAR race.
Keep up the good work Cheryl.
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Mary P Says:
Oct 11, 04:36 PMkisses her TiVo
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Zcott Says:
Oct 14, 04:34 PMIt’d be interesting to see just how many of these ads feature NASCAR drivers, too.
Commercial breakdown for the CTS ‘John Deere 250’ Race HeartRacers~HeartBreakers: UAW-Ford 500 edition

Oct 9, 07:27 AM
Since I start watching at about halfway and fast forward through the commercials with DVR the only stat I care about is:
Restarts missed due to being away at commercial: 0