Cars! Stars! An Ad-Hungry TV Genre Rolls Them Into One By SHOLNN FREEMAN Staff Reporter of THE WALL STREET JOURNAL January 21, 2005; Page B1 It isn't your typical Hollywood awards show. Spike TV network is busy putting the final production touches on AutoRox, a 90-minute special set to air Jan. 25. Instead of couture-draped, red-carpet-posing celebrities, the program will feature cars mounting ramps to accept awards for "Best Chick Magnet" or "Best Car for Your Mid-life Crisis." The show is the latest offering in a growing TV genre where cars are the stars. Once a TV backwater, car programs have come a long way in recent years. Car-makeover shows such as MTV's "Pimp My Ride" and Discovery Channel's "Monster Garage" are already well-established car-cult hits. General Electric Co.'s NBC Sports has signed a five-year deal to cover Detroit's Auto Show. The network will broadcast a live, two-hour special from the floor of the show Jan. 23, a big football day that stands to draw tens of millions of TV viewers. At Viacom Inc.'s Spike, cable's "guy" network, executives have increased auto programming to 11 hours in the second week of January from two hours a week two years ago, led by the popular "Ride" show with New York DJ Funkmaster Flexx. Spike says the car shows have helped the network boost its U.S. audience to 63 million from 40 million in 2001. Spike has about 30 car-related shows in development. As ratings take off, cable executives in particular are promising to deliver more such shows in hopes of grabbing a larger share of the auto industry's massive ad outlays, which total about $10 billion annually, according to TNS Media Intelligence. Maserati's Quattroporte is an AutoRox contender. Far from focusing on just auto aficionados, "we are reaching those who don't consider themselves die-hard car guys but love cars," says Jim Liberatore, president of News Corp.'s Speed Channel. "Now, anything having to do with a car -- racing, building, driving, fixing or even just looking at it -- we have something for you." The bump-up in car programming comes at a time when automotive marketers are increasingly questioning the value of conventional 30-second television spots and shifting more money into product placements, live events and Web-based advertising. Auto executives say the new breed of car shows, still mainly on cable, helps them to reach large numbers of men ages 18 to 49 who are their main customers. The shows also provide lots of opportunities for product plugs: "Pimp My Ride," for example, recently gave away a Toyota Scion xB. Ford Motor Co., meanwhile, granted producers at TLC's "Rides" a rare, behind-the scenes access for a documentary-style program about cars-in-the-making. The fast-paced shows are a welcome way for auto companies to tout their brands. "We've got so many products, quite frankly your money is being spent in a more efficient manner," says Steve Tihanyi, general director of marketing alliance and regional operations at General Motors Co. "You get a little more bang for the buck because you are hitting the sweet spot with respect to your consumers." In a market with more than 80% male viewership, subtly suggestive show names help. Among Speed's new programs slated for this year are "Sports Cars Gone Wild," (unrelated to Mantra Films Inc.'s popular "Girls Gone Wild" video business) starring exotic cars on the Las Vegas Motor Speedway. Speed also has "Pinks," in which the loser of a drag race hands over his car to the winner, and "Autorotica," set for a prime-time slot on Wednesday reserved for car movies and specials. At Spike, Kevin Kay, executive vice president of programming and production, says the channel dropped many of its fishing and hunting shows for sexier car fare. Spike has organized several car shows together in a "power block" to run back to back on weekend mornings. Mr. Kay says that ratings for the network are up 12% versus a year ago. Advertisers for the weekend block include Honda Motor Co. and Toyota Motor Corp. Perhaps the most unusual new car effort is Spike's coming AutoRox show, which is a cross between a beauty pageant and an auto show. Winning cars arrive on a red driveway instead of a red carpet. When winners are announced, the professionally-driven cars will take the stage via ramps to accept their awards. Then -- as co-hosts Joe Rogan of NBC's "Fear Factor" and actress Carmen Electra stand by -- they'll do a spin on a turntable. The goal, says Mr. Kay, is to "platform the cars in a way where Detroit and our advertisers see [them] as the stars." Despite all the elaborate staging required for the show, Spike executives insist there has been a "church-state" relationship between the AutoRox awards and the car companies. Winners were chosen by an independent selection committee made up of auto writers from a wide range of publications, from Popular Science to Playboy. Among the award categories are "Most Jammin' Truck of 2005" (nominees include the Chevrolet Silverado, Dodge Ram, Dodge Ram SRT/10, Ford F-150 and Nissan Titan) and "The Livin' Large Luxury Car of 2005." But cars don't have to be this year's model to win. Autorox has other categories, such as "Real Muscle" and "Chick Magnet," that are open to vehicles of any vintage. Competing in the Chick Magnet category, for instance, is a 1965 Austin Healy 3000, a classic British roadster. At Barker Hanger in Santa Monica, Calif., where the AutoRox show will be taped, Spike is going to elaborate lengths to literally put the cars in their best light. Producers earlier this week were rehearsing the cars for their stage entrances and timing spins on the turntables. Workers have stretched a giant piece of cloth, about 120 feet wide and 150 feet long, over the hanger's curved ceiling to make sure the glossy contestants are properly lit for their close-ups. But not every automotive television vehicle delivers. Last year, General Electric's USA Network aired a feature movie that starred the Pontiac GTO, General Motors' Australian-made successor to the American-made muscle cars bearing the same name. The movie quickly faded from memory, and sales of the car have fizzled.
Actually, it's pretty neat to hear "Emil. Emil we need you. Emil, to the stage" thundering through the hangar on an incredible sound system. The poor guy is getting run ragged. Hang in there Emil. I have it on good authority It'll all be worth it!