Penske Entertainment and The CW Network announced Dec. 8 they are joining forces with VICE Media Group for “100 Days to Indy,” a first-of-its-kind broadcast series about the road to the Indianapolis 500 presented by Gainbridge, the world’s premier motorsports competition.
Produced by Penske Entertainment and VICE Media Group, the six-part series will take fans behind the scenes to chronicle the bold and brash personalities of the NTT INDYCAR SERIES as they begin the 2023 season and start their epic quest for racing’s greatest prize. “100 Days to Indy” will air on The CW Network in spring 2023.
After the admittedly crummy past few months Penske Entertainment and the IndyCar Series has had, it’s easy to be negative about this announcement. My first reaction was, “Great, I wonder if it’ll air between Arrow-verse show number 72 and Supernatural: Preschool Days,” but as I think more about it, the partnership with The CW is a shrewd move for a series desperately in need of momentum.
After various programming changes and branding overhauls, The CW made a name for itself as the go-to place for shows with younger followings, especially young women. Supernatural, Riverdale, and others I’m now too old to have heard of became darlings of Tumblr and TikTok fandoms. Instead of the “folks watch Monk reruns” that NASCAR’s Race for the Championship series seems to target on USA, IndyCar may be able to capture a younger demographics, perhaps similar—if several orders of magnitude smaller—that Netflix and Formula 1 have with Drive to Survive.
My one concern is the accessibility of The CW in the Indianapolis metro. For several years, Indianapolis-area customers with AT&T services have not been able to watch The CW on their cable or satellite packages after a contract dispute between AT&T and the owners of The CW’s local affiliate wish. This leaves antenna TV as the prime option for a lot of people in the area, and is especially not good for me an hour south of Indianapolis in Bloomington, where I get four channels over antenna on a clear day. Adding to the fact that most people watch TV asynchronously these days, I hope The CW and Penske Entertainment have an idea on how to make the show’s reach as wide as possible. While this series needs this to be an invitation to new fans rather than a love letter to old ones, it’s still a good idea to make it easy for the series’ core audience to consume.
Michael Miller 