Missed opportunities with live streaming

[Steve Shovlar 10,439]

British speedway is very short of cash, it’s having to operate with reduced attendances and yet clubs are not using the obvious and potentially profitable avenue of live streaming it’s meetings.

Take today’s meeting at Belle Vue. The official speedway site were quick in putting up a couple of heats, yet there are hundreds of supporters in and around Peterborough and thousands around the country who would have been quite happy to pay £10-12 for the opportunity of watching this meeting. The quality of the feed is high, there’s live commentary, what’s the problem? 1000 people paying for a stream would bring in £10,000 at a tenner, or £11,950 at £11.95. Hugely profitable. And remember. There’s a worldwide audience to pay and watch.

Promoters might be worried about loss of revenue at the stadium but currently with reduced capacity demand should be enough for a stadium to sell out. And it is possible to geo-block fans within a set distance from the stadium.

Glasgow are running behind closed doors, with live feed only at £11.95. The meeting against Poole on Friday should achieve very good numbers with the take up of the stream. I have already purchased my ticket. Pretty sure a lot of Poole fans will also. And the feed will give neutrals something to watch on a Friday night if they want to see some action. 

Now for the top flight Eurosport have the rights to TV, but I don’t think it has been tied down like the Sky and BT deals, allowing promoters to be more flexible on doing their job of promoting. The days of no filming inside, no photos etc choke the sport. Use technology to open up the market. Streaming cost a small amount to do. One cameraman, a commentator and someone in charge of the streaming is all that is needed. Two cameramen and a little more is required. But bloody hell it should already be in place, bringing in the funds for our sport to be sure of its survival.

Come on sort it out!

 

 

[marko 956]

Agree Steve and I don’t think Eurosport can complain unless they were going to show highlights or full coverage of every meeting, and I doubt they will show even 25% of PL meetings raced.

[HenryW 1,178]

100% agree.

Edinburgh Monarchs were providing live streams for away fans even before the current pandemic (geo blocked within 50 miles of Armadale).

While capacity restrictions are in place these streams have been made available for anyone to buy.

The service is brilliant and I can't understand why every other club isn't doing the same!

[Steve Shovlar 10,439]

2 minutes ago, HenryW said:

100% agree.

Edinburgh Monarchs were providing live streams for away fans even before the current pandemic (geo blocked within 50 miles of Armadale).

While capacity restrictions are in place these streams have been made available for anyone to buy.

The service is brilliant and I can't understand why every other club isn't doing the same!

Even if 500 take a stream, that £5000 at a tenner. (Less vat and stream fees) It’s money for nothing. 

[Bagpuss 10,765]

Absolutely agree, but the people who run our sport are light years behind where they should be do it’s no surprise really.

[BarracudaAce 44]

I was talking to a family of four at the Belle Vue Colts match on Friday night and they said they were unable to get tickets for today. They commented that they would have been prepared to pay a tenner each if today's Aces match had been streamed - even though they would have been watching it on same TV. Just to add to the frustration, the match was being filmed today and Dave Rowe was doing commentary, 

[bigcatdiary 3,164]

I would have thought in this current situation this was a no brainier for clubs to stream all their home matches.

[marko 956]

You could even say, even if they charged £5 that's five pounds more than they would have got without streaming because its about people who probably would not have gone even if they could.

My nearest track is now Ipswich, I probably wont bother going to one of their meetings in person because of factors like time to get their and back, fuel costs etc but if they charged £10 streaming I might give a couple of meetings a go, that's £20 they got for no extra outlay.

[mikebv 10,243]

13 minutes ago, marko said:

You could even say, even if they charged £5 that's five pounds more than they would have got without streaming because its about people who probably would not have gone even if they could.

My nearest track is now Ipswich, I probably wont bother going to one of their meetings in person because of factors like time to get their and back, fuel costs etc but if they charged £10 streaming I might give a couple of meetings a go, that's £20 they got for no extra outlay.

And when the meeting is sold out (as a few have been), well in advance, it seems crackers to not add on the streaming for those who haven't got tickets and maybe also interested neutrals from around the country/globe who want to see some Speedway...

Bank Holiday Monday would have been "prime time" you would have thought to get an audience...

[gazzac 1,013]

3 hours ago, Steve Shovlar said:

British speedway is very short of cash, it’s having to operate with reduced attendances and yet clubs are not using the obvious and potentially profitable avenue of live streaming it’s meetings.

Take today’s meeting at Belle Vue. The official speedway site were quick in putting up a couple of heats, yet there are hundreds of supporters in and around Peterborough and thousands around the country who would have been quite happy to pay £10-12 for the opportunity of watching this meeting. The quality of the feed is high, there’s live commentary, what’s the problem? 1000 people paying for a stream would bring in £10,000 at a tenner, or £11,950 at £11.95. Hugely profitable. And remember. There’s a worldwide audience to pay and watch.

Promoters might be worried about loss of revenue at the stadium but currently with reduced capacity demand should be enough for a stadium to sell out. And it is possible to geo-block fans within a set distance from the stadium.

Glasgow are running behind closed doors, with live feed only at £11.95. The meeting against Poole on Friday should achieve very good numbers with the take up of the stream. I have already purchased my ticket. Pretty sure a lot of Poole fans will also. And the feed will give neutrals something to watch on a Friday night if they want to see some action. 

Now for the top flight Eurosport have the rights to TV, but I don’t think it has been tied down like the Sky and BT deals, allowing promoters to be more flexible on doing their job of promoting. The days of no filming inside, no photos etc choke the sport. Use technology to open up the market. Streaming cost a small amount to do. One cameraman, a commentator and someone in charge of the streaming is all that is needed. Two cameramen and a little more is required. But bloody hell it should already be in place, bringing in the funds for our sport to be sure of its survival.

Come on sort it out!

 

 

Steve, you can make a well constructed sensible post then compared to your usual stuff, keep up the good work. 

[Steve Shovlar 10,439]

11 minutes ago, gazzac said:

Steve, you can make a well constructed sensible post then compared to your usual stuff, keep up the good work. 

In other words you don’t agree with my regular way of thinking.

[Steve Shovlar 10,439]

1 hour ago, marko said:

You could even say, even if they charged £5 that's five pounds more than they would have got without streaming because its about people who probably would not have gone even if they could.

My nearest track is now Ipswich, I probably wont bother going to one of their meetings in person because of factors like time to get their and back, fuel costs etc but if they charged £10 streaming I might give a couple of meetings a go, that's £20 they got for no extra outlay.

They can’t devalue the sport by charging a fiver. But £11.95 seems a good fair price. Happy to pay that no question. The price of a cheap meal in Beefeater and something that should be better value and leave a better taste in the mouth.

Poole first meeting is going to be streamed even though crowds are allowed inside. The Poole promotion said it would cost them £2000 approx but would be cheaper going forwards. Plenty of Berwick fans buying the stream I should think.

[gazzac 1,013]

Just now, Steve Shovlar said:

In other words you don’t agree with my regular way of thinking.

Being at Eastie fan not always, but never boring, normally creates a reaction one way or the other I suppose. 

[89buttons 749]

4 hours ago, Steve Shovlar said:

British speedway is very short of cash, it’s having to operate with reduced attendances and yet clubs are not using the obvious and potentially profitable avenue of live streaming it’s meetings.

Take today’s meeting at Belle Vue. The official speedway site were quick in putting up a couple of heats, yet there are hundreds of supporters in and around Peterborough and thousands around the country who would have been quite happy to pay £10-12 for the opportunity of watching this meeting. The quality of the feed is high, there’s live commentary, what’s the problem? 1000 people paying for a stream would bring in £10,000 at a tenner, or £11,950 at £11.95. Hugely profitable. And remember. There’s a worldwide audience to pay and watch.

Promoters might be worried about loss of revenue at the stadium but currently with reduced capacity demand should be enough for a stadium to sell out. And it is possible to geo-block fans within a set distance from the stadium.

Glasgow are running behind closed doors, with live feed only at £11.95. The meeting against Poole on Friday should achieve very good numbers with the take up of the stream. I have already purchased my ticket. Pretty sure a lot of Poole fans will also. And the feed will give neutrals something to watch on a Friday night if they want to see some action. 

Now for the top flight Eurosport have the rights to TV, but I don’t think it has been tied down like the Sky and BT deals, allowing promoters to be more flexible on doing their job of promoting. The days of no filming inside, no photos etc choke the sport. Use technology to open up the market. Streaming cost a small amount to do. One cameraman, a commentator and someone in charge of the streaming is all that is needed. Two cameramen and a little more is required. But bloody hell it should already be in place, bringing in the funds for our sport to be sure of its survival.

Come on sort it out!

 

 

Possibly the most sensible post of yours I’ve ever read on here Steve haha

beggars belief that they haven’t done this

[Rob B 1,245]

1 hour ago, marko said:

You could even say, even if they charged £5 that's five pounds more than they would have got without streaming because its about people who probably would not have gone even if they could.

My nearest track is now Ipswich, I probably wont bother going to one of their meetings in person because of factors like time to get their and back, fuel costs etc but if they charged £10 streaming I might give a couple of meetings a go, that's £20 they got for no extra outlay.

It’s not £5 more then they would normally get as it’s not free to put the streaming on!

But I agree it should be an option especially when crowds are limited. 
 

Ice hockey in UK are similar size sport to speedway and get similar size crowds. They been doing streaming for quite a few years now. At first they were concerned it would effect attendance but they found  90% of the viewers were away fans or home fans who didn’t live close by. Majority of home fans still attended, but to make sure of that you can’t price too low, £10-12 about right. 

 

 

Edited May 31, 2021 by Rob B