Streaming

[IainB]

As there's a few comments on a few different threads, I thought I'd set a new topic up as streaming seems to be the future.

I will be purchasing my first stream for Saturday's British Final... assuming a host of riders don't drop out at the last minute! But it will be a one off, as BSPL have been done up like a kipper by the government on this. It'll be a one off for me because of the pricing, what should the pricing model be? BSPL seem to be wanting to recoup all of their outlay in the first season instead of spreading the cost over the next 10 years... as it's clearly the future.

It's tricky to price, as charge too much and people won't pay it and charge too cheaply and people will just watch it from home. Maybe it needs some out of the box thinking and selling it as a part of a season ticket package, attend home matches and get discounted streaming passes.

Does anybody know how other sports price their streaming offerings?

[PHILIPRISING]

3 minutes ago, iainb said:

As there's a few comments on a few different threads, I thought I'd set a new topic up as streaming seems to be the future.

I will be purchasing my first stream for Saturday's British Final... assuming a host of riders don't drop out at the last minute! But it will be a one off, as BSPL have been done up like a kipper by the government on this. It'll be a one off for me because of the pricing, what should the pricing model be? BSPL seem to be wanting to recoup all of their outlay in the first season instead of spreading the cost over the next 10 years... as it's clearly the future.

It's tricky to price, as charge too much and people won't pay it and charge too cheaply and people will just watch it from home. Maybe it needs some out of the box thinking and selling it as a part of a season ticket package, attend home matches and get discounted streaming passes.

Does anybody know how other sports price their streaming offerings?

THE key is also to ensure that the production is first class, as it will be for the British Final. That has to be factored into the asking price. Too often historically British speedway has endeavoured to do things on the cheap. A one-man band with a single camera won't work. Quality pictures, decent commentary, etc but this will cost. Personally, think £10 should be a minimum.

[IainB]

A tenner for the British Final is probably around the right price, not so sure for a league match though, it'll be interesting to see what the "behind the scenes" coverage is like, it'll need some buy in from the riders, interviews during the meeting etc. they need to be offering something on the stream that you can't get at the live meeting. Also they'll need to come up with some refund policy if the meeting is abandoned etc.

[truthsayer]

It's a difficult one. I'd like to support but they are charging top dollar prices for it, so I probably won't. Especially as sport on TV is just coming out of our ears just now.

Personally I don't have a problem with that price for a top dollar product, but this is British speedway and my expectation is amateur hour.

I know the costs have to be covered, but an 'introductory' offer of a fiver would have been a great way to prove the technology and showcase what they could do. That would get me in and give them a chance to prove they have a product worth more than a tenner for future years.

[George Dodds]

49 minutes ago, iainb said:

As there's a few comments on a few different threads, I thought I'd set a new topic up as streaming seems to be the future.

I will be purchasing my first stream for Saturday's British Final... assuming a host of riders don't drop out at the last minute! But it will be a one off, as BSPL have been done up like a kipper by the government on this. It'll be a one off for me because of the pricing, what should the pricing model be? BSPL seem to be wanting to recoup all of their outlay in the first season instead of spreading the cost over the next 10 years... as it's clearly the future.

It's tricky to price, as charge too much and people won't pay it and charge too cheaply and people will just watch it from home. Maybe it needs some out of the box thinking and selling it as a part of a season ticket package, attend home matches and get discounted streaming passes.

Does anybody know how other sports price their streaming offerings?

EFL football £10 per game - season pass available. Think people have to get their heads around the fact that if they want to watch a streamed meeting then they have to pay a price which covers the production costs and makes a profit ... and that is not a fiver!! Newspapers are a prime example of how everyone wants access to the product but are not prepared to pay for it.

If the British Final and the Belle Vue streaming makes sense financially then it might encourage more in the future. I have no doubt that people want to buy streaming -I've still to be convinced that they are willing to pay a viable subscription fee. 

[IainB]

2 minutes ago, George Dodds said:

EFL football £10 per game - season pass available. Think people have to get their heads around the fact that if they want to watch a streamed meeting then they have to pay a price which covers the production costs and makes a profit ... and that is not a fiver!!

Any advertising during the streams?

[MattK]

I might consider it at £3-4 but definitely not a tenner. I wonder how much market research they did to come up with this price point.

[mikebv]

32 minutes ago, MattK said:

I might consider it at £3-4 but definitely not a tenner. I wonder how much market research they did to come up with this price point.

As with anything I suppose there will be that price elasticity and ultimately the sweet spot..

The huge opportunity they have though will be to get some money from all fans with access to streaming if they get it right..

Many Speedway fans simply follow the sport without having a real passion for any team so a big market to try and attract..

Pay by night, pay by week, pay by month, pay by season, pay per team..?

Many packages could be offered..

The price point and quality of production though will ultimately determine the level of uptake..

Maybe a tenner a week for the whole package would be there or there abouts?

Meaning you could dip in and dip out whenever a match takes your interest?

[HGould]

I've paid for BV tonight and British Final on Saturday at a tenner and just under 13 quid.

I expect near TV quality and multi camera and proper commentary for that price .

I paid about £4 for a stream from Plymouth the other week, 2 cameras, perfectly watchable with commentary and interviews, a bit raw in places but worth every penny.

It was as good as if not better than any DVD I have bought from various tracks in recent seasons. 

I think the long term lies somewhere in between the two to be affordable and viable.

Possibly £5-6.

I think this has to be done at Club level though as if BSPL and their usual media took it on any profit would go away from the Clubs, so what's the point of the clubs doing it. 

[OveFundinFan]

21 minutes ago, HGould said:

I've paid for BV tonight and British Final on Saturday at a tenner and just under 13 quid.

I think the long term lies somewhere in between to be affordable and viable.

Possibly £5-6.

If only........ If BVue are charging a tenner for their forthcoming meeting I think that will be it for “top flight” speedway in the UK, especially if a few thousand pay for it this time.

[George Dodds]

2 hours ago, MattK said:

I might consider it at £3-4 but definitely not a tenner. I wonder how much market research they did to come up with this price point.

i doubt £3-£4 would even cover the cost of collecting your payment, employing the production personnel and arranging the connection to your laptop. What's the point of losing money on it? 

[Odds On]

how much would it of cost to "pay on the gate" so why not charge that price, most people would still be making a decent saving by paying that price for streaming the event...say a family of 3 would of gone, that saves roughly £60-£100 for that one family.

[George Dodds]

2 hours ago, iainb said:

Any advertising during the streams?

don't know - can't afford to buy it. 

[MattK]

2 minutes ago, George Dodds said:

i doubt £3-£4 would even cover the cost of collecting your payment, employing the production personnel and arranging the connection to your laptop. What's the point of losing money on it? 

This is why you conduct market research. I'd pay £3-4. Personally, I don't think that watching speedway online is worth any more than that. Others may differ.

If the costs exceed the price times the number of sales, then it isn't a viable product.

[PHILIPRISING]

2 hours ago, MattK said:

I might consider it at £3-4 but definitely not a tenner. I wonder how much market research they did to come up with this price point.

CANNOT possibly make it pay for that ... less than pint. Come on ...

[MattK]

2 minutes ago, PHILIPRISING said:

CANNOT possibly make it pay for that ... less than pint. Come on ...

How much does it cost to stream a meeting live?

[IainB]

19 hours ago, PHILIPRISING said:

CANNOT possibly make it pay for that ... less than pint. Come on ...

That's why charging a one off event fee will not work in my opinion. Boxing does PPV for one off title fights that the public will pay, although I never have, but I have watched them down the pub. But then they've also got a Box Nation subscription channel on Sky.

I'd perhaps pay for a season ticket but not one off events at over a tenner a pop

Edited September 25, 2020 by iainb

[RobMcCaffery]

From the comments here I taske it Plymouth's streaming must have been loss-making at $4.99/c.£3.80. I bought a pass for this and the Edinburgh BYC staging at £5 and feel I got fair value for money. 

At that price point I DO  expect grass roots racing covered by one camera and that's what I got. The Plymouth presentation was delightfully semi-chaotic while sadly the Edinburgh production was bedevilled by connectivity problems. They did the decent thing by apologising to subscribers directly and offering partial refunds along with explanations  of the problems and how they would be resolved in future.

At that price point you couldn't really expect much more but I watched two entertaining meetings in this barren 'season'. 

I've bought a pass for tonight's Belle Vue event and am happy to pay £10 for a SportCentral production with greater resources and professional commentary, also taking into account the costlier standard of riders employed. I'd equally be happy to pay £12.95 for the British Final if I didn't have other commitments over the weekend.

Not all speedway meetings are run at the same level of ability and costs just as not all streaming or video is the same, so multiple price points are relevant. £12.95 for Plymouth or Edinburgh would have been too much. Equally £5 would be far too low for Belle Vue or Ipswich. 

What I would hate would that the Plymouth/Edinburgh-style events could not be repeated if the requirement was to do a multi-camera TV standard production at £12.95.

The level and cost of the streaming should be dependent on the nature of the meeting. If Plymouth and Edinburgh were to stream weekly in the £5-10 price band I'd be happy to subscribe weekly.

SportCentral's experience in streaming ice hockey surely gives them the best insight into what level of production or  price is right. I suspect the ice hockey and speedway markets are probably fairly similar.

Ultimately you get what you pay for. One standard of coverage at one price is NOT the way forward. There's room for British Finals at £12.95 and Plymouth NDL matches at £3.80. 

 

[RobMcCaffery]

1 minute ago, Richard Weston said:

Spot on. Plymouth, of course, were paying NDL level rates to riders. They also sold every ticket to paying spectators that they could.  Add turnstile income to streaming and they could well have broken even. If Plymouth own the concessions for drinks etc, they could well have made a small profit on the 3TT. Hope they did

That illustrates how each offer needs to be assessed by each track individually. I do hope both Plymouth and Edinburgh made money from the streaming. Their enterprise deserved it. 

[Grachan]

I don't get to many matches, but I'd definitely pay £12.99 for good coverage of several Swindon matches or maybe about a fiver for a single camera shot from the ref's box with no commentary if live.

An evening's fish and chips cost more - or grotty burgers for 3 at the stadium.

I think it's good value. Costs needs to be covered and it doesn't want to be so cheap as to discourage people actually going.

I probably go to about 3 or 4 matches a season and that would stay about the same, or possibly increase as my interest would be higher.

Edited September 24, 2020 by Grachan