Galveston World Classic – Live feed – How much $$ would you pay?

JD_Hogg

JD_Hogg

AzB Silver Member
Silver Member
With the great variety of events being held at the Galveston Classic, and the duration of it, I think they could really benefit $$ wise from the live feed.

Mind you the quality of the feed would have to greatly improve, and maybe a second camera. But there is such a great variety of pool matches to watch over the course of the event.

And if you could bet on some of the matches even better.

I’d be willing to dish out $50 for the whole feed, maybe a little more. Or something like $10 dollars per day. Since they had 1000 viewers at times they might be able to generate some good cash.

Hopefully this is already a part of their plan.

How much would you pay???
 
Im sure you will get a range of answers for this. What someone would be willing to pay and what someone could pay in our current financial environment could be two different things.

If they would decide to charge, I would hope they would keep it VERY reasonable. I would think the added viewers would offset the lower price.
 
You would probably be amazed at the drop in viewers if they charged $1.

Even if they charged $10 for the whole time and had close to half the amount of viewers for the free stream, that would be a decent amount of money. They could use this for the added money in the tournament.
 
We considered sponsoring part of the Galveston stream, but decided not to, this year, since we were making the trip to Tallahassee, during the same time and didn't have time to make a decision about the Galveston stream. I don't know how many sponsors they wound up with, but the whole idea of having sponsors is to off-set the costs of producing the stream. The way they were planning to do the sponsorship, I believe they were already expecting to make some bucks on the stream. No need to charge the viewers, too!

We generally won't pay to watch a stream. We will occasionally sponsor them to help keep them free, though. We have been seeing more folks sponsoring them and are glad to see the growing support. :cool:

There is a time when a stream might be good to charge for... maybe in the event of a fundraiser with some of the top pros competiting, or a big $ match. Whenever possible, I believe they should be free, so the general public can view them, though.
 
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If they would have charged, they would have been lucky to get 400 viewers for the entire week. Its a damn shame that this is the attitude of so many.
 
beav99_4life said:
If they would have charged, they would have been lucky to get 400 viewers for the entire week. Its a damn shame that this is the attitude of so many.
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I am sad to read that you feel this way. I do not believe it is right to have sponsors to pay for the stream and then charge the customers a price to watch it, as well. In today's economy, there are a lot of folks who don't even have money for cable or satellite tv. We don't have them, because we seldom watch tv and we don't believe in paying for something to go to waste. There are many who can not afford such pleasures and would just have to miss it. If you want people to come, you need to share with the ones who cannot, so they will feel as if they know everyone and are more anxious to get to the following event. Watching free streams of the guys in Tallahassee got us out to Tallahassee, this past weekend!

I did not get to see the stream of Galveston, but I have read and heard many things about the event. I am assuming that, if they decide to try it again next year, a lot of things will be VERY different.
 
I would have paid for the stream. There was some awesome pool. 50$ is a lot and I don't know if I would have paid that much for it. I have ordered a few PPV pool events in the past and been happy, but have never paid 50$. I did enjoy the stream alot from Galveston.
 
The cheapness of your average pool enthusiast......Priceless

Playing Cue, Break Cue, Jump Cue, 6 Shafts $3000.00
Case packed with a bunch of accessories and CB $500.00
25 years of table time $100K ?

The cheapness of your average pool enthusiast......Priceless

Come on guys if we are not willing to support the ones who deliver our sport we deserve to take up knitting. Support our supporters.

$50.00 for a whole weeks video content. We've all blown more on cute waitresses who slings us three drinks and a smile.

Otherwise wait for ESPN to show 7-ball from 2004.
 
JesPiddlin said:
I am sad to read that you feel this way. I do not believe it is right to have sponsors to pay for the stream and then charge the customers a price to watch it, as well. In today's economy, there are a lot of folks who don't even have money for cable or satellite tv. We don't have them, because we seldom watch tv and we don't believe in paying for something to go to waste. There are many who can not afford such pleasures and would just have to miss it. If you want people to come, you need to share with the ones who cannot, so they will feel as if they know everyone and are more anxious to get to the following event. Watching free streams of the guys in Tallahassee got us out to Tallahassee, this past weekend!

I did not get to see the stream of Galveston, but I have read and heard many things about the event. I am assuming that, if they decide to try it again next year, a lot of things will be VERY different.
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Jespidlin

I think Beav was just stating a fact about what has been experienced in the past. Normally, when TAR does a big event like the one coming up soon with Johnny Mora and Oscar Dominguez, the number of watchers goes down significantly when the ppv starts. Obviously, TAR would love to have enough income from advertisers that they could stream the event for free. Unfortunately that revenue has not been there to date so they have to go ppv to cover their expenses.

I do find it interesting that true pool enthusiasts will spend $50.00 or more on a nice meal, but they won't spend $25.00 for a ppv event between 2 champions. The same people will rearrange their schedule for weeks to watch it for free, but if it is ppv the typical excuse for not buying it is "I couldn't watch all of it because I had other things going on, so I wasn't going to pay $25.00 for the whole event when I could only watch part of it".

I too like the free streams. I think OB Cues and Crown Cues have both advertised on Bigtruck's streams. We will certainly continue to do so as long as we are getting a return on our investment. It would be nice to see significant returns and the price for the advertising go up. Maybe then Ray could afford to do more events!


Thanks for what you do!

Beav, Jess says hi!

Royce Bunnell
www.obcues.com
 
ppv

I think if we as a pool community would support our advertisers that have their products on the streams then there would be no need to pay for the stream. It is like paying for NBC, the advertisers pay for it you support them. I would pay for the stream but would rather buy something to support the advertsers. I bought from the ones at Galveston the one day I was there. Each of the people se up at Galveston said it was slow, we need to support or advertisers. You don't have to buy something that cost a lot just something to show you are a supporter.
And it would be a whole lot better towatch a match when each player is playing their best instead of splitting the money and playing like such.
If the very top players don't want ot play that way then go to the next ones down the line. There are alot of great players that would be good to watch that have not won any major tournaments.
Just my 2
 
Simple... make it free. What they should have done is listed links in the chat to sponsors, we can support sponsors... 2nd have all bets go through them (stream supplier as escrow) and keep a fee. All bets are posted (1 problem solved) fee taken (stream revenue another problem solved) and let the good times roll.
 
RBC said:
Jespidlin
...I do find it interesting that true pool enthusiasts will spend $50.00 or more on a nice meal, but they won't spend $25.00 for a ppv event between 2 champions.
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Wow! $50 for a meal? I wouldn't spend that much, when I can make a good, homemade meal for a whole family for around $10. But, that's me. If we eat out, $15 is the max for 2 of us. But, I am also a genealogist and we cut all the corners possible, so we can afford more research trips and more document copies. :wink: I have noticed most pool players are similar to genealogists. We all know where we want to put our money, so we scrimp on everything else just to put those few extra $ on OUR priorities. Some will put those $ on a new cue, but others might prefer to pay for a stream, so he can watch his hero, or learn a competitor's game.

Yes, OB Cues and Crown Cues have advertised on many of the streams and I'm sure we'll continue, because we believe in what these guys are doing for pool. And no, a lot of the streams can't survive on just the sponsors that are out there, right now. As time goes on, either the prices will go up, or the sponsors will be more, or both. Things change according to many factors. I am sure live streams will soon be similar to tv with commercials to help support them, or ppv to be commercial-free.

I definitely believe there is a time to charge for a stream. The big matches, such as Johnny Mora and Oscar Dominguez might sometimes be good for ppv. I can't say I can see spending $25 for it, but if I really wanted to watch a match and we had 5 spare bucks, I might spend it on a ppv. It would have to be really special to me, though.

Here's some numbers to think on... If you have 5 sponsors who each pay $25 for a weekend stream, that's $125, or $50 for a weekend stream would be $250. If you only have 2 sponsors, who each pay $100 for a weekend stream, that's $200. In contrast, if 30 people watch a ppv for $5 each, that's $150. If 300 people watch, that's $1500. If 1,000 people watch, that's $5,000. Streamers have expenses. They require nourishment, transportation and sometimes boarding, to put out these great streams for us. They have to decide the best way for them to cover those expenses.

Another way a streamer can make some $$ is to record the stream and sell dvd's or charge for later views. Folks might want to watch them, once in a while. Some will want to watch them to see how well they played, or learn a competitor's weaknesses and strengths. The less a streamer can charge for the playbacks or dvd's, the more they will probably sell. The audio/video quality will also be a factor. Only time and experience will tell these things for sure.

There are a lot of ways streamers can make money. It all depends on the streamer's preferences and needs and their desire to please the public AND be creative.

Yes, we'd like to keep the streams free and we don't like the idea of ppv, but we also know it's probably good for the sport, once in a while. At the same time, showing some of the greats at the table for an internationally announced match on a FREE stream can be a good thing, because some folks will never be able to pay and will definitely appreciate the guy who lets them watch the pros for free. Not everyone watches for free, just to be cheap.
 
yea it was only at a 1000 views a day because it stream was free. To be honest I would not mind pay some money for the stream but Im not sure about 50 dollars. I think the commentators should recieve a little jelly though.
 
Or you just set up separate streams.

One is free of charge and viewers watch whatever is scheduled for that particular table.

Then you have a second table which could be used to show action matches and top-level tournament matches.

Something along that model where there is the option to pay for additional viewing; I'm not sure if the extra cost in equipment though would make it worth it. I don't know how much it costs them to set these up so I'm just throwing it out there.

But for one week of tournament/action matches I could see myself paying $40 - $50 as it would only average to $6 - $8 a day. Have a daily charge as well for anyone who might not want to pay for the entire week.
 
JD_Hogg said:
I’d be willing to dish out $50 for the whole feed, maybe a little more. Or something like $10 dollars per day. Since they had 1000 viewers at times they might be able to generate some good cash.
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Have you ever watched the free streaming and PPV events that TAR has from the Derby City Classic? Its not uncommon for the free stream to have over a 1000 people and the PPV to have less than a 100. The largest PPV number that I've personally seen is a little over 200 and that stream had SVB.

JesPiddlin said:
I do not believe it is right to have sponsors to pay for the stream and then charge the customers a price to watch it, as well.
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If the sponsorship money was enough to cover all expenses and give the streams enough profit for it to be worth their time, then I could see where charging while having sponsorship might ruffle some feathers. Honestly, are the sponsorships enough to cover all of that? I don't know the numbers but I'd bet it isn't.

JesPiddlin said:
I definitely believe there is a time to charge for a stream. The big matches, such as Johnny Mora and Oscar Dominguez might sometimes be good for ppv. I can't say I can see spending $25 for it, but if I really wanted to watch a match and we had 5 spare bucks, I might spend it on a ppv. It would have to be really special to me, though.
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TAR puts money into the players pockets with the PPV charges. TAR will then put the matches on a DVD and the players also get a percentage of the DVD sales.

JesPiddlin said:
Another way a streamer can make some $$ is to record the stream and sell dvd's or charge for later views. Folks might want to watch them, once in a while. Some will want to watch them to see how well they played, or learn a competitor's weaknesses and strengths. The less a streamer can charge for the playbacks or dvd's, the more they will probably sell. The audio/video quality will also be a factor. Only time and experience will tell these things for sure.
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You're forgetting about the players. Some players feel very strongly about streamers making money off them and them not getting anything in return. TAR gives them part of the proceeds but do others? Some players (until they learned how TAR operated) refused to play matches on the TAR table at the DCC. They would play in the PPV but not on the free stream table. Many, many matches have been played outside of the free streams because the players are not making any money from it and they don't appreciate the streamers making money, regardless of whether they actually are making money on it or not.


JesPiddlin said:
There are a lot of ways streamers can make money. It all depends on the streamer's preferences and needs and their desire to please the public AND be creative.
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You can be as creative as you want to be but if the players won't play on the stream, you've got nothing.
 
I think having specials for the week and daily charges are the way to go if it's a week-long event. The Straight Pool Championships did this and I jumped on the chance to pay $54 for the entire week starting on Monday. Each day, the special would go down as the tournament days came to an end. I thought the prices were just right.

When it comes to a weekend I feel the same way - a discount for both days and a separate, higher price for each day.

However, I do wonder what I would pay for a weekend stream. I am not home the entire weekend so how much is it worth to me? $50 for a weekend sounds like a lot, unless Beav and Vette are playing and then I'm in!

I honestly think it depends on the event and who is playing. Sometimes I pay just to support the stream, other times I really do want to watch the event and so will pay. It's the events that I am not really interested in watching that I struggle with if I should pay or not.
 
I only got to watch 1 pocket at the World Classic and I wouldn't pay too much daily to watch 3 - 1 pocket matches a day at 3 hour intervals. Some matches were over within an hour and there was a lot of down time.

I'd much rather pay to watch a TAR Action Room at the tourney.
 
Sick as a dog with the flu, I have nothing better to do than think of crap to post...

How about free stream and a small fee for chat capabilities? Free is limited use only. I know the option to ask questions etc is nice and with 1400 viewers the chat is way to heavy.
 
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