Nobody watches pool?

jbart65

Active member
Very few of the players had any trouble with the shot-clock countdown from what I could tell. The Ko brothers did.

Yes, lots of shot clocks is better, but in a commercial pool hall like that, it might be hard to do logistically. Players simply have to adjust.
 
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Badpenguin

Well-known member
The Ko brothers were the only ones I noticed, I'm sure others may have been affected also. During the semi-finals, the room became silent enough to notice it on the streams.

They were able to set up all of the required cameras, video production with international broadcasting agreements, commentators, and refs. I think they could probably get the logistics together to get a time clock system working. If accu-stats can, they can.
 

jbart65

Active member
The Ko brothers were the only ones I noticed, I'm sure others may have been affected also. During the semi-finals, the room became silent enough to notice it on the streams.

They were able to set up all of the required cameras, video production with international broadcasting agreements, commentators, and refs. I think they could probably get the logistics together to get a time clock system working. If accu-stats can, they can.
I definitely see your point, but I always think to myself, if it were easy to do, wouldn't it be done?

I've got to think the pool hall in question made it somewhat hard to do, but it would be a good questions for MR.
 

rharm

Registered
The Ko brothers were the only ones I noticed, I'm sure others may have been affected also. During the semi-finals, the room became silent enough to notice it on the streams.

They were able to set up all of the required cameras, video production with international broadcasting agreements, commentators, and refs. I think they could probably get the logistics together to get a time clock system working. If accu-stats can, they can.
I assumed they had shot clocks, just not visible on the cameras. It looked like the players kept looking back at the camera, my guess where the shot clock was.
 

Jaden

"no buds chill"
Silver Member
A common refrain when discussing pool's future is "Nobody wants to watch pool -- it's totally boring."

Well, let's look at the views on YouTube for the current Premier League Pool event. There are 15 video streams on YouTube. The number of views of each one ranges between 50 and 120 thousand. Some of that count is certainly duplicates, but the total is over a million views. Someone, somewhere is watching pool, and those eyeballs are valuable to people. This does not count the 20 countries that have live broadcasts or paid streams. Those all bring in cash directly.

The Accu-Stats YT channel has multiple single videos over the 1 million views mark or close to it. Maybe not surprisingly, most of those very popular videos feature Efren Reyes, with the top Efren match having over 4 million views.

It is the viewers that will bring money into the game.
I have a new trainee at work and we have quite a bit of downtime. I was watching the plp and explaining and showing with the mouse what paths they were going to use. He became enamored with it and was excited to watch. This format gives what pool has been missing. A chance to get behind certain players and against other players. All sports need a personal connection or they won't succeed.

Anyways, I think I created a life long pool fan and I won't be surprised if I find out he purchased a dazn subscription to be able to see the whole thing.

Jaden
 

Coos Cues

Coos Cues
How many were watching live and how many were watching the recorded matches? Where they could use the jog ahead button?

Without a robust shot clock, live pool will put even the most enthusiastic fans to sleep. More than one minute between shots and the match becomes a drudge.

This is it's problem and it's not pool's fault. It takes time to think things out. Time our Tik Tok culture doesn't have.
 

Coos Cues

Coos Cues
How many were watching live and how many were watching the recorded matches? Where they could use the jog ahead button?

Without a robust shot clock, live pool will put even the most enthusiastic fans to sleep. More than one minute between shots and the match becomes a drudge. Not sure what the clock time is in this event but it's too long.

This is it's problem and it's not pool's fault. It takes time to think things out. Time our Tik Tok culture doesn't have.
 

jay helfert

Shoot Pool, not people
Gold Member
Silver Member
When the purses go up and the players are winning a 100K or more, there will be more interest in a mainstream pool production. I'm interested to see the reaction to the million dollar tournament coming soon with 200K on top. That should stir some added interest in pool, especially among young kids who like the game already. 200K is real money!
 

Badpenguin

Well-known member
A couple of years ago this list of pool related YouTube channels was posted.

Now I can't even try to keep up with the sheer number of pool related YouTube channels. They are popping up everywhere, and from all countries. We are definitely in the beginnings of a boom.
 

AtLarge

AzB Gold Member
Gold Member
Silver Member
... I'm interested to see the reaction to the million dollar tournament coming soon with 200K on top. That should stir some added interest in pool, especially among young kids who like the game already. 200K is real money!
During the Premier League event yesterday, the commentators said that Emily Frazer has announced that first place at the World Pool Championship this year will be $250,000.
 

tableroll

Rolling Thunder
Silver Member
A common refrain when discussing pool's future is "Nobody wants to watch pool -- it's totally boring."

Well, let's look at the views on YouTube for the current Premier League Pool event. There are 15 video streams on YouTube. The number of views of each one ranges between 50 and 120 thousand. Some of that count is certainly duplicates, but the total is over a million views. Someone, somewhere is watching pool, and those eyeballs are valuable to people. This does not count the 20 countries that have live broadcasts or paid streams. Those all bring in cash directly.

The Accu-Stats YT channel has multiple single videos over the 1 million views mark or close to it. Maybe not surprisingly, most of those very popular videos feature Efren Reyes, with the top Efren match having over 4 million views.

It is the viewers that will bring money into the game.
I would expect DAZN viewers to be low in number.
 

Bob Jewett

AZB Osmium Member
Staff member
Gold Member
Silver Member
I would expect DAZN viewers to be low in number.
DAZN was the only way to get the commentary table (Table 1) in the US, so those with subscriptions were likely watching there. If I had to guess, I'd say that might be several thousand. It's possible that there is some cross-over from boxing fans but DAZN was only used in the US and Brazil:

WHERE TO WATCH PREMIER LEAGUE POOL 2024
DAZN – USA & Brazil
Viaplay – Netherlands, Poland, Sweden, Norway, Denmark, Finland, Iceland, Lithuania, Latvia, Estonia
Nova – Czechia & Slovakia
Sportklub – Croatia, Bosnia & Herzegovina, North Macedonia, Montenegro, Serbia, Slovenia
Web The Thao – Vietcontent – Vietnam
Fox Sports – Australia
All other territories can watch both table coverage through Matchroom.live
 

Coos Cues

Coos Cues
Not gonna lie, I love my jog ahead. But the fact that the match is live does bring something extra.

I'm guessing that due to the international audience, most of the views are from recorded.
The trick is to avoid news of who won until you watch it on replay.

Easier said than done:ROFLMAO:

I once asked my mother why she was reading year old readers digest magazines and she told me "it's news to me"
 

briankenobi

AzB Silver Member
Silver Member
What would be interesting to see is how many people watched this live. People consume media very differently these days so the overall views could be something to look at as well. It would be interesting to know what level of viewership would be needed for an outside pool company to invest in it.
 

Tennesseejoe

AzB Silver Member
Silver Member
This depends on the director which I guess depends on the production company. Some of the directors for Matchroom events are much better than others. I hate it when the cue ball is rolling for a narrow position window and the director decides to cut to the audience or the opponent's reaction. It seems they know nothing about the game. Or when the replay is delayed and runs past the end of the next shot.

I have seen similar problems a few times for Matchroom's snooker productions, but usually at non-British venues.
I think Matchroom has refreshing video of players and technique. It shows individual style and gives replay a chance to study specific player movements and ball trajectories.
 
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