A Netflix for pool

actionplayer

AzB Silver Member
Silver Member
Folks

There has been a lot of discussion about streaming and what's the best avenue.

I like to watch the streams but because if cost no player list prior weekend conflicts and tournaments im playing in dont get to see all the matche's is like

How great would it would be if there was a Netflix for pool :

9.99 a month and all the streams from different vendors are centralized
Meaning with that payment you get to watch any of the streams that are happening live and also access to the vault where all matches are uploaded to watch back at viewers discretion

I would lovethis centralization as to not have to stay abreast of all streamers at dufferent events and then trying to get a usb drive to the streamer to get one match from the tournament I wanted to watch later ir over again

Am I dreaming ? Thoughts ?
 

BJTyler

AzB Member
Silver Member
Folks

There has been a lot of discussion about streaming and what's the best avenue.

I like to watch the streams but because if cost no player list prior weekend conflicts and tournaments im playing in dont get to see all the matche's is like

How great would it would be if there was a Netflix for pool :

9.99 a month and all the streams from different vendors are centralized
Meaning with that payment you get to watch any of the streams that are happening live and also access to the vault where all matches are uploaded to watch back at viewers discretion

I would lovethis centralization as to not have to stay abreast of all streamers at dufferent events and then trying to get a usb drive to the streamer to get one match from the tournament I wanted to watch later ir over again

Am I dreaming ? Thoughts ?

And...what if you were also able to include the entire accustats library into the mix!!!! And of course the entire TAR library too! And how about 6 or 7 hundred hours of instructional videos!! Past mosconi cups! Hell! There could even be a snooker/carom section!

Kind of like the UFC fight pass model....where do I subscribe?
 

Prince H

AzB Silver Member
Silver Member
And...what if you were also able to include the entire accustats library into the mix!!!! And of course the entire TAR library too! And how about 6 or 7 hundred hours of instructional videos!! Past mosconi cups! Hell! There could even be a snooker/carom section!

Kind of like the UFC fight pass model....where do I subscribe?


I asked accu-stats the same question and they were convinced that the cost to host & maintain a streaming library was too much, so they were not going to convert to this model. Personally, I am all for it! Hopefully someone from accu-stats can chime in and give an update to the feasibility.
 

Cameron Smith

is kind of hungry...
Silver Member
For Payperview streams, sure that would be great. These tournaments are always during the week and usually at times when I can not watch. So I rarely, if ever, watch live pool.

I would, however, purchase on demand content to view at my leisure later on.
 

krupa

The Dream Operator
Silver Member
Folks

There has been a lot of discussion about streaming and what's the best avenue.

I like to watch the streams but because if cost no player list prior weekend conflicts and tournaments im playing in dont get to see all the matche's is like

How great would it would be if there was a Netflix for pool :

9.99 a month and all the streams from different vendors are centralized
Meaning with that payment you get to watch any of the streams that are happening live and also access to the vault where all matches are uploaded to watch back at viewers discretion

I would lovethis centralization as to not have to stay abreast of all streamers at dufferent events and then trying to get a usb drive to the streamer to get one match from the tournament I wanted to watch later ir over again

Am I dreaming ? Thoughts ?

I think you're in the 1% of extreme pool fans. I really can't watch pool for more than 30 minutes at a time and only a couple times a week - if that. For me, it's just not a spectator sport.

I was an Accu-stats Video of the Month member for like two years. If I want to watch pool, I play one of those DVDs or find snooker or 3-cushion on YouTube.
 

sixpack

AzB Silver Member
Silver Member
I looked into doing this a few years ago and ultimately decided that it would not be a good thing for me to do for a host of reasons. Here are some of the main ones. Of course your mileage may vary and people often make successful businesses out of opportunities where others have passed:
1) You would have to negotiate with all the streamers for content.

2) You would have a lot of legal footwork because of video releases by players either not being signed or not covering this type of distribution.

3) There is a ton of free pool video on youtube already. If you have AppleTV or Roku or even a smart TV set you can just flip it on youtube and watch match after match of high quality pool matches. What would make content premium enough to get people to subscribe?

4) For premium content (like the US Open or CSI Nationals Pro side) the streamers have charged a premium per head to watch it. For the sake of argument say $59.99. Putting that content on a streaming subscription site would lead to a big cannibalization of their event streaming sales that they would not make up through the subscription site.

The best candidate to do this would be someone who already has a lot of premium content. (i.e. CSI, TAR, Accustats, etc...) They could start by creating a subscription for content they already own and then negotiate to get other streamers on there and work out the advertising and sponsorship.

Someone said that Accustats has already looked into it and decided that it doesn't cashflow. I believe it. It would have to be a labor of love and ain't nobody got time for that.

If an indie pool producer wanted to make money from their pool video content on a streaming site, they might be better served to approach Netflix, Amazon or whomever and get it on their streaming sites. That way it will be exposed to millions of people worldwide and even though the $/view will be lower they might pick up some serious numbers. Florian, for example, could do this with his videos and probably do pretty well.
 

Cornerman

Cue Author...Sometimes
Gold Member
Silver Member
Folks

There has been a lot of discussion about streaming and what's the best avenue.

I like to watch the streams but because if cost no player list prior weekend conflicts and tournaments im playing in dont get to see all the matche's is like

How great would it would be if there was a Netflix for pool :

9.99 a month and all the streams from different vendors are centralized
Meaning with that payment you get to watch any of the streams that are happening live and also access to the vault where all matches are uploaded to watch back at viewers discretion

I would lovethis centralization as to not have to stay abreast of all streamers at dufferent events and then trying to get a usb drive to the streamer to get one match from the tournament I wanted to watch later ir over again

Am I dreaming ? Thoughts ?

Both InsidePOOL and AZBilliards already have ROKU channels. It's only a matter of time before they have all their videos up. That's a lot.
 

ChicagoJay

AzB Silver Member
Silver Member
I asked accu-stats the same question and they were convinced that the cost to host & maintain a streaming library was too much, so they were not going to convert to this model. Personally, I am all for it! Hopefully someone from accu-stats can chime in and give an update to the feasibility.
They would make a lot of money whoever decided to do it. @ $10 per month @ a minimum 1000 subscribers through 12 months $10 x 1000 = $10,000.00 per month x 12 = $120,000.00 per year. $30,000.00 for servers and hosting $30,000.00 for 1 or 2 guys to maintain etc..
$60,000.00 Profit. Saying only 1000 people sign up, 5000-10,000 die hard pool fans, then you got something huge.
 
And...what if you were also able to include the entire accustats library into the mix!!!! And of course the entire TAR library too! And how about 6 or 7 hundred hours of instructional videos!! Past mosconi cups! Hell! There could even be a snooker/carom section!

Kind of like the UFC fight pass model....where do I subscribe?

This type of thing would only happen in a pool fans dreams, but if it ever did happen, I think the price would be a lot more then $9.99 per month.

Think about it. How many pool fans do you think are out there that love to watch pool, and how many people out there that love to watch movies and tv shows online? There is a good reason why Netflix has such a cheap price of $9.99 per month. They get millions of subscriptions per month (times $9 for each of those subscribers). I do not know, but I just imagine that a site like netflix for fans of pool would be very expensive (I do not know, maybe $50 per month, which would not be a bad price for all of the content that you are talking about, plus an added bonus of live streaming for all of the major pool tournaments around the world). Even at $50 per month, how much could the site possibly make? How many pool fans do you think are out there that love to watch pool online? It sounds like a great idea though. If only pool were much bigger (more popular among the public).
 
I asked accu-stats the same question and they were convinced that the cost to host & maintain a streaming library was too much, so they were not going to convert to this model. Personally, I am all for it! Hopefully someone from accu-stats can chime in and give an update to the feasibility.

Maybe get a petition, and see how many pre sign ups that they could get, at a certain price (per month). That would give them an idea on if it would be worth it, or not.
 
I think you're in the 1% of extreme pool fans. I really can't watch pool for more than 30 minutes at a time and only a couple times a week - if that. For me, it's just not a spectator sport.

I was an Accu-stats Video of the Month member for like two years. If I want to watch pool, I play one of those DVDs or find snooker or 3-cushion on YouTube.

It is fun watching it live though, with a chat, and commentary (from maybe a good pool player, that knows what he is talking about). The recorded videos do get kind of boring, but watching my favorite players on a live stream is fun.
 

TVmike

Professional Live Stream
Silver Member
aa

Lol already been done. Already have the "netflix of pool" and been using it for a long time in my posts and broadcasts. WAY WAY ahead of the curve here. It's not like I can trademark it but the whole monthly subscription thing for my content is my idea going back 5/6 years.

Oh yeah... I just realized this is Justin Mason secret shill for Zach for OSPN.
Good luck, paying that $1,000 month server bill with no support. I already told him a LONG TIME AGO that people were not going to sign up for multiple subscription services and pretty sure I'm right, I am right about everything else. He never listened to me let a lone treated me like dogshit.

Your whole deal with asking questions and what do you think about this is funny considering your asking a question then going to wait a little bit see the responses then tell everyone "oh I have the answer right here by the way called OSPN" everyone should use it. It's the Hegelian dialectic essentially.

Not sure why Zach is bothering still trying to do this tech nerd in pool thing, he's screwed over lots of people not only me. He's better served in another industry or just do his carpentry he's a talented wood worker.
 

actionplayer

AzB Silver Member
Silver Member
Lol already been done. Already have the "netflix of pool" and been using it for a long time in my posts and broadcasts. WAY WAY ahead of the curve here. It's not like I can trademark it but the whole monthly subscription thing for my content is my idea going back 5/6 years.

Oh yeah... I just realized this is Justin Mason secret shill for Zach for OSPN.
Good luck, paying that $1,000 month server bill with no support. I already told him a LONG TIME AGO that people were not going to sign up for multiple subscription services and pretty sure I'm right, I am right about everything else. He never listened to me let a lone treated me like dogshit.

Your whole deal with asking questions and what do you think about this is funny considering your asking a question then going to wait a little bit see the responses then tell everyone "oh I have the answer right here by the way called OSPN" everyone should use it. It's the Hegelian dialectic essentially.

Not sure why Zach is bothering still trying to do this tech nerd in pool thing, he's screwed over lots of people not only me. He's better served in another industry or just do his carpentry he's a talented wood worker.

not sure if the end of your points were directed at me but i am not a proxy for Zach goldsmith i dont even know him.

I have heard of your services however and like you said you are ahead of the curve, my only niche with your model is to my knowledge you stream mosly regional or amateur events. For me at least I only like watching the top players playing so am looking for large action matches like TAR, US open accu stats, USBT, world events etc
 

KissedOut

AzB Silver Member
Silver Member
Folks

There has been a lot of discussion about streaming and what's the best avenue.

I like to watch the streams but because if cost no player list prior weekend conflicts and tournaments im playing in dont get to see all the matche's is like

How great would it would be if there was a Netflix for pool :

9.99 a month and all the streams from different vendors are centralized
Meaning with that payment you get to watch any of the streams that are happening live and also access to the vault where all matches are uploaded to watch back at viewers discretion

I would lovethis centralization as to not have to stay abreast of all streamers at dufferent events and then trying to get a usb drive to the streamer to get one match from the tournament I wanted to watch later ir over again

Am I dreaming ? Thoughts ?

The billiards world already has something like that. I have a 7.99 euros per month subscription to kozoom, which gives me live streaming to billiards (3C, 1C, balklines, free and the Italian pin game) for every world class event, plus access to their huge video library of past billiard matches.
 

vjmehra

AzB Silver Member
Silver Member
The billiards world already has something like that. I have a 7.99 euros per month subscription to kozoom, which gives me live streaming to billiards (3C, 1C, balklines, free and the Italian pin game) for every world class event, plus access to their huge video library of past billiard matches.

Kozoom also cover the Eurotour (9-Ball), from what I recall you can buy a package that covers all the events and archive footage.

Also most (possibly all) IPA (English 8-Ball) and GB9 (9-Ball) TV table matches are on Youtube, with the more recent ones at least being high quality video.
 

pletho

NON "ACTION KNOCKER"
Silver Member
Honestly no one is really interested in watching live streams of amateur players and paying money for it - the only reason pay per view streaming works at any level is because of the draw, the players playing are worth watching or there is live action between very very very good players.

as of right now, there is really only one streamer who does this on a professional level consistently and worth paying for - Ray Hansen
 
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