I decided to post this thread after emailing with Jerry Forsyth and reading a number of threads and comments both on AZB and elsewhere on the web.
Live streaming seems to be a very new phenomonen (at least with cue sports) having become popular in the last 12-18 months.
A lot of people including my own company are struggling to make it financially viable especially when the average viewer does not want to pay for content. Actually quite right that they shouldn't want to in all fairness, the quality presented by many streamers due to Internet connections and equipment is quite poor and the budgets are not anywhere near that are a traditional broadcaster.
However, I wanted to post not about the doom-and-gloom of IPTV but the potential positives. According to the Sporting Goods Manfacturers association 18.5% of US citizens play billiards at least once per month this is around 56 million players.
I found an article on emarketer.com that also states that 80% of all Internet users access online video (70% of this is via YouTube and Google Video).
If we do a calculation based on these figures it means a potential viewership for live streams of 32.5 million people in the USA alone.
So my own conclusion is that it is not that there is no market for it, it is about these parameters below:
1. The quality of the stream
2. Reaching the viewing public
3. The cost
We have streamed to over 11,000 viewers since June this year and know that a lot of what we have done has not been to the highest standards due to financial constraints, Internet connections within venues and a lack of belief from within the industry.
So really this post is to make sure everyone keeps trying! 2009 will be a good year for the live-stream community and a bit of competition is very healthy as it drives the standards up and up.
Live streaming seems to be a very new phenomonen (at least with cue sports) having become popular in the last 12-18 months.
A lot of people including my own company are struggling to make it financially viable especially when the average viewer does not want to pay for content. Actually quite right that they shouldn't want to in all fairness, the quality presented by many streamers due to Internet connections and equipment is quite poor and the budgets are not anywhere near that are a traditional broadcaster.
However, I wanted to post not about the doom-and-gloom of IPTV but the potential positives. According to the Sporting Goods Manfacturers association 18.5% of US citizens play billiards at least once per month this is around 56 million players.
I found an article on emarketer.com that also states that 80% of all Internet users access online video (70% of this is via YouTube and Google Video).
If we do a calculation based on these figures it means a potential viewership for live streams of 32.5 million people in the USA alone.
So my own conclusion is that it is not that there is no market for it, it is about these parameters below:
1. The quality of the stream
2. Reaching the viewing public
3. The cost
We have streamed to over 11,000 viewers since June this year and know that a lot of what we have done has not been to the highest standards due to financial constraints, Internet connections within venues and a lack of belief from within the industry.
So really this post is to make sure everyone keeps trying! 2009 will be a good year for the live-stream community and a bit of competition is very healthy as it drives the standards up and up.