Please...

If you look at stats for participation in sports most of them are down. If you look at viewers for pro sports they are down across the board including the NFL (which was once thought to be invincible.) Young folks don't like casino gambling, snow skiing, riding motorcycles and the list goes on. The reality is that most of the younger generation prefer to stay home play video games and watch netflix. They like instant gratification and shy away from games with a steep learning curve. They also shy away from face to face activities: dance clubs, live entertainment venues and dive bars are closing because as the boomers are aging out the younger crowd is not taking their place. I don't think pool will go extinct but I do believe it will be nothing more than a bar room and sports bar/grille activity. It's a small niche and will remain so.
 
middleofnowhere said:
So what are you getting at. Where are the millions?
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Let me ask you a question. If a $3M world 10B event was going to take place next month, but the live streaming cost was $25.99 and the best matches, the last 128 matches were live streamed and put into cloud storage so you could go back and watch any match you wanted to, 24/7 would you pay the $25.99 if it drew in the best players on the planet?
 
mnorwood said:
If you look at stats for participation in sports most of them are down. If you look at viewers for pro sports they are down across the board including the NFL (which was once thought to be invincible.) Young folks don't like casino gambling, snow skiing, riding motorcycles and the list goes on. The reality is that most of the younger generation prefer to stay home play video games and watch netflix. They like instant gratification and shy away from games with a steep learning curve. They also shy away from face to face activities: dance clubs, live entertainment venues and dive bars are closing because as the boomers are aging out the younger crowd is not taking their place. I don't think pool will go extinct but I do believe it will be nothing more than a bar room and sports bar/grille activity. It's a small niche and will remain so.
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Are you speaking for America, or the rest of the world too?
 
mnorwood said:
If you look at stats for participation in sports most of them are down. If you look at viewers for pro sports they are down across the board including the NFL (which was once thought to be invincible.) Young folks don't like casino gambling, snow skiing, riding motorcycles and the list goes on. The reality is that most of the younger generation prefer to stay home play video games and watch netflix. They like instant gratification and shy away from games with a steep learning curve. They also shy away from face to face activities: dance clubs, live entertainment venues and dive bars are closing because as the boomers are aging out the younger crowd is not taking their place. I don't think pool will go extinct but I do believe it will be nothing more than a bar room and sports bar/grille activity. It's a small niche and will remain so.
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Viewership for the world cup of soccer is up, while NFL viewership is down, how do you explain that?
 
realkingcobra said:
Viewership for the world cup of soccer is up, while NFL viewership is down, how do you explain that?
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Several reasons: baby boomers are starting to die off at a faster clip, generation x is tired of all the politics that has been injected in to football. The younger generation is more open to soccer and most of the immigrant population are more in to soccer than football. If the NFL doesn't get out of the business of politics their audience will continue to drop. Most young Americans don't give a crap about football. Participation in youth football is dropping, students attendance at college games is dropping off a cliff and people are becoming more wise about head injuries in football and its a real turn off. NFL football has also cultivated a bad image with highly paid players that have a bad attitude and who can't stay out of jail. The NFL is only going down from here. Can't say that upsets me.
 
So, would you say viewership of pool internationally is the same as its treated here in the United States? Or is viewership for pool internationally a lot BETTER than it is in the United States?
 
realkingcobra said:
The problem all of you have is in your train of thought. If you focused your efforts on how to make a sponsor some money, then the by product of that becomes the sponsorship of pool. You guys are all stuck on sponsor pool, and you'll go broke!!!
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The problem is, realistically you need big viewer numbers to have something to offer advertisers.

So you need to present pool in a way that people strongly want to watch it.

And it's boring to watch :(

TV habits are changing too. There are so many forms of media out there that a TV channel is going to get lower numbers. Easier to get your voice out there, but fewer people will listen.

Here's an idea:

Something done in the manner of a social media influencer, but it's the organization, or the sport, not a single person.

Obviously all the sports organizations have social media output, but it's generally done in a boring corporate way that isn't trying to give people the same kind of service or type of content as an influencer. Which is to say, it's done badly. Following old paradigms of marketing.

Of course, you can't just become a social media icon simply because you want to, and the vast majority of attempts fail.

Still, it would be nice to be able to try something a bit different.
 
Pin said:
So you need to present pool in a way that people strongly want to watch it.

And it's boring to watch :(
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Except for the Mosconi Cup. Matchroom got that one right. It is an exciting match, especially when played in England. Nowhere are the fans and spectators more into it; more spirited. It would be awesome to watch that match on a very good home theater system with surround sound.

Americans are dull in comparison. I've watched many matches where you might as well put cardboard cutouts in the audience... Like a covid baseball game.
 
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realkingcobra said:
Let me ask you a question. If a $3M world 10B event was going to take place next month, but the live streaming cost was $25.99 and the best matches, the last 128 matches were live streamed and put into cloud storage so you could go back and watch any match you wanted to, 24/7 would you pay the $25.99 if it drew in the best players on the planet?
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If you want an honest answer, probably not. There is a ton of pool now on YouTube and I don't watch it now and neither does zillions of others.

People like to play pool but not watch others play. Pool is not a spectator sport. It's not a matter of increasing viewership. The viewership doesn't exist.


It was usually thought the money was the secret. It's not. Golfers play for millions every week. This year's US Open final drew 5.7 million viewers. Judge Judy beats that 5 days a week.

Advertisers already have enough places to spend their dollars with real viewers. Pitching pool to advertisers would be impossible.

Pool is what it is. Not a spectator sport, not a professional sport, but a participation sport. And a pretty small one at that played mostly as a casual pastime in a bar room setting.

I'm leaving out one of the biggest factors. Advertisers not wanting to be associated with pool. In fact no one wants to be associated with pool.

Have you heard of a Jackie Gleason world straight pool classic? Maybe a Paul Newman 9 ball championship.

No, because they didn't want the association with pool. Celebrities will attach their names to all kinds of things, why not pool.
 
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middleofnowhere said:
If you want an honest answer, probably not. There is a ton of pool now on YouTube and I don't watch it now and neither does zillions of others.

People like to play pool but not watch others play. Pool is not a spectator sport. It's not a matter of increasing viewership. The viewership doesn't exist.


It was usually thought the money was the secret. It's not. Golfers play for millions every week. This year's US Open final drew 5.7 million viewers. Judge Judy beats that 5 days a week.

Advertisers already have enough places to spend their dollars with real viewers. Pitching pool to advertisers would be impossible.

Pool is what it is. Not a spectator sport, not a professional sport, but a participation sport. And a pretty small one at that played mostly as a casual pastime in a bar room setting.

I'm leaving out one of the biggest factors. Advertisers not wanting to be associated with pool. In fact no one wants to be associated with pool.

Have you heard of a Jackie Gleason world straight pool classic? Maybe a Paul Newman 9 ball championship.

No, because they didn't want the association with pool. Celebrities will attach their names to all kinds of things, why not pool.
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Its a good thing that belief don't apply to the international viewing audience!
 
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