Hmmm. Couldn't be bothered reading the press release above. Of course it's going to be all good news. I therefore may have missed how many new accounts they signed up expressly to enable watching MTB racing.
TNT will also be the place to watch the commonwealths next year. So that's more sport people who didn't want to pay to view won't be watching.
https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/articles/c5yj9pnl5n4o
I may be reading this wrong, but...
87 million cumulative views.
Over 16 race weekends.
So ~5.5 million per weekend.
Split that down into XC, Enduro, DH, qualifying 1+2, juniors, elites, etc.
Suddenly it's not huge figures.
I'd say unique viewers (or at least unique IPs) might be a little less disingenuous.
That is really sad about the Commonwealth Games - TV like that was a staple of my growing up.
I was closely involved in the 2014 Games from a city wide marketing perspective. The BBC did a lot of activity over and above the broadcasting. With the Games moving to the TNT pay wall, I would be interested to see what the viewing figures end up being. These are going to be a hugely downscaled Games in comparison to 2014. It was a major event in the city. There is nothing like the build up there was then and given the scaling back of events and the use of Scotstoun for the athletics which is dwarfed by Hampden which we used back then, I would not be surprised if this is going to be their last hurrah.
The absence of the likes of hockey, bowling, rugby sevens, shooting, table tennis, badminton, mountain biking, squash and road biking suggest that it is going to be a low key affair. There is a noticable lack of public interest and engagement just a few months out. It feels like we are almost apologizing for hosting it.
Glasgow has a proven track record of hosting big events which I was privileged to be part of but this one has me almost questioning why we are bothering. Sure, we will make a bit of much needed money for hoteliers and local businesses but the lack of scale and ambition is a disappointment before the Games even start.
Cheers
Sanny
Would expect nothing less than record breaking figures in this post truth world
wWhat will be more interesting is when the whole takeover nonsense is complete and the new owner looks and realises what they have actually bought. I don’t wish things to crash but it’s clearly punching above its actual financial weight. Interesting times ahead I would suspect.
Did they include tizcycling numbers, too?
The 50-odd attempts it takes to get a stable feed might explain the number of "views".
😂 seems like the Amazon AI has been hallucinating.
Sounds like manipulated figures, to impress the shareholders.
What we really want to know is the views compared to the Red Bull days. What they are claiming is that in whatever measure they use numbers have increased since they took over.
FYI i have watched most of the xc races live this year
The thing to remember is that wbd are aiming for a different audience. We are not the target audience as quite simply there are enough of us to watch even if we could for free. This is all about getting your sofa surfers watching after the football or what ever other mainstream sport is on around it. That’s where the advertising revenue comes from.
Whilst I’m sure that the aim of Warner Bros is to bring in general sports viewers at the moment that doesn’t quite meet the needs of the Teams. Correct me if I’m wrong but i think all mtb teams and sponsors are mtb cycling specific. So extra non cyclist viewers is off little use to them. Other than justifying Warner Bros getting a return in their investment
Whilst I’m sure that the aim of Warner Bros is to bring in general sports viewers at the moment that doesn’t quite meet the needs of the Teams. Correct me if I’m wrong but i think all mtb teams and sponsors are mtb cycling specific. So extra non cyclist viewers is off little use to them. Other than justifying Warner Bros getting a return in their investment
And that’s the dilemma. For the sport to grow it needs non mtb sponsors and advertisers to get involved. Look at road cycling and virtually none of the teams have a bike brand as a title sponsor. There is the odd one but not many
Utterly predictable (and it was predicted).
There’s a WBD exec somewhere patting his/herself on the back for acquiring ~85% of cycling rights globally and coming up with ways to present those underwhelming viewing figures to muddle their bosses and shareholders.
I’ve no doubt high flying careers are built on such bullshittery. It’s also unusual for such individuals to not make a “sideways move”within 36 months, and their replacement will have their own ideas and burning desire to make their mark… So brace yourselves for 2027 to be the year that Lacrosse finally finds its global audience, while WBD quietly divests itself of all the overvalued cycling rights it never really needed or understood.
There’s a bump back to reality coming for the UCI I reckon.
I’ve no doubt high flying careers are built on such bullshittery. It’s also unusual for such individuals to not make a “sideways move”within 36 months, and their replacement will have their own ideas and burning desire to make their mark…
That's the kind of job I wish I had. High salaries, bonuses, a change of scenery every few years. Leaving a trail of complete indifference everywhere you go.
Sadly, I'm just a worker.
I think it may have been on Moving the needle podcast where it was discussed, but on their last set of "record breaking" viewing figures, it included estimated eyeballs from being shown in an airport. All a load of rubbish and manipulation.
There is no denying that viewership from the traditional market has plummeted, and I don't see any evidence to suggest that they have picked up casual fans. I am not aware of anyone that has suddenly started watching DH because it moved platforms.
That's the kind of job I wish I had. High salaries, bonuses, a change of scenery every few years. Leaving a trail of complete indifference everywhere you go.
Sadly, I'm just a worker.
Yeah, it’s that top 5-10% tier of existence that us plebs occasionally have a brush with, for the most part nice enough people. Just utterly disconnected from most of reality but with the right connections and background to make their wishes happen and then deftly outmanoeuvre the consequences…
The 50-odd attempts it takes to get a stable feed might explain the number of "views".
Only once have I had a feed die this year and that was Worlds.
I'd still rather refresh the page or abstain from SM for a day to watch the replay on tiz than sending money to WBD.
If the viewing figures have gone up it's more likely it's footy fans watching while they wait for the next match than actual followers of the sport.
Cumulatively counting viewer numbers is a bit like me claiming I'm a millionaire because if you added up every pound I've earned since I started working, it would be over a million