USDGC coverage

[bschick]

Congrats, Nate....well deserved, amazing play all week!

 

[Alobar]

I wonder how much $$$ Jussi had to fork out for the Coke ad?

Jussi specifically mentioned Coke* last year when addressing the livestream drama and using viewership numbers to attract major sponsors. (When, according to the LyleO, Jussi lied.)

Jussi is controlling the media coverage to accrue social media, live scoring, and post-produced video clicks, to present to potential sponsors outside of disc golf (like Coke!), and the investment for 5,000 live viewers is, to him, not worth it.

This is not really very controversial nor worth anyone ranting about. Jussi just kind of comes off as unlikeable, which I guess makes it easy to disagree with him.

(I remember seeing some of the last live coverage from the USDGC, the cell coverage was spotty and the stream kept freezing. If everyone really misses watching choppy, freezing, sub-720p live video, I don't know what elese to say. We have different standards of watchable content.)

* Sources: https://discgolf.ultiworld.com/2016...ap-jussi-meresmaa-presented-savage-disc-golf/

https://discgolf.ultiworld.com/2016...duced-content-will-not-include-livestreaming/

 

[Rockwell]

The Jomez vids take disc golf viewing to a new level and I love them. however...

Biggest downside to no live coverage:
Hardly anyone wants to talk about the event as it happens. Social media numbers will suffer, which can also entice sponsors. Discussion becomes paltry.

The reason is that sports just aren't fun to watch when you know the outcome. Even though I tried to stay away from any spoilers, someone on Facebook congratulated Nate before the vid came out and I almost didn't even want to watch the final round anymore.

 

[gsw_03]

The Jomez vids take disc golf viewing to a new level and I love them. however...

Biggest downside to no live coverage:
Hardly anyone wants to talk about the event as it happens. Social media numbers will suffer, which can also entice sponsors. Discussion becomes paltry.

The reason is that sports just aren't fun to watch when you know the outcome. Even though I tried to stay away from any spoilers, someone on Facebook congratulated Nate before the vid came out and I almost didn't even want to watch the final round anymore.

^^^(this) times (all of the numbers).

We're not talking about the latest episode of Game of Thrones, we're talking about a live sporting event. Yes, the videos we get to watch 24-48 hours after the round is complete are nice, but they don't have the same drama as live coverage. I would be perfectly happy if they at least brought back the dots and stayed with post-produced video, because it would be like following a football game with Gamecast and then watching the highlights later in the day. Waiting for a number to appear on a scorecard just doesn't do it for me. And most of the time my phone spoils the outcome before I have a chance to watch the coverage.

 

[JC17393]

(I remember seeing some of the last live coverage from the USDGC, the cell coverage was spotty and the stream kept freezing. If everyone really misses watching choppy, freezing, sub-720p live video, I don't know what elese to say. We have different standards of watchable content.)

You make good points about Jussi's motivations, but with how quickly technology advances, this argument about how unsatisfactory the live streamed video was two years ago kinda rings hollow to me as a reason to not do it now.

If it were just because the stream quality was poor, Facebook live coverage wouldn't be part of what they do. No matter the signal quality, there's no way that an FB stream from a single phone is going to be better than one shot with high quality cameras. Bottom line is they don't want to spend the money to do the live stream properly, preferring to funnel that money into the post-produced stuff. Their prerogative and the final product looks great, but it is unsatisfactory for those that want to watch/follow a live event, you know, live.

 

[thechamp]

It was fun to watch the final round coverage. It was fun to watch Nate Sexton win -- seems like such a good guy that has figured out how to compete and beat the best. It's not fun reading a bunch of whining about Innova or whatever else you're whining about here. Calm down -- Yay Nate.

Well said. How about some 2017 USDGC champ disc speculation. I would live to see a color glow champion Orc.

 

[Didn'tSeeThatTree]

The price is right! I personally loved the coverage. I followed the leaderboard and watched the clips as they were posted...felt pretty close to "being in the moment". Then watched the edited YouTube videos the next day, and even though I knew the result I still really enjoyed it. Hearing commentary from Nate for the final round was really cool. The Jomez + Big Sexy team has really made all of this year's tournament coverage really enjoyable.

Anybody complaining about no live coverage is a touch delusional IMHO. Put yourself in the organizer's shoes. As a business decision it was probably a no-brainer. Go to any random popular YouTube channel and look at the number of views, and compare that to disc golf tournament videos...disc golf just doesn't have the popularity. Maybe one day it will be profitable to broadcast disc golf, but my guess is; for now the business model is all about selling plastic, and live video probably does not help the bottom line.

I'm happy to get coverage for free especially of this quality...even if it's an ENTIRE 24 hours after OMG I CAN'T BELIEVE I HAD TO WAIT 24 HOURS FOR SOMETHING THAT COST ME NOTHING!!!! haha sorry that's my attempt at fake outrage....am I doing this internet thing right?

 

[lyleoross]

Jussi specifically mentioned Coke* last year when addressing the livestream drama and using viewership numbers to attract major sponsors. (When, according to the LyleO, Jussi lied.)

Jussi is controlling the media coverage to accrue social media, live scoring, and post-produced video clicks, to present to potential sponsors outside of disc golf (like Coke!), and the investment for 5,000 live viewers is, to him, not worth it.

This is not really very controversial nor worth anyone ranting about. Jussi just kind of comes off as unlikeable, which I guess makes it easy to disagree with him.

(I remember seeing some of the last live coverage from the USDGC, the cell coverage was spotty and the stream kept freezing. If everyone really misses watching choppy, freezing, sub-720p live video, I don't know what elese to say. We have different standards of watchable content.)

* Sources: https://discgolf.ultiworld.com/2016...ap-jussi-meresmaa-presented-savage-disc-golf/

https://discgolf.ultiworld.com/2016...duced-content-will-not-include-livestreaming/

I'm pretty sure I've seen coke before with these guys. I'm much more likely to think someone knows someone or works in marketing at coke. If Jussie really had sold them a slot they'd be on all their vids. Like keen is with DGPT.. And id say thats how keen was brought in. Someone in Oregonworked for keen and introd them to Beaver State.

 

[JTacoma03]

Because Emporia is an NT and USDGC is a major. But honestly, if there had been live coverage the kavitching would have been less. It feels like it was miss managed. Frankly, that has nothing to do with Innova or DD, its about management and what was said by Jussie.

Please note Jamie, the reason why Innova comes up is because it distinctly feels like live is kaboshed so that the Innova family can keep tighter control over marketing. If Jeremy does the same thing, I'm sure he'll get some grief too.

For the moment that should be set aside. USDGC is a major for a reason. The Innova team put on a hell of a show. The recaps were excellent, as was every element of the gig. Thanks!

You're just saying the same things over and over again. You think Rusco doesn't keep tight control of marketing at his event? When Paige didn't get a new photo taken in her DD gear for the DGWT (a photographer is made available at all DGWT events for the players to use for FREE), they used the old one on file (where she was wearing Prodigy gear) - the moment that video came out DD was calling us. He absolutely does care about marketing and branding just as much. NT vs Major is 100% irrelevant. The big difference between those event tiers is:

- distance (in miles) between other events of that tier
- added cash minimums

Anything else you add to that is emotional...which there's nothing wrong with in the big picture, but for purposes of this discussion it's moot. Innova made a groundbreaking event 20 years ago that they have invested their own cash for nearly 2 decades into growing, and now it's the most prestigious event in disc golf...but suddenly it's "mismanaged" because a handful of people don't like one decision? The logic just isn't there. Just say "IMO I don't like this" - stop extrapolating it into something bigger. It's irresponsible.

Second of all, Jussi is taking a ton of heat for things that are group decisions, and even for things he doesn't have anything to do with.

People keep saying "he lied" last year, but that's patently false. I know, because I was the one on the phone at 2016 GMC talking to the PDGA with Terry Miller standing next to me. The widely circulated story is NOT what happened at all. To me personally it's a shame that people keep dragging Jussi's name through the mud based on misinformation and convenient abridging of the whole truth.

Am I too heated about this? Maybe so. It's annoying to log on and see all of this misdirected negativity, when at the course it's love, hugs, "how ya doin?", and honestly the best marriage of the "community" feel of a C-tier mixed with the professionalism of a Major. There are more mountains made out of molehills surrounding this event than any other.

I'm not trying to come down on you personally, I'm just trying to set the record straight. There's so much more at play than is visible from the surface - which is not "mismanagement", it's called "hiding the seams" and its what every great event does...not just talking about disc golf either.

Come see this event, I 100% guarantee you will change your attitude towards it.

Hardly anyone wants to talk about the event as it happens. Social media numbers will suffer, which can also entice sponsors. Discussion becomes paltry.

No, unfortunately the numbers say otherwise:

- The FB live gets comparable numbers to the DGPT style live broadcasts. We had over 2000 concurrent viewers on Saturday
- FB live this week averaged over 1500 comments per round
- @Spintvdg (shameless plug) Instagram account has engagement over 100k in the past week...and that's the smallest of the 3 IG accounts that posted content at this event.
- Post produced coverage numbers are on track to once again break our 7-day record (we have broken/re-raised that record at every event we've filmed this year)

Our social media engagement:view ratio is phenomenal. The raw viewership may be 10% total of say, eSports, but advertisers and sponsors are looking for engagement more than raw views.

 

[_MTL_]

Y
Second of all, Jussi is taking a ton of heat for things that are group decisions, and even for things he doesn't have anything to do with.

If you put your name out there as the leader, CEO, etc. this will happen. And it should.

Because even if he doesn't have anything to do with it, it's still people under his wing.

 

[JTacoma03]

If you put your name out there as the leader, CEO, etc. this will happen. And it should.

Because even if he doesn't have anything to do with it, it's still people under his wing.

The event is a cooperation, not a corporation. Innova, PDGA, and DGWT all work together. Just because DGWT brings the branding doesn't mean they're dictating marching orders to people that have been doing this event for 20 years.

C'mon - you know better than to believe that anybody is going into East's house and rearranging their furniture without permission.

 

[Horsman]

Taking ad money from Coke, c'mon man. We play a sport that boasts about getting people outside in nature and trying to be healthier. So many people have taken to disc golf as a fun and simple way to work out and better themselves. Then you jam coke ads down our throat. Hopefully this was just for the USDGC and not for all of Jomez.

 

[Rockwell]

No, unfortunately the numbers say otherwise:

- The FB live gets comparable numbers to the DGPT style live broadcasts. We had over 2000 concurrent viewers on Saturday
- FB live this week averaged over 1500 comments per round
- @Spintvdg (shameless plug) Instagram account has engagement over 100k in the past week...and that's the smallest of the 3 IG accounts that posted content at this event.
- Post produced coverage numbers are on track to once again break our 7-day record (we have broken/re-raised that record at every event we've filmed this year)

Our social media engagement:view ratio is phenomenal. The raw viewership may be 10% total of say, eSports, but advertisers and sponsors are looking for engagement more than raw views.

Are there any others out there who stayed away from looking at scores, discussing on social media, etc because they didn't want the next day viewing experience to be ruined?

I'm glad that the numbers were good and I hope they continue to boom over time. But staying away from spoilers will impact social media/engagement numbers during the event, unless the Facebook live is advertised in a bigger way. (I'm a fairly engaged viewer of this event for 10 years, and didn't know about it.)

 

[Golden Tuna]

NT vs Major is 100% irrelevant. The big difference between those event tiers is:

- distance (in miles) between other events of that tier
- added cash minimums

JT, your (whole) post is spot on. You have to understand that a majority of the folks on this site have never volunteered and really do not know what goes on behind the scenes. So, as hard as it is, we need to cut them some slack, even when they're wrong...

Second of all, Jussi is taking a ton of heat for things that are group decisions, and even for things he doesn't have anything to do with.

Unfortunately, that's the nature of being "in charge". As an advocate for the growth of DG, I appreciate everything Jussi has done for the sport, events, and live coverage. Again, many of the people here don't understand all the effort, marketing, and politics that goe into the back end of this "game". I have no beef with Jussi, but when your name is publicly attached to decisions, people will complain. You simply can't please everyone! It's just unfortunate that most people don't have the class to keep their negative comments to themselves.

Am I too heated about this? Maybe so. It's annoying to log on and see all of this misdirected negativity, when at the course it's love, hugs, "how ya doin?"

Maybe, but I'm not judging... When you're involved in something and people complain about it, its hard not to take it personally. Even if you're not involved, but you know those who are, it can be hard. Unfortunately, we live in a society of free speech, which (more or less) give people the right to be as stupid as they want (including me, for those of you that don't agree with this perspective)

No, unfortunately, the numbers say otherwise:

Our social media engagement: view ratio is phenomenal. The raw viewership may be 10% total of say, eSports, but advertisers and sponsors are looking for engagement more than raw views.

Metric-based justification is a very business savvy move that most here can't won't understand. For the rest of us, this is how we operate, especially in marketing. With the"soft" nature of many of these marketing initiatives, we need to measure what we can when we can, and the metrics you posted show me positive growth, and good engagement among the target audience. DG is still nowhere near as big as some other sports, but it is growing at a steady pace, thanks in part to your efforts! So, thanks for what you do, don't let internet negativity get you down or mask the success you're having. It is true, a few bad apples can spoil the batch. Let's hope we see more positivity in this thread and that is just as infectious!

 

[Jowie]

Are there any others out there who stayed away from looking at scores, discussing on social media, etc because they didn't want the next day viewing experience to be ruined?

I'm glad that the numbers were good and I hope they continue to boom over time. But staying away from spoilers will impact social media/engagement numbers during the event, unless the Facebook live is advertised in a bigger way. (I'm a fairly engaged viewer of this event for 10 years, and didn't know about it.)

I'm very active on twitter and stopped following all DG there for this reason.

 

[Golden Tuna]

Taking ad money from Coke, c'mon man. We play a sport that boasts about getting people outside in nature and trying to be healthier. So many people have taken to disc golf as a fun and simple way to work out and better themselves. Then you jam coke ads down our throat. Hopefully this was just for the USDGC and not for all of Jomez.

Really? Jam ads down our throat? That is a pretty big exaggeration in my opinion. I don't want 2-3 ads after every hole, but I do want to see coverage of tournament rounds & courses I haven't visited, so advertising (in this case) is a "necessary evil".

When I saw the Coke ads, I thought to myself, "more and better coverage is in our immediate future"! Coke is the first (major beverage) to this space, the next step is a competitor... Pepsi. Then the bandwagoners, "If coke & Pepsi are in, there must be opportunity".

And, the whole health angle you're taking is garbage in my opinion... As a percentage, the number of people that do this for health reasons is a small sub-segment of overall participants.

In my opinion, a beer sponsor would probably resonate with the target demographic a little more, but, Coke is a start... And, the ads were Coke Zero Sugar ads by the way... I'm not saying that Coke is a healthy drink or even my drink of choice, but the holes in your "argument" are pretty wide.

 

[_MTL_]

No, unfortunately the numbers say otherwise:

- The FB live gets comparable numbers to the DGPT style live broadcasts. We had over 2000 concurrent viewers on Saturday
- FB live this week averaged over 1500 comments per round
- @Spintvdg (shameless plug) Instagram account has engagement over 100k in the past week...and that's the smallest of the 3 IG accounts that posted content at this event.
- Post produced coverage numbers are on track to once again break our 7-day record (we have broken/re-raised that record at every event we've filmed this year)

Our social media engagement:view ratio is phenomenal. The raw viewership may be 10% total of say, eSports, but advertisers and sponsors are looking for engagement more than raw views.

To me this is what these numbers say:

People don't care too much about quality as you guys assume. If people are willing to watch a cell phone camera on facebook live as much as live video done with professional equipment, edited video, hole information, player information, scores and commentary, that means it's not about the quality, rather the live production.

I look at post production compared to live a lot like how DVR works.

I can miss a TV show Monday and who cares, I'll watch it Wednesday night on DVR. However, if I miss a sporting event, I'm not going to watch it. Check the stats - live sports on DVR are terrible.

In the world of social media, it's nearly impossible to avoid knowing who a won game or in this case, the tournament. Someone would have to completely unplug, wait for the post production and then watch. I don't see people making that commitment.

 

[Horsman]

No, unfortunately the numbers say otherwise:

- The FB live gets comparable numbers to the DGPT style live broadcasts. We had over 2000 concurrent viewers on Saturday
- FB live this week averaged over 1500 comments per round
- @Spintvdg (shameless plug) Instagram account has engagement over 100k in the past week...and that's the smallest of the 3 IG accounts that posted content at this event.
- Post produced coverage numbers are on track to once again break our 7-day record (we have broken/re-raised that record at every event we've filmed this year).

Not disagreeing with you on anything just stating my opinion which I dont believe is far off reality.

- The FB live gets comparable numbers to the DGPT style live broadcasts. We had over 2000 concurrent viewers on Saturday
Any live stream of the lead card would have had similar viewers. If you give us live we will tune in. Heck I would take just live audio of Avery to compliment the live scoring.
- FB live this week averaged over 1500 comments per round
Smashboxx is probably very similar
- @Spintvdg (shameless plug) Instagram account has engagement over 100k in the past week...and that's the smallest of the 3 IG accounts that posted content at this event.
More than likely because a lot of that engagement comes from the live scoring and peoples wants to have high quality live coverage and thats the only available option
- Post produced coverage numbers are on track to once again break our 7-day record (we have broken/re-raised that record at every event we've filmed this year) I think a good majority of us would agree that thats because there was no live coverage, no surprise there, and you guys know that. But I see myself watching less and less of the post production DGWT events because its just not as fun to watch because we already know the results. When I watch it now its just in the background of something else Im doing. Im not actively watching so Im not seeing many of the ads and engaging with them. This is very different from live coverage where myself and a lot of other people are glued to their monitors watching. This might not be an issue or something that you care about now but I could see it being an issue in the future.

 

[Future_Primitive]

Pretty much logged off the internet on Wednesday and played a bunch of disc golf myself. Was nice to come home after a long day on the course and unwind with Jomez/USDGC playing in hi-def on my 60" HDTV without a single clue of who was winning or had won. Don't use Facebook (never will) and have Twitter but not very active on it myself. Pretty much watched the coverage each day this weekend the same day it posted. Hats off Jomez and Big Sexy on the mics.

 

[Horsman]

Really? Jam ads down our throat? That is a pretty big exaggeration in my opinion. I don't want 2-3 ads after every hole, but I do want to see coverage of tournament rounds & courses I haven't visited, so advertising (in this case) is a "necessary evil".

When I saw the Coke ads, I thought to myself, "more and better coverage is in our immediate future"! Coke is the first (major beverage) to this space, the next step is a competitor... Pepsi. Then the bandwagoners, "If coke & Pepsi are in, there must be opportunity".

And, the whole health angle you're taking is garbage in my opinion... As a percentage, the number of people that do this for health reasons is a small sub-segment of overall participants.

In my opinion, a beer sponsor would probably resonate with the target demographic a little more, but, Coke is a start... And, the ads were Coke Zero Sugar ads by the way... I'm not saying that Coke is a healthy drink or even my drink of choice, but the holes in your "argument" are pretty wide.

It was my opinion of the coverage, that's all. I dont agree with your opinions stated and you dont agree with mine. Nothing will change, we wont change, we will just argue and thread drift and nothing will happen.