2014 WEC Livestream

[Bandicoot17]

Originally Posted by bella

as for losing the casual fans, casual fans don't sit in front of their computers watching a 6 hour race...

I think the key point here is that it was an easy way to get people into the sport. It's a small sample but throughout last year loads of people on twitter were wondering what to do on non F1 race weekends or interested after saying Le Mans and the stream was an easy way (and free) was for them to assess the quality of the series. I know quite a few of those I suggested it too are going to Silverstone this weekend. If they had not had the ability to watch for free I doubt they would be going.

When it comes down to it I'm perfectly happy to pay what is a relatively small amount, but you gotta say it's terrible timing to announce people need to pay.

Hopefully there's a free option, but if there isn't, an explanation for the cost would be very welcome. However that might be too little too late for some.

[Aysedasi]

Originally Posted by bella

to be honest, i'd pay the 20€ for the season quite happily. it's a token amount, and one that i'd rather pay directly to the sport rather than through the tv channel.

I was thinking the same bella. And as I can't get to Silverstone this time, I'm quite happy to pay for the single 'shot'.... That amount might just buy me a can of pop at Le Mans......

[bella]

Originally Posted by Bandicoot17

I think the key point here is that it was an easy way to get people into the sport. It's a small sample but throughout last year loads of people on twitter were wondering what to do on non F1 race weekends or interested after saying Le Mans and the stream was an easy way (and free) was for them to assess the quality of the series. I know quite a few of those I suggested it too are going to Silverstone this weekend. If they had not had the ability to watch for free I doubt they would be going.

that's very true - i suppose my point was more that the casual fan isn't going to sit in front of the computer for the full 6 hours in the same way a hardcore fan would do. it's not like f1 in that a casual fan will watch a full race because it's not a significant time investment.

in this case i guess a casual fan is someone who probably isn't going to follow the details ins and outs of the 6 hour race, but who wants to go and see the cars and watch a race unfold.

slightly off-topic, but are those people you know going for the full 3 days, or just sunday?

[naca]

Given that there will probably be a massive increase in viewership for the live stream this year, I would have thought if they are going to go down the paid route, having the races before lemans (ie silverstone and spa) free then start charging after le mans as I'm guessing the new influx of fans won't want to fork out for a product they don't know will work (even though existing fans know it usually does)

[Acid09]

How can the stream "massively increase"? They already covered all the races in 720p HD last year..what more could the paid stream possibly offer?

[naca]

Originally Posted by Acid09

How can the stream "massively increase"? They already covered all the races in 720p HD last year..what more could the paid stream possibly offer?

3D UltraHD ?

[Bandicoot17]

Originally Posted by bella

slightly off-topic, but are those people you know going for the full 3 days, or just sunday?

There's a mix I think, however that doesn't mean all that much.
For instance the guy who runs the Toyota Hybrid Fan account is only going on the Sunday and I doubt he's a casual fan. The guy who runs the Porsche fan account is only going Saturday and Sunday too.

The big losers imo are those who can't get to a race and are unsure on whether to pay.They can't check the series out from track side and they can't legally watch it.

If payment is needed it will be interesting to see the numbers on the daily-motion stream.

An alternative I can think of is that they start putting advertising in the stream. Skygo does this with it's ondemand stuff and it's not too annoying. If the WEC stream had a sponsor advert every 30 mins or every hour, and not necessarily in a fixed position, so if there's great racing they can delay it until an appropriate time I think that might be a compromise people would be willing to take.

[Starfish Primer]

Dissapointing. A shirnking championship and they reduce the way to watch it, genius! I wont buy the season pack, I only watched one race last year (China). I usually have something to do on weekends (like attending races on track). 4 € for a race is quite expensive.

[bella]

Originally Posted by Starfish Primer

I usually have something to do on weekends (like attending races on track).

this is my "problem" too. first world issues

but i think you're wrong about €4 being too much for one race. let's be real, it's the cost of a single beer in the uk. it's about 3 litres of petrol. a mcdonalds happy meal and a mcflurry. and so on.

[Maelochs]

I don't know about anyone else but for me 20 pounds (I think its about $45 US) is not much money--unless one is already paying a huge amount of money every month just to get the rest of the racing coverage one wants.

I've been expecting something like this and not really looking forward to it. Can the FIA/WEC guarantee their coverage will be non-stop and high-quality? Can they guarantee that there won't be internet issues anywhere upstream of their cameras? Can they assure me that if it rains the signal won't break up?

Of course not.

So ... I pay how much for a race I might not be able to watch?

Further, what are my options? Like many others I cannot be sure I will be around and able when the races are run---particularly since I am in the U.S. and the races are on at awkward hours.

Further I am also off most weekends to work at other events; would I be buying replay options? How long would I have to wait for a replay? A six-hour race which shows up Tuesday night is useless to me; I won't have time to watch it until at best the next weekend. On the other hand, a Saturday morning race I could watch Saturday evening would be useful.

The biggest blunder as has been mentioned is the presentation of the whole Pay-TV issue. Any amateur could tell FIA/WEC that a product needs to be clearly described and palatably presented. here I have a couple days to decide if I want to pay for a product the details of which I cannot research.

$45 is not a lot of money in itself, but between tickets, gas, and lodging for other events, the cost of photography equipment, the cost of cycling gear, and the cost of auto, home, and wife upkeep ... life already costs more than I make. Any money I put into one purchase has to be taken away from some other. it's all a trade-off.

Worst thing is, if I miss the first race, it is much easier to miss all the rest. With all the racing online for free, I can just as easily get into some other series which I can actually follow more conveniently.

I hope FIA/WEC offers a free option along with its pay option, and I hope they bother to explain their product. if I cannot watch Silverstone I might end up writing off the whole season except Le Mans---I would end up hearing about the races through the many fan sites and media outlets before i could ever watch it anyway.

FIA/WEC might have really shot itself in the foot here, and might have shot down a lot of fans as well.

[Bandicoot17]

http://www.fiawec.com/en/news/fia-we...tion_1849.html

A wide-ranging TV distribution package has been organised for the opening round of the FIA World Endurance Championship, the 6 Hours of Silverstone, with more than 400 million homes globally being able to access the best sports car racing in the world.

The figure is a substantial increase over 2013, with even more viewers able to view prestige manufacturers such as Audi, Toyota and Porsche going head-to-head in the 2014 battle of hybrid technology. Aston Martin, Ferrari and Porsche in GTE will be among the 27 cars due to take part in the six-hour event to be held on Sunday at the home of British motor racing, Silverstone in Northamptonshire.

In Europe the race is due to be shown live by channels Eurosport International and Eurosport 2, with a potential reach of over 200 million homes. Additionally, the race will be shown live by Motors TV (Europe wide), and as a 52’ highlights package by Sports Klub in Hungary and in the Balkan States, by ORF in Austria, TV2 in Denmark and Sport 1 in the Netherlands. Italy (Dinamica Channel) and Greece (OTE) will also show the highlights.

In the Asia Pacific area, Eurosport’s 13 territories will show the race live or live and delayed to its 7.8 million viewers, while J Sports in Japan (7.8 million) will satisfy the huge interest in fans of Toyota as well as those of engine suppliers Nissan. Australia’s Fox Sports will show the live and follow it with a 52’ highlights package, Mark Webber participation generating additional interest, while New Zealand’s TV3 will take the highlights.

Fox Sports 1 in the USA will offer the opportunity to its 90 million potential viewers to view superb racing, world-class names and non-stop track action via the highlights programme, while Fox LATAM will broadcast to 43 countries in Latin America. Brazil will also benefit from live (first and last hours) coverage.

With Bahrain being the penultimate round of the FIA WEC this year, there is increased interest in the Middle East and Bein Sports’ 2.5 million viewers will be able to see live coverage plus highlights.

In addition to the TV coverage, the race can be followed live and direct via the FIA WEC’s new second screen ‘App’ which will be available from Saturday onwards. Full details on how to access this will be available on the series’ website (www.fiawec.com), and a short version of the timing plus live will also be available on the WEC site.

Internationally famous endurance racing radioweb service, Radio Le Mans (www.radiolemans.com), will once again be available for its huge number of listeners all around the world. News access will also be available on EVS (Eurovision Sports News), SNTV, Reuters and Omnisports worldwide.

A full list of the worldwide TV distribution can be found HERE

[Starfish Primer]

The URL http://www.fiawec.com/live.html now links to a 404 error. Are they moving backwards?

[Aysedasi]

Originally Posted by Starfish Primer

Dissapointing. A shirnking championship and they reduce the way to watch it, genius! I wont buy the season pack, I only watched one race last year (China). I usually have something to do on weekends (like attending races on track). 4 € for a race is quite expensive.

Yep, you could buy a beer - possibly even two......

[Bandicoot17]

Could you buy a divine burger though?

[naca]

My question is how do you have 0.8 of a potential viewer as they seem to have in Brazil.

[Maelochs]

Whether its a burger or a couple beers ... the issue is exactly that---what else might that money buy, and what would bring the most satisfaction.

If any of you wealthy folks want to sponsor my viewing, thanks very much. After all it's just the cost of a beer. Otherwise, I already have more to buy than I can afford. I have to be a smart shopper, which means I need to know exactly what I am buying. based on what FIA/WEC has published, even they don't understand what they are doing.

I hope FIA/WEC sorts itself out so that I am not forced to piracy ... or forced to simply walk away.

[Aysedasi]

So be it. Its a personal decision then based either on what's in your pocket or how your principles roll. I'm just trying to strike a balance with what €4 will actually get you in life. So much is free on the internet that its very easy to expect it to stay that way. As far as I'm concerned, it really is as cheap (and actually probably cheaper) than chips - at Silverstone, anyway......

[Spyderman]

I'm still trying to figure out whether live timing is free or not. My internet is far too slow to watch it on TV.

[Gingers4Justice]

The fact that we, the most passionate and anorakish fans around (well, we are posting on an internet forum) are even having a debate about paying it tells me that this would be a massive mistake.

Still, I'm expecting some part of the coverage to remain free so I'm not panicking just yet.

[Aysedasi]

Let there be doubt here - if I can find it for free, I'll watch it for free.......

[Spyderman]

Am I wrong to understand that Live timing will be on the site and free?

[bella]

Originally Posted by Aysedasi

So be it. Its a personal decision then based either on what's in your pocket or how your principles roll. I'm just trying to strike a balance with what €4 will actually get you in life. So much is free on the internet that its very easy to expect it to stay that way.

exactly. i've always said i'd personally happily pay a small amount towards a free stream to ensure an ad-free/stable service - and to ensure its continued existance. after all, it doesn't happen for free. the tv cameramen and setup guys need paying, the interviewers need paying, their transport costs need paying. everything has a cost.

with the internet people think that cost gets lost in the same ether that allows them to pirate music and books and other creative outlets (idk what to call them). i'm one for availing myself of free naughty streams of racing (eg f1 and gp2 coverage) if i can't afford/can't actually see what i want to see. but if i can afford it, i will pay. because i appreciate that these things have to happen somehow. perhaps you have to see how far race entry fees for competitors *don't* go before you can get your head around why we, as supporters, need to contribute towards the tv coverage we want. and as i said before, if i can do that direct to the series/organisers rather than through a tv subscription channel i will.

i do appreciate Bandicoot17's points about non-free to air coverage making it trickier for the series to expect to pick up new spectators. but the free streams will still be there, they just won't be as good quality. which imo, is the way it should be. if you want hd telly quality footage, get your wallet out.

[Spyderman]

Unfortunately I reside in a part of the world where just reasonable speed internet is prohibitive . Given the above, I just follow the live timing and Radio Le Mans. I know I can follow RLM for free. I just need to know if I have to pay for the App that will be of no use to me besides the live timing, or if they will provide live timing for free on the site. I sincerely hope that the latter is the case. It's hard to make out from the PR.

[Maelochs]

"perhaps you have to see how far race entry fees for competitors *don't* go before you can get your head around why we, as supporters, need to contribute towards the tv coverage we want."

Competitor entry fees are not part of this. They go towards a small portion of the purse if anything. Sponsorship and commercial sales is where the money for media is raised and generated. The cost for live streaming ins miniscule compared to what the series should be generating via its millions of TV viewers.

The key phrase you use is "the tv coverage we want." As I said, I need to be a careful shopper. I want to know exactly what the FIA/WEC is asking me to pay for.

".. a free stream to ensure an ad-free/stable service ... " Well ... will ;this be a stable, high-def stream? Will it be ad-free, or will I be paying twice (for the stream and by watching the ads)? Will I have playback options, in case I cannot watch the race live, or if i want to watch it again? (BTW, if you are paying for it, how is it a "free stream"?)

I have been talking for a few years about how low-interest, niche sports would be covered online in high-def with options like an unmediated stream, several different screens to choose from so the viewer could play director, and a premium fully directed stream. Thing is, this would only work if the quality of the product was very high and the reliability certain. $45 per year (a little over $5 per race) isn't ridiculous if I get all the options, plus on-demand replays, and if the signal is stable and the quality an actual 1080P or at least a solid 720. Is all this part of the package?

Anyway, I already had to pay extra to watch races on TUSC, and didn't get the online option I was promised ... Now I am asked to pay for WEC, but I have no idea what I am buying--or even how to pay, since I don't have a lot of English pounds lying around.

If the site says I will be told how to pay on race day ... I am not too sanguine that they can manage a decent service. They have exceedingly badly mismanaged the rollout so far.

Seriously, how unprofessional has the whole introduction of the pay-to-watch system been? Would you eagerly support a business that operated the way FIA/WEC operated in this case?

"if you want hd telly quality footage, get your wallet out." For sure, that makes sense. Can they really offer that?

[Deleted]

So the ELMS will potentially have the superior viewing package this weekend, lolz.

Because of my frustration with this series I was only going to watch Silverstone and Spa this year anyway, as LM preparation of course... but now with this apparent fooling around going on I'll probably do just this one* before Le Mans. Cannot be bothered with the illegal sub-standard-definition Motors feeds, cut-and-paste Eurosport bits with Carlton Kirby or delayed broadcasts at this point.

*new P1s cannot be missed

Has Hindy praised this new brave decision (or proposal) yet? Wouldn't be overly surprised TBH