A Discussion Of Alternative GSL Steams/VoDs

[JackhammerIV]

I think there's a language problem dustin. If viewing is free then why would anyone pay anything?? So you imagine a large free tournament with 5 million viewers and like 10% pay. So 500,000 people pay $10. Tournament organisers get $5 million from that. What do people pay for?? To watch in HD?? I guess that's the only thing you could mean. Sure then you have a good model if you can get 5 million people to watch and get 10% to pay.

Anyone have any data on Dreamhack or IEM or MLG number of unique viewers?? From what I remember it was like almost 100,000 at its best. Didn't really look at the number of viewers watching though. Let's say I'm horribly wrong. That right now 1 million people watch a big tournament. And some percentage of them pay for a HD pass. Am I wrong to think that this is what MLG does as well as ESL for IEM??

I think I begin to see dustin's point. Alright then given the current prize pools those tournaments offer and given I am right assuming they charge money for HD pass only, then we just need to double the viewership to double the money they get from HD passes which can drastically increase the prize pool. It is a good model. So let's be conservative and hope viewership of these tournaments goes up 50% to 1.5 million people tuning in. Then slowly it increases up to 5 million and they get the large profits dustin talks about. It is actually a good idea now that I understand it.

But yeah could someone clear up the questions I have about the number of viewers for big tournaments as well as whether MLG and IEM have a charge for HD pass system. I have this suspicion that the number of viewers is not 1 million and that my guess of 100,000 at best is not that far off. But personally as someone who pays to watch Gom i will never be part of the watever % that pays for a HD pass when SD stream is free.

EDIT: Somehow I am starting to doubt the 1 million viewers statement. An article on fnatic says 750,000 people watched Lim Yo Hwan (SlayerSBoxer) first play in the GSL. That was the Korean stream. With 1.1 million views on VOD so they definitely paid for the ticket. And a TL thread about people talking about Dreamhack as it ended. 30,000 on the stream watching the finals. Links here:
http://www.fnatic.com/feature/8362/S...el-needed.html
http://www.teamliquid.net/forum/view...urrentpage=289
http://www.starcraftinfo.com/forums/...-gsl-t154.html

Well it's still possible for there to be 1 million total views for a big tournament like dreamhack considering the VOD views. So can't completely dismiss dustin's idea. But how many viewers would foreign stream need to have to get 1 million paying people. Ideas people?? I think around 10 million total viewers should be enough to get 1 million paying people. And guys I'm not trolling or anything. I do seriously think dustin's idea has some merit. Just wonder if the actual amount who pay for a HD pass for a foreign tournament are comparable with the number of subscribers on the English stream of GSL.

[MulletBen]

So, Dustin, if I may, your option is to make part of the content free to view (all the VODs), which will increase viewership, and then some proportion will purchase the premium pass, which gets you more content, but costs extra (for HD, no ads, etc.).

As opposed to the current model, which is to make part of the content free to view (the first game of every series, the livestream), which will increase viewership, and then some proportion will purchase the premium pass, which gets you more content, but costs extra (for all the games, no ads, etc.).

The more you give people for free, the less you can offer them for their premium ticket. It sounds to me like you'd just rather have somebody else foot the bill for your own sense of entitlement. "Let the other people pay for it, and give me all I want for free."

[JackhammerIV]

So, Dustin, if I may, your option is to make part of the content free to view (all the VODs), which will increase viewership, and then some proportion will purchase the premium pass, which gets you more content, costs extra (for HD, no ads, etc.).

As opposed to the current model, which is to make part of the content free to view (athe first game of every series, the livestream), which will increase viewership, and then some proportion will purchase the premium pass, which gets you more content, costs extra (for all the games, no ads, etc.).

The more you give people for free, the less you can offer them for their premium ticket. It sounds to me like you'd just rather have somebody else foot the bill for your own sense of entitlement. "Let the other people pay for it, and give me all I want for free."

LOL. Well no one would be opposed to the argument let someone else pay for it. Dustin's model relies on large numbers to work. Plus considering the community's love for free streams it should have more support than Gom's pay for content model. Could do a whole viral campaign. Use a projector and play live esports tournaments. People walking past would be curious. If it gets enough interest then enough people will pay that esports starts to grow faster. Just need to reach a much much larger audience. But might end up that Korea still runs more and bigger esports events even though their audience is smaller.

[TheEconomist]

The porn industry is proof that dustinbrowder's model doesn't work. If the porn industry can go bankrupt from this model, a niche community within a relatively small fanbase for a single game isn't going to fair any better. I mean, c'mon, seriously. We're talking about porn here. Y'know, that thing that something like 97% of men "use" at least once a month. How does something like that, which sells itself and to pretty much the entire population, go bankrupt? Giving too much content for free and not having enough incentve to pay, cementing that anchor in people's minds, and over spending in the hopes that someday people will be kind enough to donate some money.

Your model doesn't work dustinbrowder. That's almost undeniable at this point. The only thing keeping this going on is your usual thick headedness.

[Triceron]

@ Dustin

Funimation, an anime distributor for NA, began fan-subbing their own liscences online. They shut down a few of the online fansubbers, and began doing this themselves, and released the episodes online for free. They continue to make money through DVD sales. I find this to be a highly effective model at controlling the content they release, offering it to the public for free (because the anchor, as you put it, already expects fansubs to be free) and they can still make money off selling premium content (in this case, DVDs).

GomTV is doing the same thing, and while I think their stance on free content could be more lenient (allow for the free viewing to last longer, not just live) and offer more incentives for the people who are paying for the service. This might not be the best model, but it's definitely one that works in practice, and is ultimately better than allowing an unofficial feed to host games online. What does some random guy putting the GSL tournament on UStream do for their business? It has the same amount of revenue potential as someone pirating Starcraft 2, a major gamble. They're better off controlling and promoting the community within their own environment, that way they get better word of mouth and exposure in the long run.

[JackhammerIV]

The porn industry is proof that dustinbrowder's model doesn't work. If the porn industry can go bankrupt from this model, a niche community within a relatively small fanbase for a single game isn't going to fair any better. I mean, c'mon, seriously. We're talking about porn here. Y'know, that thing that something like 97% of men "use" at least once a month. How does something like that, which sells itself and to pretty much the entire population, go bankrupt? Giving too much content for free and not having enough incentve to pay, cementing that anchor in people's minds, and over spending in the hopes that someday people will be kind enough to donate some money.

Your model doesn't work dustinbrowder. That's almost undeniable at this point. The only thing keeping this going on is your usual thick headedness.

LOL. If only esports was as big as porno. Most people in developed countries and a large amount in developing countries would have at least watched esports once at least then.:P I wouldn't say his model doesn't work. It is a common model in the foreign esports scene now. Whereas for Gom every new viewer is a paying customer, in dustin's model you need like 10 viewers at least to get 1 paying one. I still think dustin's model doesn't really help esports grow. Considering the foreign scene has used this method for relatively long now with limited success. But perhaps dustin knows how he can get 5 million people to watch when the current viewers are at the very very best estimate 20% of that with his model.

[JackhammerIV]

Some new info on Gom's business model has come up. Interestingly the Korean stream is completely free and fully supported by Korean ads. That's really amazing thinking about it. That they can get that much money from ads to basically pay salaries, event venues, computers and have basically a yearly total prize pool of US$1 million. It'd be interesting to see how much percent of revenue the English stream generates. Still no advertising on the English side of GSL strangely. Guess foreign companies feel reluctant to advertise on it. Link to the article with the info:
http://www.sk-gaming.com/content/320...ate_of_the_GSL

[DemolitionSquid]

Well ain't that a kick in the pants.

[MulletBen]

I read halfway through the article, then saw that HuK was coming to season 5. *squeals*

[JackhammerIV]

Hahahaha. Mullet.....I would think you would hear this news earlier. They talked about it on weapon of choice and the SC2 review like 1-2 days ago. Huk, Ret, Moonglade and Haypro got seeded into Code A. Gom didn't announce it officially but it was basically what they promised the community last year. They would seed top foreign players into Code A without them having to play the Code A preliminary qualifiers. So they got in without needing to qualify.

I really hope they do well and manage to at least get a chance to get into Code S by getting into the top 8. But it might be kinda hard seeing as Rain, Maka, Leenock and Moon are in Code A. Although Moon hasn't been doing so well lately. Especially with his burrowed banelings. LOL.:P