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Online Web Coverage/Finish Line Video
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Hey Everyone,

At an event I manage (large 20,000+ running event, multi-distance), we are looking into live-casting the start, finish, and a few key spots along the course. We will host these videos on our website, and an app - the app will even do push-notifications when you are near the finish because we have a timing mat 1km from the end. My questions to the crowd:

- In your experience, how many people actually watch these things?
- For IM events, does anyone know of any data on visit rates, and how long people stay on the page? Is this live feed they have been doing for years now something that is gaining momentum as more people are aware of it, or does it fall on blind eyes?
- Are there many other events doing this right now? I feel like it's still early, but in the coming years it could be common practice at big events
- Have there been any major issues encountered by rolling these feeds out (bad PR by not having show live in time, disasters at the finish, unsolicited "exhibitionists", etc...

We aren't asking this so we can "sell" it to sponsors, we're really just trying to enhance the experience, get more people to see the event, cheer on a loved one, and maybe come the next year as a participant. But if this video is just a tree falling in the woods, we don't want to waste the money.

Thanks!
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Re: Online Web Coverage/Finish Line Video [barrierunnerguy] [ In reply to ]
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I'm sure my parents would check in if I were racing, since they're rarely able to travel to my races & cheer. Possibly a couple of other people as well, especially if there were a push notification that I was getting close. If I knew someone in the race and I wasn't able to be there in person, I'd probably consider spending a few min on the site to see how they're doing. Might even watch an ad for the privilege, if it wasn't too annoying. It would certainly be a nifty bonus feature to be able to point to, but I don't know if it would be worth investing a large amount of time and money in, unless the infrastructure is already in place.

"Test everything, cling to what is good." - St. Paul
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Re: Online Web Coverage/Finish Line Video [Natros] [ In reply to ]
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Nice idea - It best be quicker than the Ironman feed to load though or else it'll be a case of receive notification runner at 1km marker, load feed, watch advert, damn they've passed already.
Last edited by: chrisb7: May 6, 16 8:14
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Re: Online Web Coverage/Finish Line Video [chrisb7] [ In reply to ]
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chrisb7 wrote:
Nice idea - It best be quicker than the Ironman feed to load though or else it'll be a case of receive notification runner at 1km marker, load feed, watch advert, damn they've passed already.

Definitely no adverts, this would all be first-party production. We have the option instead of straight ads to do things like tickers, picture-in-picture if we want, or simply no ads at all.

Great call on the time to load the page... it's a half marathon, so it's nice having a 20K split as part of every 5K, but streamlining the feed to get people watching in under 5 minutes sounds crucial.
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Re: Online Web Coverage/Finish Line Video [barrierunnerguy] [ In reply to ]
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For the couple of IM's I have done I had family back home watching the video feeds and some even captured a few seconds so I could see myself finish later. It was cool to get them involved and I think it is whetted a couple of appetites to come check out this crazy thing I do on the weekends.

So for me it is great, but it's not like I have a huge fan base. :)
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Re: Online Web Coverage/Finish Line Video [barrierunnerguy] [ In reply to ]
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I would think you'd make more money selling videos of the athletes finishing to the athletes than selling ads on a stream of athletes finishing.


--Chris
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