I would say it was pretty solid, only downside to this being the first event was the lost coverage while in the mountains. Overall a step in the right direction, and will be great to see things continue to improve. The weekly highlight/preview show will be a nice addition as well.

---

-Brad Williams
Website | Twitter: @BW_Tri |Instagram: @BW_Tri | Strava | Co-Founder & Coach at: KIS Coaching
Partnered with: Zoot Sports | Precision Fuel &Hydration | ISM

Awesome! Thanks for sharing.

---

---------------------------------------------------------------

https://connect.garmin.com/modern/profile/domingjm

Have to say, good on them for this. The coverage was as it it for Hawaii, and good interviews after the race with the podium athletes.

As ever the , the comm team need to have better research / knowledge of the IM world in general (there is a world outside the US), but I felt they had made an effort for this race, more so than other races.

It's a step in the right direction.

Wow! This is great news. Huge props to Ironman for live broadcasts of some of the big races.

---

-------------------
Madison photographer Timothy Hughes | Instagram

Credit where credit is due... this is awesome, I hope it sticks and I hope becomes a thing going forward.

I've been watching these on the trainer, and I will watch Frankfurt this weekend on my long ride. Is it TDF-level coverage? Of course not. But they've got a couple cameras on motos, have added visual splits, graphics, twitter polls, questions from the audience, and a few other things to make it more interactive.

And i'm impressed by the viewership stats.

The Austria part 1 feed has 1.7 million views. France and Austria part 2 are between 150-200k views

I know one of the long-standing memes is that nobody would watch these things... too long, too boring, etc. I doubt many make it the whole 8 hours. But I hope they find a way to monetize these broadcasts in a sensible way that strikes a balance between being sustainable for WTC while still bearable (don't want 50x repeats of the same 4 commercials) as a viewer.

Facebook and twitter is where a lot of sports are going with regards to broadcasting. MLS does one game each week on facebook and twitter now. Even the NFL is doing it this coming year I believe.

I think its smart to to do this and make it more interactive. As you noted, no one will watch for the entire race but there are ample opportunities to make it interactive.

Personally for me watching Ironman races is nothing I really value and if they did it on their website or livestream I wouldn't chime in, even for Kona. It's bland, slow progressing, uninteresting. Now make it accessible on Facebook and I might watch T1/T2 and select parts of Kona and thats probably it, but that is more the I originally would have watched.

That's a lot of races to broadcast and a lot of races to provide commentary, I am sure they are in a studio in the States somewhere doing the commentary. Hopefully they do not burn out their commentators doing this every week or so.

This could work though, probably not at the level of races they have planned for this year, but if they stick with Kona, 70.3 worlds and the regional championships this might work.

Hopefully the production cost is low and it doesn't bring more Moto traffic on course as those might be 2 big barriers.

I have watched so far the first 3.5 hours of IM Austria, Michael Lovato and Dede G. are doing a great job commentating these events by far way better broadcast compare to Challenge Roth over the weekend, there was a huge battle in the women pro field and we got nothing on tv...


Ironman Now (Facebook) from what I saw in Austria moving constanly between men's and the women.

Personaly, I know that I will watch all the race videos even if the race was a few weeks ago like IM Nice... I love the sport and when doing some trainer workouts love to have something on the background.

Would I pay to watch these events, maybe for Kona and World's 70.3 but the rest NO. They can continue putting ads like they did the past years, I don't mind and totally understand.

Replying to thread.

The coverage is pretty much the same as Kona, and I am one of those who really like to watch these races. I usually do so during my long trainer rides.

France was good, but I don't like the Lovato + Welchy duo. While they both know their stuff, they are constantly trying to be funny with each other and that shit gets annoying pretty quickly. After the first 3 or 4 hours it's hard to take it.

Austria was great and Didi was pretty solid. But WTF were those 2 Pewag guys doing during the first lap of the bike? Johan was like 2m behind the other dude the whole time, on camera, giving zero fucks.