Sports in Canadian culture

[esquire]

^ I'm amazed that the Jays are whipping the Raptors in the ratings. You'd really have to hate basketball to opt for a meaningless early season Jays game that will be forgotten two months hence over the NBA playoffs.

[Berklon]

The Jays have a bigger following Canada-wide, the Raptors mainly draw from Toronto and SW Ontario. Add that the fanbase is younger for the Raptors - and a good chunk aren't watching on TV. Mention traditional TV to these youngsters and they laugh. Everything is streaming with them.

But make no mistake, in Toronto - the Raptors are taking up a lot of mind-share. Huge viewing party outside the ACC, and lots of bars throughout the city are playing the games. It's also getting front page of the newspapers. So it's definitely a Toronto-centric thing for the most part.

[blueandgoldguy]

This whole idea that young people are streaming specific sports like basketball and MLS soccer in large numbers is probably exaggerated to a high degree. I'm sure there are a decent number that do this but not to the extent that it would compensate for the somewhat disappointing numbers of the raptors and the terrible numbers for TFC. Streaming, for the most part is of poor quality - lots of lag. Better options with a cable package or going to the bar...which has been factored into the Tv numbers for several years now.

[logan5]

Originally Posted by Berklon

The Jays have a bigger following Canada-wide, the Raptors mainly draw from Toronto and SW Ontario. Add that the fanbase is younger for the Raptors - and a good chunk aren't watching on TV. Mention traditional TV to these youngsters and they laugh. Everything is streaming with them.

But make no mistake, in Toronto - the Raptors are taking up a lot of mind-share. Huge viewing party outside the ACC, and lots of bars throughout the city are playing the games. It's also getting front page of the newspapers. So it's definitely a Toronto-centric thing for the most part.

How could a true sports fan possibly prefer streaming over TV? The Jays get better ratings because basketball is so superficial, hence the young audience.

[Berklon]

I stream NFL games that I can't catch on my antenna... and I rarely have issues and the quality is decent enough (almost SD quality for the most part). And I'm an old fart.

I work with young sports fans and they all stream everything - sports, shows, movies and music. These are the same people that don't buy physical media. The cable companies numbers are showing this. It's a whole new world of media consumption.

[Berklon]

On the Jays end - it's good to see them pulling solid numbers. That's tough to do with baseball with 162 games. Almost every day of the month your team is playing. I can't imagine spending almost every day watching a team play for 5 or 6 months - that's a lot of commitment.

Also, after 11 home games they're averaging just over 37,000 in attendance. Not too shabby. Rogers will be making decent revenue off this team this year.

[rousseau]

Originally Posted by Berklon

The Jays have a bigger following Canada-wide, the Raptors mainly draw from Toronto and SW Ontario.

I'd argue it's the GTA mainly, with only tiny pockets of support outside the GTA. I'm in Stratford, and you'd never know the Raptors were in the playoffs walking down the street here. I've never seen any hats or jerseys or any other Raptors paraphernalia around here. Literally never.

Likewise in Kitchener-Waterloo and London, though I'm just a visitor in those cities and might not get around enough to get a good feel for what people are wearing. Still, though, I see Blue Jays hats all the time, and things like this:

https://www.google.ca/maps/@43.53088...7i13312!8i6656

but never Raptors stuff.

Originally Posted by Berklon

Add that the fanbase is younger for the Raptors - and a good chunk aren't watching on TV. Mention traditional TV to these youngsters and they laugh. Everything is streaming with them.

I myself stream via NBA Game Time, and a couple of my friends do, too. It would really be interesting to get some hard numbers for the online streaming of the various sports.

Originally Posted by Berklon

But make no mistake, in Toronto - the Raptors are taking up a lot of mind-share. Huge viewing party outside the ACC, and lots of bars throughout the city are playing the games. It's also getting front page of the newspapers. So it's definitely a Toronto-centric thing for the most part.

Yeah, it's Toronto-centric. Funny, the players like to talk about how gratifying it is to play not just for a city, but for a "whole country," but they don't realize that they're unwittingly exaggerating it.

Though the Raps now have a serious reputation throughout the league for fans showing up in every visiting arena Toronto plays in. That story used to be the Lakers' domain, as you'd see a few Lakers jerseys in the crowd when LA played its away games, and you probably still kinda do, but now it's actually the Raptors that have that going on.

This is probably testament to the Canadian diaspora in U.S., I'm sure. There are probably Canadians in places like Denver or wherever who feel like throwing on a Raps jersey and going to the game is a way of assuaging home-sickness and asserting some identity while having a fun night out.

The Raps' fan base is one of the memes with real traction among NBA players and the league's chattering classes. I've heard quite a few commentators mention with chuckles that Detroit was relieved when they didn't draw Toronto as their first-round opponent!

[rousseau]

Originally Posted by logan5

How could a true sports fan possibly prefer streaming over TV? The Jays get better ratings because basketball is so superficial, hence the young audience.

I think you've said this kind of idiotic thing before on this thread.

[eemy]

How exactly are ratings produced? They are beginning to seem a bit out of touch with the reality on the ground. Perhaps survey techniques (phone-based?, I don't know) compounded with a focus on traditional cable or OTA television means that it is weighted more heavily toward older audiences.

[elly63]

If you're saying the above as a preface to why NBA and MLS ratings are so abysmally low, let's try and keep in mind that streaming is not exclusive to basketball and soccer fans.

And there are also some older folk like myself and berklon above who seem to have overcome our advancing years, shaking hands, and creeping senility and are heroically able to conquer the difficult technology of streaming.

[mistercorporate]

Streaming is available for most sports yet certain demographics are much more likely to use it. Generally, younger = more streaming. Also, sports that have more games per year also get less tv viewership. The raptors have a younger audience than the Jays, just look at all the thousands of kids standing and watching in Jurassic Park, in the cold.

[Berklon]

Originally Posted by rousseau

I'd argue it's the GTA mainly, with only tiny pockets of support outside the GTA. I'm in Stratford, and you'd never know the Raptors were in the playoffs walking down the street here. I've never seen any hats or jerseys or any other Raptors paraphernalia around here. Literally never.

Likewise in Kitchener-Waterloo and London, though I'm just a visitor in those cities and might not get around enough to get a good feel for what people are wearing.

Yea, the Jays definitely have a bigger presence outside of the GTA - but I'm seeing a lot of Raptor gear and interest here in the Hamilton/Burlington area. I can't speak for KW and London though.
I have a Raptors hat I wear sometimes (swag given to corporate clients at a game I attended) and I've gotten compliments from fans more than a few times. Just last week some kid did my taxes and wanted to know where he could buy it - he and his buddies are huge Raptors fans. [/quote]

I myself stream via NBA Game Time, and a couple of my friends do, too. It would really be interesting to get some hard numbers for the online streaming of the various sports.

Yea, the quality on official streaming sites are even better than the stuff I stream from which I don't have issues with. It's becoming more of a pick-and-choose option for content consumption... stream what you want as opposed to paying for a bunch of channels only to watch a few. The times they are a changin'.

Though the Raps now have a serious reputation throughout the league for fans showing up in every visiting arena Toronto plays in. That story used to be the Lakers' domain, as you'd see a few Lakers jerseys in the crowd when LA played its away games, and you probably still kinda do, but now it's actually the Raptors that have that going on.

I've noticed that as well. It's pretty cool to see.

Drake is doing a lot to promote the team and the city of Toronto as well.
I'm not into his music, but there's big hype on his new album out on Friday - Views from the 6 (although I heard it's been renamed to just "Views")... and has a nice shot of him sitting on the CN Tower (photoshopped). This is the type of promotion that goes a long way.

[Acajack]

Money being what makes the world go round (so they say), you'd think that if streaming was that huge a chunk of the total number of eyeballs paying attention to one's product, that they'd be capitalizing on it a lot more than they are... I know I would.

I mean, I am not saying that decent numbers of people aren't streaming Raptors and TFC games.

Only that it might be a bit of an exaggeration to imply that streaming is putting them way over (or even equal to) other sports that have higher TV ratings.

[mistercorporate]

People were saying the same thing about the music industry before. Nowadays the musicians that are profiting stream their songs for free on youtube and other sites while making negligible money from itunes and spotify. They make up for this with huge revenue from concerts and merchandising. MLS Live used to be usable all over the world but now its only usable in North America as each international market insists on purchasing a license for their own stream with their cable license since it is now a more significant part of their audience. Unfortunately companies keep streaming numbers close to their chest so its really hard to verify trends. Even if they dont have overall absolute numbers compared to other sports, the 18-49 demographic is the only one that matters to most advertisers so its highly sought after, several times more valuable than an older audience, for better or worse.

[Acajack]

The last Super Bowl had 112 million TV viewers and 1.5 million viewers via live stream.

I would submit that the Super Bowl cuts across a huge range of age demographics and all of them are healthily represented.

I won't disagree that live streaming is the future (or at least "a future"), and I actually expect the Internet and TV (and the devices that support them) to merge as mediums eventually.

But let's not put the cart before the horse.

[Berklon]

Originally Posted by Acajack

The last Super Bowl had 112 million TV viewers and 1.5 million viewers via live stream.

I would submit that the Super Bowl cuts across a huge range of age demographics and all of them are healthily represented.

I won't disagree that live streaming is the future (or at least "a future"), and I actually expect the Internet and TV (and the devices that support them) to merge as mediums eventually.

But let's not put the cart before the horse.

That's 1.5 million legit and accounted for viewers.
How many people streamed the game through other means/sources?

Plus I'm not sure the Super Bowl is a good example since the game is available everywhere so streaming wasn't as necessary. Many who would've normally streamed were out at SB parties and bars. Plus millions of people with OTA antennas could catch the game in beautiful HD - that's how I watched it.

[esquire]

...

[eemy]

Originally Posted by elly63

If you're saying the above as a preface to why NBA and MLS ratings are so abysmally low, let's try and keep in mind that streaming is not exclusive to basketball and soccer fans.

And there are also some older folk like myself and berklon above who seem to have overcome our advancing years, shaking hands, and creeping senility and are heroically able to conquer the difficult technology of streaming.

I'm not implying anything by my comments re: popular support of various sports and leagues, but I do think it's reasonable to assume that there is a shift going on with media consumption; just look how non-sports media has changed over the past five years. What's not clear is how these changes are affecting sports media.

I'm not convinced that millions of youth are watching the Raptors on streaming services, for what it's worth, but I don't doubt that the way younger generations follow sports is changing. How do non-traditional media like Twitter fit in, for example?

And it's also reasonable to assume that these changes are going to affect sports differently and therefore TV ratings aren't necessarily going to capture the complete picture.

[elly63]

Originally Posted by jeremy_haak

I'm not convinced that millions of youth are watching the Raptors on streaming services, for what it's worth, but I don't doubt that the way younger generations follow sports is changing. How do non-traditional media like Twitter fit in, for example?

I agree with that, but also resent the fact that it always seems to be implied that younger people are exclusively the users of newer technology. They may be early adopters but so was I when email clients and browsers began to crop up. That doesn't mean that older people couldn't climb on board quickly and learn how to surf and send email.

As for Twitter, I take the same line as Bob McCown, until it can be monetized what purpose does it serve in a monetary sense, which is what drives adoption. Maybe an athlete with a high Twitter profile sells more merchandise because of it, but how do you prove it.

New technologies come and go so quickly now. Facebook, while still wildly popular is seen as your grandmother's tech and that many young people have moved away from it.

I'm not meaning to comment directly to you Jeremy but I see these types of comments often and don't buy into it.

[Riise]

I use to think the online viewership numbers were a lot over hyped but I'm starting to think the movement is afoot.

The N.F.L Has Seen The Future, And It Is WWE Wrestling

9 April 2016
New York Times
Joe Nocera

What got me thinking about WWE’s business model was the news earlier this week that the N.F.L. had sold the streaming rights for 10 Thursday night games to Twitter for a reported $15 million. At first glance, Twitter is an odd choice. It has about a fifth the number of users Facebook has and, unlike Facebook, it is struggling to find ways to increase profitability. What’s more, the reported $15 million Twitter is paying for the games — which will also be shown on NFL Network and either CBS or NBC, depending on the game — is loose change for the N.F.L., with its multibillion television contracts and estimated $13 billion in annual leaguewide revenue.

But strategically at least, what the N.F.L. is doing is not all that different from what WWE has done with its digital app. With more and more people watching movies and television shows that are streamed to digital devices rather than shown via traditional platforms like cable and satellite, the N.F.L. is preparing for the day when the same is true for live sports.

Right now, live sports are the single most important reason the transition from traditional television to online streaming isn’t happening even faster. There are advertisers who will air commercials only during live events, which mostly means sports; they know that many viewers will avoid ads by seeking out their favorite shows on on-demand streaming services. And there are many viewers whose desire to watch sports is the only thing keeping them from cutting the cord.

But the N.F.L. isn’t in the business of propping up traditional television’s business model; it’s in the business of getting people to watch football games. And when the day comes that most of them prefer to have those games streamed, well, the N.F.L. wants to be ready.

Complete Article