Participant Observatins 5/2/21 - $5 Kayo

This week Telstra relinquished their digital streaming rights for the AFL, handing them to Kayo, the sport-based streaming service owned by Foxtel:

https://www.smh.com.au/business/companies/telstra-to-quit-nrl-afl-streaming-apps-in-sports-strategy-shift-20210202-p56ysc.html

This development is interesting for several reasons.

Foxtel itself is owned by News Corp (65%) and Telstra (35%), so before handing the rights to Kayo, Telstra was effectively competing against itself, as it had a stake in both Kayo and AFL Live Pass, where Telstra streamed their digital rights. So by handing these rights to Kayo, Telstra drives the audience towards a purpose built streaming service, which aggregates the potential audience and makes sense from a business perspective.

For example, if a consumer only wants AFL, the Live Pass option could prevent them from getting Kayo. However, with the Live Pass option removed, the Kayo subscriber base will increase.

However, if you only want AFL and not all the other sports, you are now left with no option but to get Kayo, and this involves an additional cost for many people, as the Live Pass came free if you were a Telstra customer. An important difference here however, is that Live Pass only worked on screens 7-inches or less, while Kayo is available on screens of any size.

To soften the impact of having to pay more to get AFL, Foxtel have made the kayo subscription available to Telstra customers for only $5 per month, which is a significant reduction from the base subscription of $25. However, this discount only lasts for 12-months, after which time it reverts to the basic $25 per month.

However, I'm a Telstra customer, and I like AFL, meaning I was eligible for the $5 discount subscription. However, I was also a Kayo subscriber paying $25 per month. Accordingly, I cancelled my existing $25 per month Kayo subscription and waited for it to lapse. Then, I signed up for the $5 discount subscription through my Telstra account, and hey presto, I'm now saving $20 per month for the next 12 months on my Kayo subscription.

This is important because it shows how consumers will act according to commercial self-interest to get the content they want.

The news also suggests Telstra are moving out of sports rights as part of their media strategy. They have already moved away from NRL, and they will no longer stream Netball after 2021. Foxtel has also just acquired the rights to Netball, and they will offer two games a week in front of the paywall for free on Kayo. I think the only rights Telstra have left are the A-League.

Participant Observations 14/12/2020 - The 2021 AFL Floating Fixture

This is concerning.

After locking in the fixture for the first six rounds next year, the AFL is introducing a floating fixture for weeks 7-23

This concerns me for several reasons. Firstly, as a member from a regional area, a floating fixture is going to make it difficult to plan when I can go to games. My weekends in the winter are made up with Masters games of football, and this will make commitments with them compromised as well.

Secondly, the cynic in me says that while the AFL may appear to be doing this for COVID reasons, they are in fact making the fixture more broadcaster friendly, and less about the fans.

Broadcasters are not locked into the fixture from round 7 onwards, and can lobby the AFL for what Friday and Saturday night games they want. This puts less equity in the free-to-air coverage for teams. Great for the broadcasters, but what about the fans.

I remember working at Fox Sports when the NRL had a floating fixture. the NRL executives at that time would obviously make their decisions based on the highest rating match-ups, with no consideration at all for the fan interests.

For me, this is another indicator the AFL is acquiescing to the broadcasters when it comes to the fixture, which serves their bottom line more than the fans attending the games, or even watching on television, especially those of the under represented clubs.

I appreciate that the AFL may need to create value for the broadcaster in the fixture over the next few years to compensate for a loss of revenues during COVID, but once this decision has been made, I think it's very unlikely it will ever go back to the way it was.

With a full fixture locked in for the season, I could plan a weekend to Melbourne months in advance, when I knew there might be three or four games on there in a particular weekend.

Can't help but feel this decision is not made in the fans interest.

Participant Observations 14/12/20 - Chromecast Ultra

 So after battling with my 1st generation chromecast and trying to get it to work with Kayo, over the weekend I decided to bite the bullet and buy a better version that is supported by Kayo.

The Chromecast Ultra was $79 and supports 4K and HDR streaming.

I have to say, first impressions are pretty good. It installed easily and on the first go. It has not experienced any noticeable lag or pixilation, and it streams Kayo seamlessly.

I bought the Ultra instead of the 3rd Gen model ($50), because I wanted the 4K and HDR capabilities,  but on reflection, I'm unlikely to stream anything in this format. Most of the content I watch in that format comes through the Netflix and YouTube apps installed on my smart TV, so possibly should've gone with the cheaper option, but my last chromecast lasted for over 4 years, so if I can get the same amount of time out of this one, I will have no reason to complain.

I plan on giving my old chromecast to mum for Xmas.

I've already noticed that I'm watching less FTA because of the Chromecast dongle. Basically, Kayo now is the go-to option a lot more often, It loads faster than the old chromecast, and it's pretty easy to switch channels via the iPad tablet that I stream from.

My iPad will also become the media center in the living room now. There is less need for me to stream any content through the gaming PC anymore, except maybe Twitch, but I'd be surprised if there's not an app for that that I can't install on the iPad as well.

Side note: I also purchased a new HDMI cable for the gaming PC-Smart TV connection, after the old one was dropping out all the time. The new cable works perfectly. 

All set for Summer now (Hopefully!!)

Participant Observations 8/12/20 - Kayo subscription renewed

 On Friday night, I renewed my subscription with Kayo streaming service, and there were a few things to take away from the decision behind it, and the performance of the service since I last had it.

Firstly, having exclusive ownership over rights works! I wanted to watch the T20 between Australian and India on Friday night, and the only way to (legally) watch the game was via Kayo, as there is no free-to-air coverage of the T20 or ODIs, thanks Cricket Australia's last rights agreement. So I signed up, and now have it back on.

Secondly, the performance of the app still has not improved much since I last had it. Chromecasting from the app on my iPad is ok for about 5-10 minutes, before becoming almost unwatchable. The signal is more stable when I watch it throguh the gaming PC, which is connected to the big TV, but when the signal fails, the whole stream collapses, requiring a refresh of the stream.

All my other apps stream fine from the iPad - Netflix, Amazon, and all the FTA apps, even when they are 'live' streams from the FTA channels.

Perhaps the Kayo app is still trying to deliver the picture in a higher resolution than those other linear apps, or perhaps the app is just rubbish.

Another alternative reason for the poor performance may be the fact that I am using an older Chromecast dongle, and I think a friends newer version ran much smoother with the newer version. Actually, that's exactly what they say on the Kayo Help page:

For the optimal streaming experience, Kayo recommends Chromecast Ultra models or later (including Chromecast with Google and Chromecast 3rd Generation) and similar capability Android TVs.

Note: Chromecast 1st Generation is no longer supported by Kayo. 

Anyways, it's good to have it back, and I will almost definitely get it back for next AFL season. However, I may drop it for a few months over the summer, as I probably won't need it after the T20 series is over, as most of the other games are Tests, which means they will be on FTA.

They do have a lot of good docos and other similar content that could come in handy over the summer, however!!

Participant Observations 8/12/20 - Swans new marketing video

 A few weeks ago, the Sydney Swans unveiled their new marketing video for 2021:

Our Club was born from hard work, grit and a relentless drive for success.

Today the next chapter begins.

Everyone who is proud to call themselves part of the Bloods has reason to be excited about the future. pic.twitter.com/rLGccVpTS2

— Sydney Swans (@sydneyswans) November 18, 2020

Firstly, I like the video. It's well made, and I don't think it's too naff.

I also like how the Swans are trying to change the narrative about themselves. I think there is a perception that the Swans fans, and to a lesser degree the players and the club, are seen as being the theatre-going, champagne set, who don't know anything about the history of the club, and are only interested in following the fortunes of the team as long as they are winning.

I also find it uncanny how the Swans, in attempting to shift the narrative in this direction, are a lot more closely aligned with my own value system, and what I choose to see in the club, which can then be reflected back onto myself through my fandom.

It's very close to what I discussed about Sandvoss's look at fandom, and my own experiement where I attempted to identify the value system I wanted relfected back to me through my own fandom of the Swans. What I found was that I identify with particular types of paleyers, specifically those players:

“such as Jarred McVeigh, Brett Kirk, and especially Paul Kelly. I would categorise these players as tough, gritty, hard workers who are humble and do not seek admiration. This is what I like to try and think about myself. And when the Swans have been most successful, this is what they have been known for – unrelenting tackle pressure, team before individual, no 'dickheads' policy.”

Amazing! The Swans have tried to build a narrative in this direction - well, that's the reading I get from the video anyway.

Participant Observations 2/11/20 - The Impact of COVID-19 on the 2020 AFL Season

 The AFL Season finished about two weeks ago, and since then I've had time to reflect on how the season unfolded in the context on COVID-19, and the impact it had on my consumption of the game:

I really missed the sport for the 10-12 weeks of lockdown. During this time, I survived on video games, binge watching Netflix series, writing the PhD, and weekly kicks of footy with a mate. The AFL tried to fill this void with replays of old games online, but I can't remember watching a single one of these.

I continued to pay my Sydney Swans membership, even though I couldn't see my team play. It's only $20-odd each month, so not an exorbitant amount, and I wanted to help my team through the crisis.

Probably a highlight during the lockdown was the simultaneous co-watching of the 1989 Grand Final with Benny Douglas. The game is on YouTube, and we started watching at the same time, while also communicating via Facebook video messaging. It was awesome.

When the footy did return, and I may have mentioned this previously, but I did not like the shortened quarters. Completely understandable why they did it, and I think we may go back to 18-minutes next year and not the full 20, but 16 is way too short. If a team has a strong quarter, it can be difficult to make that ground back.

Obviously low crowds wasn't great, but the production innovations that were introduced were great, such as the fake crowd noise, and hub remote production.

The AFL being played in Brisbane was the only reasonable outcome, given the hard border in place in WA, and how much support the Queensland government had given to the AFL during the season. Unfortunately the grand final was wet, so it wasn't a great spectacle, but I'm also not a fan of the night grand final. The day seemed to drag on, and it was hard to know when to start getting excited.

Unfortunately with restrictions on public gatherings in place, we could only book a table of 10 for the game at the pub. It worked out ok though, because we had a good group of people there and it was a great night. There was even a couple of Swans at the pub we were in - Sam Reid and Luke Parker. Didn't chat to them though...

In an effort to get the season in, the AFL compressed the fixture, with some teams playing multiple games in a short period of time. this created games on every night of the week effectively, which was awesome, although the free-to-air coverage was still mostly limited to Thursday to Monday nights, with the mid-week games broadcast on Foxtel.

It was interesting to see the AFL and the clubs doing some quite interesting thing to keep their fans engaged. This was especially impressive, given that clubs stood down quite a lot of staff during the lockdown.

No doubt some of the changes made this year will stay with us for next year. I hope we don't go to a night grand final. Remote production hubs will be more common. Video conferencing will become a stable in coverage. Thursday night games should become more common.

Some questions remain unanswered though - will crowds be able to get back into venues? How long will quarter be? When will the season start, and how big will playing lists be? Will there be another quarantine situation with Hubs next year. How will the fixture work? Will it be a day or night grand final? What will happen to AFL community initiatives like AusKick? How big is the debt hole the AFL is in?

However, I am so grateful that an AFL season was able to be played this year. I remember talking to friends during the lockdown, and they weren't confident that a season would be played at all. But during the lockdown, I also realised what a massive part of my week it makes up, and the hole left behind without it. So much stuff to talk about with people and such a focus of my consumption behaviour.

I also realise how much I miss some of the pay television coverage. I don't know if I miss it enough to go back to it - hopefully I will be able to afford Kayo again when the season rolls around next year. 

Already can't wait for it to return next year.

Participant Observations 2/11/20 - Free-to-Air Experiment Results

 At the start of the 2020 AFL season, I cancelled my Kayo subscription. The reason for doing this was to see if and how my viewership of AFL would change over the course of a season with no pay television coverage, meaning I relied only on free content to get information about the league.

On reflection, I had the following observations:

• I miss AFL360 the most. This is clearly the best news source for AFL on television. Obviously I also missed a lot of the other pay-television content, such as Open Mike, and some of the other shoulder content. But 360 is finger-on-the-pulse stuff.
• In it's absence, I relied most heavily on Footy Classified on Channel 9. This was the preferred replacement because it is on twice a week, and features Caroline Wilson, Eddie McGuide, and Craig Hutcheson. While I detest Craig and Eddie as people, they are really informative. I also grew appreciation for Matt Lloyd and Ross Lyon, the other regulars on the show.
• I noticed a small uptick in watching The Front Bar, but not much. I probably should have watched this more. It's like the Before the Bounce, a show on Channel 10 that I used to love. It's easily the funniest AFL show on television. I think I normally had other stuff on Thursday night I was doing.
• I also watched highlights packages on YouTube way more. These highlights packages - about 6-9 minutes long, would be available on the platform normally about 12 hours after the game. It didn't give a huge oversight of the games that were on pay television that I didn't see, but you could see how the game unfolded, who might have played well etc, as the highlights often included key moments and injuries, etc.
• I didn't watch much Channel 7 coverage at all. I think they cancelled Talking Footy or their regular panel show early in the season, and their other coverage didn't reach me. However, obviously I watched more of their pre- and post-game coverage, although thankfully, there was no Roaming Brian this year, because of quarantine conditions around players.
• My overall online consumption probably increased marginally. I probably paid more attention to my own clubs websites, and the AFL app as well, although the app is not very good.

On the whole, I definitely did not get the quality or quantity of information that I did last year, but the quality of coverage on pay television may not have been as good this year either, because of all the hurdles that COVID-19 put on everything. For example, on the rare occasions when I did get to see 360 coverage, the guests usually appeared via Zoom, so the experience of watching may not have been as rich this year.