[kookielah]

So I found this on teamliquid today is any one else aware of this or have any idea why they would do this it seems kind of silly.

http://www.teamliquid.net/forum/view...ic_id=305716#3

[FaDeBadger]

From a strictly viewer standpoint it makes sense. A barcraft has a few hundred people watching 1 stream. Meaning for every ad they run they get 1 view. Numerous barcrafts would cost them a lot of money.

Whether they should try and ban them is another story though.

[iM tgun]

Originally Posted by FaDeBadger

From a strictly viewer standpoint it makes sense. A barcraft has a few hundred people watching 1 stream. Meaning for every ad they run they get 1 view. Numerous barcrafts would cost them a lot of money.

Whether they should try and ban them is another story though.

I was actually thinking about this a while ago: from an e-sports growth perspective, barcrafts are good: but from GOMTV's perspective, they are 'losing' viewer numbers, which are a statistic that they can use to entice sponsors in. It's a really weird issue: perhaps they will have to start selling a different premium for barcraft, much how PPVs can be sold to a single person, or to an establishment (see: UFC being shown in a sports club).

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nirvAnA:

HAHA ME FIRST!!!

[nirvAnA]

They do it because GOMTv loses money when all these people are watching in bars instead of subscribing to them - and the people who "profit" are the bars and viewers. Its kinda like how bars have to pay extra to broadcast EPL matches in Singapore or other premium content cause it attracts more customers. And its quite unfair to "GomTV" if you stood back and viewed it purely from a business point of view, so yea i can understand their decision.

We have been enjoying a "free run" for awhile now, unfortunately i don't think it will last forever However, I hope the only parties affected are the Bars (who need to pay more) and not the viewers but of course that sucks because these Bars will want to host less events.

Update: I actually think barcrafts help give alot of exposure to Blizzard and GOMTV which bring in more revenue for both if new people start playing sc2 /subscribing to GOMTV, come to think of it, its basically a form of advertising at a super cheap cost. The cost is the revenue "lost" from the bar not paying any fees.

[Asrathiel]

Originally Posted by nirvAnA

They do it because GOMTv loses money when all these people are watching in bars instead of subscribing to them

Surely it's just the viewer numbers for the particular games being shown at the Barcraft though, not the actual ticket sales... people who are likely to buy season tickets are hardly going to decide not to just because a few event during the year are Barcrafted...

[|Erasmus|]

Originally Posted by Asrathiel

Surely it's just the viewer numbers for the particular games being shown at the Barcraft though, not the actual ticket sales... people who are likely to buy season tickets are hardly going to decide not to just because a few event during the year are Barcrafted...

But viewer numbers, especially averaged ones, affect advertising revenue.

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Mayo:

[ROOT`iaguz]

That's ridiculous. The amount of exposure to SC2 that barcrafts have generated offsets the reduced stream viewings. How many goddamn NEWSPAPER articles have we seen about this sort of thing? Bugger 'em, go out and drink/watch (and having gone to one of these myself it's far better then just chilling at home on Teamspeak)

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Asrathiel:

Definitely. Overall benefits for eSports in general far outwiegh any negatives GOM might see

[mGGDrGooSe]

Maybe if GomTV had a stream that actually worked I would care about their problems? I agree that logically bars should be paying for a premium stream. I would have imagined the same laws governing bars showing sports events on TV covered internet as well. If not, I'm sure the loophole will be plugged eventually. Now even if this premium stream is $200/night, the bars will still come out way ahead.

[Maynarde]

Barcrafts will continue imo, they are just WAY too fun.

I kind of agree with tgun here, I see perhaps GOM will be looking into a PPV options for venues. It does SO many great things for interest in eSports by having barcrafts.

Originally Posted by Drgoose

Maybe if GomTV had a stream that actually worked I would care about their problems?

Their stream has always been perfect for me, and I live in the desert that is South Australia. Maybe you should get a better connection

[kookielah]

I just hope that barcrafts don't stop it seems like an awesome idea even though I've never been to one.

[Bash]

Well blizz loves them apparently, so i'd say the most gom can do is make it cost more for Bars to do them, which is up to them to implement i guess.
Barcrafts wont be dying anytime soon, if there was a serious problem blizz wouldnt be praising them.

Also that thread is abouta barcraft in seoul, i'd assume they want people actually going to the studio and seeing the games.

[mGGDrGooSe]

@ Erasmus, when the NRL does it's advertising numbers, it takes into account average attendances at bars, etc. Gom can do the same. Certainly harder to do because of the international nature and because it's still emerging and therefore fluctuating, but having numbers that you can inflate to 'be on the safe side' is an advantage to gom when dealing with advertisers.

@Maynarde, I've refused to buy tickets to gom because all I ever hear, including in the chat here, is 'gom player isnt working for me again.' I also have a moral problem with them telling me what software I can and can't use to watch my content. If they had a proper stream through a website, I would probably buy it.

[Maynarde]

Originally Posted by Drgoose

@Maynarde, I've refused to buy tickets to gom because all I ever hear, including in the chat here, is 'gom player isnt working for me again.' I also have a moral problem with them telling me what software I can and can't use to watch my content. If they had a proper stream through a website, I would probably buy it.

If you get a ticket that allows you to watch VODs, then that solves your stream / moral issues But yeah, then it's not a stream obviously.

[Dox]

Yeah it's a bit silly really. I don't think Gom realises that 10,000 people will attend barcraft events around the world for a code S final, then go home, and immediately buy a yearly subscription.

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Zepph:

indeed

[foxmeep]

Originally Posted by Dox

Yeah it's a bit silly really. I don't think Gom realises that 10,000 people will attend barcraft events around the world for a code S final, then go home, and immediately buy a yearly subscription.

Exactly. And I'd be sure that at least 50% of people attending barcraft already have a subscription anyways. Maybe if GOMTV didn't have ridiculously overpriced subscription fees for a low quality stream that is unreliable at best, they'd have some grounds to stand on. But as it stands, GOMTV just being greedy as usual.

[x5_Bard]

Well I for one have never had any problems with goms stream or the gomtv software. The software is free so I'm honestly astounded at your point of view.

GOM might also want to look at the number of viewers it loses from sub par casting when tastosis isnt around. When I see moletrap and russian dude casting ill just go to bed and watch the vods muted.

[breadfan]

Money grubbing Gom execs! Pure craziness

[kookielah]

haha moletrap is a bit hard to watch I don't mind khaldor though

[Jaywalk]

barcraft licence from gom maybe?

[xpaperclip]

The question is really, do they only want Barcraft in Seoul to stop, or everywhere.

If it is everywhere, then perhaps it doesn't make a whole lot of sense from a business perspective, except from the reduction in apparent viewer numbers. After all, the only hard statistics they can present sponsors are viewer numbers.

On the other hand, if they are only trying to stop Seoul Barcrafts, then it makes a lot of sense, because they want those people on site instead, especially for finals. I think I have read that watching GSL inside Korea is free, so I don't think it is a revenue raising exercise.

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nirvAnA:

good point! to confess i did not open the link in the OP lol i should next time