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moggy#9

Well-Known Member
Thread starter #2
Liam kirk has been named to the tournament all Star team. The UK hockey authorities need shooting if they don't milk that for every bit of publicity and funding they can.
 

NathanG

Well-Known Member
#3
It's a shame that ice hockey isn't as popular here as it should be.

Anyone want to get into it? I see a lot of comments on twitter about sky sports coverage. Then I read other comments stating that the British hockey community burnt its bridge with sky in the Superleague era. Before my time so that went over my head. Anyone know anything about that?

I don't think Sky Sports is the answer anyway
 

Wannabe2

Well-Known Member
#4
Liam kirk has been named to the tournament all Star team. The UK hockey authorities need shooting if they don't milk that for every bit of publicity and funding they can.
They won’t get a word about it, that’s the way it is, not right in a millions years, but that’s the way it is. There’s no milking as there’s no milk, in the past, in the present and in the now that’s the way it is.
 

moggy#9

Well-Known Member
Thread starter #5
They won’t get a word about it, that’s the way it is, not right in a millions years, but that’s the way it is. There’s no milking as there’s no milk, in the past, in the present and in the now that’s the way it is.
If you want any mention in the media you have to make things easy for them. If an organisation puts out a press release media outlets will often publish as-is because it's easy for them. If British hockey wants coverage it will have to write it and send it everywhere in the hope that one or two pick it up. Similarly they'll have to splice their own clips to send to TV. In concert with that they try to attract a sponsor for the league. Sky TV was always the wrong outlet for hockey due to the subscription costs. The combination of Freesport and streaming is far better fit a growing sport. It's true though that all of this will be a struggle - particularly with no team in London, but it doesn't mean they shouldn't try. With the BBC now in Salford it probably would have been easier if Manchester were still in the MEN rather than their current rink too.
 

Earnie

Well-Known Member
#6
I agree with you Moggy. Make it easy for the media. Do not the Elite League have a person designated to do just that?
 

moggy#9

Well-Known Member
Thread starter #7
I
I agree with you Moggy. Make it easy for the media. Do not the Elite League have a person designated to do just that?
Would expect them to but, assuming they do, now is the time to up their game. And include in that the political lobbying.
 
Last edited:
#8
If you want any mention in the media you have to make things easy for them. If an organisation puts out a press release media outlets will often publish as-is because it's easy for them. If British hockey wants coverage it will have to write it and send it everywhere in the hope that one or two pick it up. Similarly they'll have to splice their own clips to send to TV. In concert with that they try to attract a sponsor for the league. Sky TV was always the wrong outlet for hockey due to the subscription costs. The combination of Freesport and streaming is far better fit a growing sport. It's true though that all of this will be a struggle - particularly with no team in London, but it doesn't mean they shouldn't try. With the BBC now in Salford it probably would have been easier if Manchester were still in the MEN rather than their current rink too.
I agree with everything here. I work in digital marketing, and with traditional media outlets like newspapers being squeezed, journalism in the traditional sense is becoming rarer and media outlets will pick up ready-made content and press releases.

On the streaming point, I agree that streaming has to be an option going forward - but the league in general just hasn't worked out how to make it work effectively yet. A pay-per-game model at a similar price to a live game is never going to attract many new followers and then you do risk savaging your existing audience. We've seen the likes of Nottingham refuse to embrace streaming for this very reason.

The league need to look at how other types of entertainment and media are making money from streaming. If you want new fans through streaming in the same way you'd look to attract them through TV, you need to compete on price with other models. Streaming needs to become an additional regular revenue stream, so some kind of subscription model. This either needs to be price competitive with something like Netflix, Amazon, Sky player etc.

The other model - and one that would likely work better is the tiered model. It's the way most industries with 'fans' are shifting to currently as it becomes increasingly difficult to make money through traditional media outlets.

Similar to the way Patreon operates, you offer a basic subscription service at a competitive price point and as you go up through the tiers you offer different incentives and a higher price point. The aim is you bring new fans in at the bottom tier and then they either move to watching games live or through to the higher-priced tiers.

Ideally, you need to be a centralised streaming service across all teams. This way you also get fans from across the league signing up to watch more hockey without taking bums off seats at home arenas. It would also be an effective revenue-sharing opportunity for the league to help the smaller teams. Teams have to adhere to rules around quality / cameras and commentary teams or they don't get a share of the revenue.

Hockey in the UK has a very 'exceptional' attitude. There seems to be an air of, 'well what works for everyone else, won't work for us because we're hockey.' In reality stuff like this doesn't work as there is rarely a proper co-ordinated and unified plan across the league for anything.
 

moggy#9

Well-Known Member
Thread starter #9
I agree with everything here. I work in digital marketing, and with traditional media outlets like newspapers being squeezed, journalism in the traditional sense is becoming rarer and media outlets will pick up ready-made content and press releases.

On the streaming point, I agree that streaming has to be an option going forward - but the league in general just hasn't worked out how to make it work effectively yet. A pay-per-game model at a similar price to a live game is never going to attract many new followers and then you do risk savaging your existing audience. We've seen the likes of Nottingham refuse to embrace streaming for this very reason.

The league need to look at how other types of entertainment and media are making money from streaming. If you want new fans through streaming in the same way you'd look to attract them through TV, you need to compete on price with other models. Streaming needs to become an additional regular revenue stream, so some kind of subscription model. This either needs to be price competitive with something like Netflix, Amazon, Sky player etc.

The other model - and one that would likely work better is the tiered model. It's the way most industries with 'fans' are shifting to currently as it becomes increasingly difficult to make money through traditional media outlets.

Similar to the way Patreon operates, you offer a basic subscription service at a competitive price point and as you go up through the tiers you offer different incentives and a higher price point. The aim is you bring new fans in at the bottom tier and then they either move to watching games live or through to the higher-priced tiers.

Ideally, you need to be a centralised streaming service across all teams. This way you also get fans from across the league signing up to watch more hockey without taking bums off seats at home arenas. It would also be an effective revenue-sharing opportunity for the league to help the smaller teams. Teams have to adhere to rules around quality / cameras and commentary teams or they don't get a share of the revenue.

Hockey in the UK has a very 'exceptional' attitude. There seems to be an air of, 'well what works for everyone else, won't work for us because we're hockey.' In reality stuff like this doesn't work as there is rarely a proper co-ordinated and unified plan across the league for anything.
Thanks. That was a fascinating read. My point was that it would be difficult to exclude traveling fans of there was no other way of watching the game.

I think that another aspect of this is the quality of media packages and highlights produced. Those have to include much more than just the goals. There should be a real flavour of the game including big checks, fights and controversies.
 
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