Discussion: Tiomila watching

Hey Shep, as someone with a deep knowledge of the Australian orienteering scene, how many people from Australia would you expect to tune in for an English-language web TV broadcast of Tiomila?

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I'm not doing much at the moment; I'll go out and ask them.

Thanks guys, helpful as always.

Anyone care to try a serious estimate? (Trying to figure it out if it will be worth it for Tiomila to have a dedicated English-language stream.)

Yeah man I reckon lazydave was probably close to the mark! 10mila is not huge over here... Maybe if there was an English broadcast there would be more interest?

Got it. That makes sense, but not too promising. :(

And if it was free

Yeah, definitely isn't going to be free. I think it was 150SEK this year.

I'd guess maybe 50-100 would drop into a Tiomila broadcast at some stage during the day, but only a proportion would be willing to pay. Depends a little bit on what else is on that day (Tiomila starts at 6.30am Sunday in eastern Australia and runs all day) - if there's a local race on, that would diminish the local audience.

(I recall, early one Sunday morning in 2007, watching Tiomila on one screen and the final overs of the World Cup cricket final on another. The light was considerably better at Tiomila....).

rhetorical ey?

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You'd also maybe get a group watching together so reducing actual screens/feeds.

I've always struggled with the idea that orienteering could be a spectator sport, but $20 for a whole day's viewing seems like pretty good value.

Depends on the coverage & if it works. Then again it's not a WOC so there is a better chance it will.

Thanks guys. This is helpful. I was given an estimate of about 300-400 worldwide paying customers as the necessary minimum to justify creating an English-only stream. I figure there would be a good number from the UK, a few dozen from North America and Australia/New Zealand, and some more from central Europe, preferring English to Swedish or Finnish.

I think your estimate of 'a few dozen' in North America is way too optimistic. I estimate about 5 would actually pay. People will drop into free coverage but there's no way you'll get them to pay $20 to do so. Online orienteering just isn't that interesting without the national interest WOC has, and even then, nobody actually pays, I guess.

I read it as a few dozen from North America and Australia/New Zealand (combined).

I know that more than five already pay in the US alone for the Swedish-language broadcast, so I think you are being overly pessimistic, feet, but that is your standard modus operandi, so I am not surprised. :)