Twitter’s Melbourne Cup livestream could change how we ‘broadcast’ sport

Twitter's Melbourne Cup livestream could change how we 'broadcast' sport. The Melbourne Cup is not the first sport that Twitter has live streamed, but is the first outside the United States. The first stream averaged an audience of 243,000, with each viewer watching 22 minutes of the game on average. While small compared to 15.4 million average viewing audience for CBS and NFL Network, there is evidence here of future developments in sportscasting, and it’s not only for the major leagues. Not just for big league sports During a recent two day sportscasting conference at the AFL's recently purchased Etihad Stadium in Melbourne, there were a few points that continually came up in the presentations and discussions with those showcasing their products. Those were streaming, grassroots sports, robotic and virtual cameras. While much of the discussion in the media has been associated with streaming and digital rights of major sporting leagues and events such as AFL, NRL, cricket, Rio Olympics and tennis, there is another area yet to be fully explored. Streaming to fans Streaming of games of local clubs and lower-tier sports allows these games to be delivered to an audience, without the need of traditional TV broadcast. A big benefit of Mevo is that it can also live stream directly to Facebook Live, with an iOS device being used for switching between virtual cameras and setting up face tracking. Last year the Seven Network reported a decline in TV audience for the Melbourne Cup, but was excited to have had more than 300,000 viewing the stream.

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Michelle Payne won the Melbourne Cup in Prince of Penzance -- the first female jockey to win the competition in history.
Michelle Payne won the Melbourne Cup in Prince of
Penzance — the first female jockey to win the competition in
history.

The horse race that stops the nation, Australia’s the Melbourne
Cup, will this year be
streamed live on Twitter
Tuesday, competing with the Seven
Network’s stream and live TV broadcast of the race.

The Melbourne Cup is not the first sport that Twitter has live
streamed, but is the first outside the United States.

Earlier this year the National Football League (NFL) in the
United States
announced
Twitter as “its exclusive partner” to stream certain
games to a global audience for the 2016 NFL Regular Season.

The
deal
worth US$10 million dollars for ten Thursday night games,
far less than the US$45 million per game
paid
by CBS and NBC.

Some of the ten games have
already been streamed
and referred to by the hashtag #TNF on Twitter.

Reports of the success of the streams have varied, but the
numbers are lower than for traditional television broadcasts.

The first stream
averaged
an audience of 243,000, with each viewer watching 22
minutes of the game on average.

The second game
reported to have increased
to 327,000. While small compared to
15.4 million average viewing audience for CBS and NFL Network,
there is evidence here of future developments in sportscasting, and
it’s not only for the major leagues.

Not just for big league sports

During a recent two day sportscasting
conference
at the AFL’s
recently purchased
Etihad Stadium in Melbourne, there were a
few points that continually came up in the presentations and
discussions with those showcasing their products. Those were
streaming, grassroots sports, robotic and virtual cameras.

While much of the discussion in the media has been associated
with streaming and digital rights of major sporting leagues and
events such as
AFL
, NRL, cricket,
Rio Olympics
and tennis, there is another area yet to be fully
explored. That is, how new video technology and streaming could
bring the lower-tier and grassroots sports to fans.

Unlike the major leagues, these sports generally don’t have
media rights that include TV broadcasts, nor the big budgets and
sponsorship deals.

Streaming to fans

Streaming of games of local clubs and lower-tier sports allows
these games to be delivered to an audience, without the need of
traditional TV broadcast. The streams could be delivered to the
club…

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