Why won't DCI let us watch finals LIVE?

[perc2100]

the Big Ten Network is set up exclusively to benefit the Big ten and only the Big Ten.

and here's the problem with trying to reach for the unknowns on broadcast tv:

the risk. Honestly, the only way to really get first time viewers is a big network, one of the traditional biggies. they have the advertising pull to draw them. most stuff on cable comes from word of mouth, or the studio is willing to pay the costs to advertise the hell out of it in print and tv to get some attention.

can DCI afford to pay for advertising in every major paper, network tv, talk shows etc for something on a "back" cable channel?

no. the risk/reward factor to pull in newbies is far more risk than DCI can afford and any network is willing to gamble on

Not only that, but it's basically a one-time event. It's not like you can show a few regionals for the weeks leading up to Championships and get people (newbies) hooked on the event and hyped to watch the show. We're talking about a one-time event that, lets face it, is watched (maybe) by drum corps fans and very few other people (very few in the grand scheme of TV audiences). I agree that the costs associated with any kind of broadcast is not worth the potential microscopic gain.

The only TV option I can think of, would be to create some kind of reality show, where camera crews could maybe follow some members through out a tour. Maybe have camera crews following members from Blue Devils, Cadets, and Cavaliers from spring training - finals. You could have weekly episodes showing not only the trials and tribulations of tour, but also the fun stuff, show clips, and perhaps editing that features the HUGE differences in the three different corps.

The 'season' would culminate with DCI Championships where the built in audience of drum corps fans, as well as the 'new' audience who became hooked via the Reality TV series would be watching the live broadcast to see which one of their favorite cast members goes home with the trophy.

Of course, the odds of that happening are about as high as Pioneer winning DCI in the near future. I can't imagine for the life of me that a network would be into something like this (though I had heard that MTV was interested in doing a reality show based around a marching band season), let alone DCI corps being hyped to let camera crews into their world on tour for the summer.

So that takes us back to the fact that a TV broadcast of Finals would be too much money to produce with not high enough ratings/viewers to justify the endeavor. That leaves DCI's best financial option the Pay-Per-View online stream. If they did it in a way that would make fans happy but also "hold enough back" from the DVD's, DCI would not only more than likely gain revenue on DVD sales, but also profit off of the stream.

To make it work, as I see it, DCI would have to:

a) make the price of the stream high enough for them to not only off-set the price of the endeavor but profit from it. I figure $50-$70 (the average price of a Finals ticket) would be justifiable and possibly profitable

b) make limited options available for the viewers. If they ONLY offer the stream as a high camera option, I think more people would be more inclined to buy the DVD's as the DVD's would seem like a better product. Obviously the stream would probably not be anywhere near the audio/video quality of the DVD's, so I don't think DCI would have to worry about losing too much business.

c) charge EVERYONE the PPV fee: Fan Network subscribers and one-time users alike. Perhaps they can give a discount to FN subscribers so they (we: I'm a subscriber) don't feel too slighted. But for DCI to maximize their potential profits, they would need to charge EVERYONE the fee.

In return, people like me who will NOT be going to finals this year, or probably next year (since aging out in 98 I only went to Finals once, and that was when it was a 2 hour drive from me in 07), would have the opportunity to watch all of the Finals action as it unfolds. I would not be buying a ticket for Finals, but I would gladly spend a fair price to watch finals in my living room. DCI would be making, essentially, the price of a ticket off of me when they normally would get nothing from me (Finals week).

It seems like it would be a great opportunity for all if DCI can work out the details to charge a good price that will seem fair to the PPV customer but also make them a profit.

This idea is one I emailed to DCI last year in greater detail (and posted here), and it's one that I hope DCI will explore in detail once the ESPN contract is done.

[Jeff Ream]

$50-70 is cheap for a finals ticket!!!

but the one time fee...discounted for Fn subscribers...is a great thing to explore.

face it, with finals being in one place forever, you wont pull in the regional die hard fans that go just cause it's in the East...or the West. many of those folks dont travel

[danielray]

So, thought I'd chime in here about the issue of sponsorship or advertising opportunities connected with DCI events.

Awhile back, I pitched the concept to a couple of clients who had brands that I thought might be an interesting fit. The market did seem to be a good match, and so on. It was pretty eye-opening (and a bit disappointing) to receive some of their feedback.

Reactions ranged from "you're kidding, right?" to "no thanks" to head scratching.

The most enthusiastic response I received was luke-warm at best, and was from a brand that I sort of thought to be an excellent fit.

The brand is a sort of newish brand of the entertainment division of a massive software company. While the product is pretty good (portable media player connected with online library of music and media), this brand has been struggling to really breakthrough because of late entry into the market and the lack of a core base of enthusiasts.

We spent about a good 30-40 minutes (which is actually an epic amount of time for something like this) going through the opportunity to use their service as the exclusive promotion and distribution channel for drum corps content. Fans would be introduced to the service through this content, using it as a gateway to lock in a core group of individuals that are above average consumers of music and media.

That point they got... and loved.

Where the breakdown happened is when the discussion turned to the reality of associating their brand with drum corps. After watching a short video of performances and some background material, the conversation quickly turned. They explained that, even though there is a solid enough opportunity on the side of actually getting access to that market, this is not really an activity that is a good fit for the sort of image or tone they wanted for building this brand. They said that they were extremely impressed with the level of athleticism and quality of musicians... but it was frankly "a bit too geeky" (exact words) for them to want to get behind unless some hard data could presented that could possibly indicate general perceptions among ages 13-24 were otherwise.

Their priority was to attach themselves to something already perceived as much more cool than they were currently perceived, and sponsorship here could potentially hurt them more than help them in the short term

This perspective didn't really convince me that there isn't still a solid opportunity to secure some solid forms of sponsorship for the activity, just that isn't going to be very easy, will take a long time, has to be exactly the right brand at the right time, and thing need to be packaged quite differently for the sponsor.

One very interesting thing I got out of this is that single event sponsorship is becoming less and less attractive when trying to target a youth audience (and to be clear... most brands are simply not interested in older drum corps fans...), mostly due to the fact that they are looking for more slow-building, long-term engagement.

The logistical or sort of packaging change that would likely have the greatest potential impact in terms of securing sponsorship would be to do away with all of the individual show names and go with a single branded tour (think VANS Warped Tour), ex...

Drum Corps International presents:

[iNSERT BRAND HERE] HardCorps Tour 2010

This creates a much more compelling opportunity for sponsors with a consistent and branded tour events, cinema events, online, etc. I would go as far as to even say that this change is an absolute must, and until they actually do this, the opportunities for sponsorship will remain narrow.

Anyway, just a few thoughts here.

[evidence]

I've never understood why DCI can't let us watch finals live. We get quarters in the movie theaters, and semis online, but no options for finals. Putting DCI in a movie theater on a Saturday night is not realistic, but streaming would be a great option!

What's the deal? Anyone "in the know" that can answer this for us? I can think of a couple reasons why we aren't allowed access, and neither make sense:

1) Less DVDs sold. This doesn't work since we all see the exact same show in the two nights prior. And watching a one-time live show on a webcast is nothing compared to the DVD production.

2) Less travel to finals night. I still don't think this would hurt DCI, because many of the die-hard fans are going to Indy anyway. As I said earlier, you get the same performances (for the most part) for two nights straight, and if this doesn't deter 20,000 people from traveling to Indy, streaming finals will not either.

Could you imagine, if DCI charged $9.99 for finals night...including retreat?? They would make a KILLING on top of the 20,000 buying tickets and food at Lucas Oil Stadium!

Instead of seeing Phantom Regiment's awesome victory, we just get hyped up on Thursday to refresh DCP on Saturday...

I am in agreement with you. DCI doesn't know how to make money. But when it comes down to something like watching finals online, or otherwise they don't know how to do that. The reason is always money one way or another unfortunately. I am glad I will be there in person.

[JimF-LowBari]

That's not true, I'm in Annapolis, Maryland, and Comcast is all over it here. I get to watch my son march for the Gophers every weekend. For Free. It's part of the standard cable package.

OK, I learned something this morning.... How long has Comcrap (I have it too) been carrying Big 10 in your area? And Standard Package is the term I couldn't remember last night. All I could remember is Basic which is cable channels 2-13 (actually know some people who have it). IIRC, Comcast wanted to jack up the Standard a couple of bucks and use the newly carried Big 10 as the "reason" why. Ended up taking away a couple of channels (TMC, Country) from the folks who don't have the converter box.

Are you saying Big 10 actually shows half time shows? If true I might start watching that part.

[TrumpetJ]

http://www.dci.org/news/view.cfm?news_id=7...fb-478dc3ef82ba

Found this while looking for an article in the archives. Just thought I would share it.

[Cardman]

They want you to buy the dvds. Duh...

[ssnapier]

I skipped a few pages of this discussion, but I think that if DCI offered a package up front like they do now for Fan Network stuff and then offered a "premium" package or two with some options and it was all paid for up front, that would be more likely to attract a reasonably large audience... I would certainly buy a premium streaming package because there is just no way I could attend finals no matter how much I might want to.

[bandbuck]

In the 70's, Finals were broadcast LIVE on PBS.

That's how I came to know and love drum corps! It was fun gathering around the TV to watch the whole Top 12 live!

[ENDContra]

Didnt read the whole thread because its become quite lengthy, but thought before even seeing this thread was why not a standard PPV just like you see with boxing and wrestling. If youre going to offer a broadcast, why limit it to a crappy webcast...put it on real television. Better quality broadcast and you can charge more ($50 maybe?). Not like people arent going to invite their friends over to make it cheaper, and $50 is enough that DCI would make money off of it.

Another possibility: do the webcast, but make it only available to those who have preordered DVDs. Then more people will preorder the DVDs and pay the early price rather than waiting to get it half off the next summer.

if you charge $10 to watch finals live....that means the top 12 corps' are makin what....a couple cents in royalties?

You gotta remember that the corps' that appear on the finals dvd's, get a share of the revenue, whatever that share may be.

Off topic I know, but...if the corps are making royalties off the DVDs/CDs, wouldnt it be helpful if DCI actually made all of these products available? It looks like they basically get a couple of batches made, and when that runs out, they are gone forever. For example, in their online store, you can no longer purchase CDs from 2000, 2004, 2005, 2007, or anything before 1999. Why?