Long Time Fan Posted August 28, 2005 Share Posted August 28, 2005 I have no doubt that there will be major dissatisfaction with the broadcast, so I am trying to put a few points forward before the actual event arrives. Drum Corps is losing its potential audience base. When I attended my first performance in 1973, there were 48 corps in DCI Championship Preliminaries alone. The number of participants throughout the activity at that time was quite large with many age-outs and senior activities. The activity was self-generating in its potential attendees. We all know that the number of corps has been and is shrinking. This has two effects: the number of recent participants is smaller and the number of alumni with active corps is greatly reduced. There is no better way to keep marginal alumni interested than having their former corps still performing. We are losing our audience and without replacing them this activity will not be able to sustain itself. Do we really need new audience members? Either we are growing or we are dying. It is that simple. The activity is getting more and more expensive. Corps are very marginal in their financing. The fuel issue will have a huge impact this year. If we don’t grow in our financial support base, this activity will die out. There is a limit on what the small group of supporters will shell out for events. This is not the NBA with corporate boxes and movie stars at courtside. Who was sitting near you at Finals this year? Did this look like an NBA crowd? This activity is supported by those who reside in the average of the income brackets, not the top. Where does the growth in audience and supporters come from? Since it won’t come from our ranks, where? The most obvious answer is those who have marched and will march in marching band. First and foremost we need these members to participate. DCI has done a good job at trying to reach out to this group. Do you think that the clinics are mainly to drive up potential participants? I don’t. This is to increase the awareness of the activity and improve our paying base. We also need to reach out to the base of the general public that might want to attend an event if they ever were made aware of it. A personal story – I never marched Drum Corps. I always participated in marching band. It wasn’t until I graduated from the U of MD in 1973 that my friend in the Garfield Cadets told me about a show in Hawthorne, NJ. I attended and was hooked. When I moved to CA a number of years later, I lost interest. We didn’t have the internet back then. It wasn’t until the PBS Broadcast in 1995 with the Cavaliers’ Planets show that I just happened to catch. It ignited the fire again. This is what I am saying; you need to reach out to people like me. The ESPN2 broadcast is not for you. It is advertising. It is trying to attract new attendees. Therefore it should be focused on those new ears and eyes and should appeal to what they are interested in. I am sure that it will not be packaged as “advanced Marching Band”, but the advertising for it might. We need to get these people to watch. They know marching band, they know extreme, so they understand "extreme marching band". They don't know drum corps. I am sure that this broascast will not be a series of eleven and half minute shows strung together. We would never keep our audience. Many of the shows will be shortened. The editing will show forms but much more will focus on faces and interesting little bits. There will be human interest stories. That is what the non-drum corps person will first be attracted to. You will find much to fault in this broadcast unless you approach it like it is. Yes it is our celebration and DCI will give us some of our favorites too. But they must make sure that it first reaches out, not turns away. If we hate it, that is OK, most of us will be back. If the new person hates it, DCI will never get a second chance. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
CowboyKen Posted August 28, 2005 Share Posted August 28, 2005 You say that the "ESPN Broadcast is not for you. It is advertising. It is trying to attract new attendees." While I understand what you are saying, that is EXACTLY the point. It is trying to attract new attendees! Not many kids watch PBS anymore. I, too, saw my first drum corps show in 1973. I say lets see what the broadcast is like before we say we don't like it!! Whether I like the broadcast or not - I don't care - I can buy the DVDs. It's the exposure to the Joe Shmoe that I care about! I say kudos to DCI and ESPN 2 for reaching out to millions of viewers!! Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
2CoolVK Posted August 28, 2005 Share Posted August 28, 2005 The most important element that the ESPN2 show provides is the ability for the entire drum corps/marching band fan base to tune in to the show at the exact same time. In past years, PBS aired the show at different times in each market. Driving a large group of eyeballs to the show was impossible. Now, we all know where we'll be and what we'll be doing at 10 Eastern on Sept 6. And we can let all our friends know too. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
perc2100 Posted August 28, 2005 Share Posted August 28, 2005 One thing that this broadcast will do: it will tell us all where drum and bugle corps stands. If the ratings are decent, it will give us hope that maybe we will be drawing in more fans in the upcoming season. It will show that the direction DCI is going, whether we like it or not, is working. If the ratings tank, there will be no excuses. We can't say "PBS played it memorial day at 1 pm," or something. If the ratings suck, DCI should be a little nervous. It may mean the end of 'real' broadcasting of finals, and back to local PBS. It may show once and for all there really isn't a big market for drum and bugle corps, or it may show that the modern shows just aren't doing it for the average joe. I'll be interested to see the broadcast, to see how it's put together. ESPN is betting on DCI's popularity with bandos, as is DCI. We'll see how that works out... -- doug Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Lieut. General Effect Posted August 28, 2005 Share Posted August 28, 2005 (edited) One thing that this broadcast will do:it will tell us all where drum and bugle corps stands. If the ratings are decent, it will give us hope that maybe we will be drawing in more fans in the upcoming season. It will show that the direction DCI is going, whether we like it or not, is working. If the ratings tank, there will be no excuses. We can't say "PBS played it memorial day at 1 pm," or something. If the ratings suck, DCI should be a little nervous. It may mean the end of 'real' broadcasting of finals, and back to local PBS. It may show once and for all there really isn't a big market for drum and bugle corps, or it may show that the modern shows just aren't doing it for the average joe. I'll be interested to see the broadcast, to see how it's put together. ESPN is betting on DCI's popularity with bandos, as is DCI. We'll see how that works out... -- doug <{POST_SNAPBACK}> Either way, this ESPN telecast will be providing us all with an innovative and fresh look from outsiders as to what they think of DCI brand of Drum Corps. If the ratings are good, it wil tell us all that DCI is on the right track in growing an audience. On the other hand, if the public is confused or disinterested with the shows, then this might be just the impetus that DCI needs to change it's format to become more general audience friendly. Then again, if the ratings are low, and DCI Corps do not change, then we can at least acknowledge that DCI is happy being an activity that has liitle popular appeal, and any future claim that DCI is interested in growing the audience base ( without more general audience appeal as a priority ) is simply hollow rhetoric. So either way, we are going to learn some very interesting things when the ESPN telecast numbers come in after the telecast. I'm not nervous at all. Why should we be ? It's all good as far as I can see. As we will learn some interesting things. And learning some interesting things can hardly be a negative for those of us not involved in the decision making at DCI or the DCI Corps music and visual design at all. Edited August 28, 2005 by Lieut. General Effect Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
MN DCI Fan Posted August 28, 2005 Share Posted August 28, 2005 To add to this, what exactly would be considered "good ratings" for this DCI broadcast? We obviously can't compare this year's broadcast to the prior years on PBS, and there are obviously going to be the folks who happen to flip to ESPN2, see the event, and flip the channel without a second thought - much like I do when I see cheerleading on TV. It just seems to me that we any ratings are going to be "good" and will at a minimum establish a ratings baseline for future years. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Lieut. General Effect Posted August 28, 2005 Share Posted August 28, 2005 To add to this, what exactly would be considered "good ratings" for this DCI broadcast? We obviously can't compare this year's broadcast to the prior years on PBS, and there are obviously going to be the folks who happen to flip to ESPN2, see the event, and flip the channel without a second thought - much like I do when I see cheerleading on TV. It just seems to me that we any ratings are going to be "good" and will at a minimum establish a ratings baseline for future years. <{POST_SNAPBACK}> ESPN will be able to gauge TV 's that stay tuned to the program, and those where interest waned for one reason or another and the remote was used to switch channels. So we will learn not only the raw numbers, but the internal activitiy as well, as to whether or not a viewer who switched on the DCI telecast stayed with the program, or became bored and switched quickly after initial peaked curiosity. My guess, ESPN will be doing a focus group, or sampling, and will be able to get back to DCI with the good or bad or so so numbers regarding the national audience reation. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Jeff Ream Posted August 28, 2005 Share Posted August 28, 2005 drum corps needs to attract new faces yes. but it also needs to go out and get the people they turned off interested again as well. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Henson Posted August 28, 2005 Share Posted August 28, 2005 (edited) but it also needs to go out and get the people they turned off interested again as well. Because there's all sorts of potential marchers in that demographic... Edited August 28, 2005 by Henson Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Tank Posted August 28, 2005 Share Posted August 28, 2005 Because there's all sorts of potential marchers in that demographic... <{POST_SNAPBACK}> Perhaps not . . . . . . but there IS all sorts of money. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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