The World Surf League’s move to Facebook could not be coming at a more inopportune time. The social media giant is caught in a massive information sharing scandal that is rocking public confidence and share price. Things have gotten so bad that CEO Mark Zuckerberg is headed before congress to explain how 78 odd million people had their personal details gleaned by the firm Cambridge Analytica.
78 million is an almost unfathomable number really. 5 thousand is much easier to comprehend which is a good thing because almost that many people watched the final between Mick Fanning and Italo Ferreira yesterday.
4900 to be exact.
It is one of the gorgeous things about Facebook. Unlike the World Surf League’s app or website, the exact number of viewers is right there for all to see and for Cambridge Analytica to purchase.
4900 professional surf fans watching and Mick Fanning and Italo Ferreira bobbed, weaved and made lower “h” history. The heat was certainly the most hyped of the year what with Mick’s Sainthood Committee in full swing. Much media pounced on the narrative and steered readerships toward the event. Every other Instagram post, too, encouraged a live witnessing of history.
4900.
And let’s assume for a moment that four times as many people watched the heat somewhere other than Facebook. Hell, let’s go buck wild and assume that ten times as many people did.
49000.
Does that seem like a big number? It doesn’t to me either and that is a buck wild figure which makes me very happy. For all of the posturing and posing and re-branding and press-releasing I could buy every single professional surf fan in this entire world a beer.
I do believe this will be BeachGrit’s next/first marketing campaign.
Very achievable. Very doable. I’d like to but every single professional surf fan in the entire world a beer and furnish them with love.
I’ve that you can get more people to sit and watch static!
I believe the 4900 doesn’t include the people who watch the broadcast directly from the website, but still this partnership clearly isn’t doing what they wanted it to
I watch the recap on YouTube. So did 60,000 other people. That’s slightly more beers than you were anticipating.
60,000?– just a drop in the bucket when it comes to trying to find an advertising Market. The Wsl will never keep alive that way with a 30 million a year operating budget. And is it true? Most of those hits from Brazil?
Well that the number of people who watched it live i guess..half of the world didnt because it was an awful time for us.
Anyway as you say, even a 100 times that would only be 500k, which is a really low number.
Confused. I watched on the WSL website like always … is that counted in the FB stats?
since this is a free-bie how many of the tour’s top 1% grossing “athletes” will be jumping on for a free beer in their times of economic hardship?
Look I do not want to ruin this ha-ha-fuck-you party but the final day Bells video has had over 455,000 views on the WSL Facey page.
This clearly means there are 35 million surfers in the world. Get in line you dumb fucks! We’re all going to Hell!
Hey! You just ruined this ha-ha-fuck-you party! 16 hours after it started.
The Ha-ha-fuck-you party ain’t over til Nick calls us “fucken donkeys.”
After cheering on Mick for days, he’s probably a little fucking hoarse.
Exactly! It’s exhausting stuff riding these fucking band wagons.
Well Fanning was asleep by 9pm after that final day so it outlasted him.
What about Eugene/McMuffin?
Are those audiences of different value?
I doubt the WSL would see it that way. That’s just people catching up on an event that occurred outside their time zone. Many many Brazilian fans would have done that once they knew Italo had won, which they would’ve found out through Facebook then clicked through.
On a purely FB angle, remember FB had an entire year of carrying the broadcast last year before deciding to pay for it. They didn’t pay a whole lot given their pockets but they did pay. This suggests they had enough information as a result of that broadcast to make an investment worthwhile.
I like seeing audiences that show up. Bells drags a living audience made of human flesh that’s much bigger than that putative FB live final viewership. I liked what you wrote about the importance of the Australian surf fan. People who come to watch are the real deal.
Yeah, but don’t forget a lot of them are actually dead, and their profile are still active for a lot of reasons. Number are frightening, just check it out, it’s amazing, and it won’t be long before FB would turn into a “digital graveyard.” (TM?)
This gave me a glimmer of hope that surfing is not as mainstream as I thought. Then I went surfing.
If you think this is going to get me to appreciate the efforts of the WSL in the here and now, you’re sorely mistaken.
And probably 70% of the audience is Brazo. So makes sense buying Brazilian beer. If u think I’m too off, just check the comments on the Instagram livecast. In a workd that engagement is highly valuable, there’s no way to argue against it. Bottom line, not very interesting for US brands investing in it?
It’s basically fizzy water that gets you pissed mate. It’s the best. Who killed your fucken dog Cunt. 🙂
By 2019 almost 5000 people will wave pool surf!!
Caveira has 1000 accounts and I’m sure there’s many more like him.
I miss cavvy, its a shame ray sizzle tried to copy his MO and fucked it for everyone
was he from paraguay or something?
Don’t forget the jet lag. But 10 times the actual number would still be pathetic.
that’s definitely the data FB is using in shareholder meetings, yes
Yes. Disturbing indeed. People are such social creatures. Just wait till artificial intelligence demands inclusion. And representation as an Olympic Surfing Team.
For the sake of argument, of that 2.2 billion people, how much of that market did FB promise they could let the WSL pull personal data from?
I’d like a good quality domestic, make mine a Bud Light
I also didn’t watch the final
Well timed is Fannings departure. Cheers Mick.
I feel Mick did the pro surfing equivalent of in before the lock