Even scarier? What if the hooligans make up a
plurality, if not a majority, of the WSL's audience?
I sat down, Mother’s Day afternoon, with you,
with us, to watch professional surfing together. Oh it was fun, it
always is, the wit, the barbs, the hot takes and cold ones too.
Live commenting as our professional surfers danced on the world’s
most perfect mid-length wave.
It is, isn’t it?
Margaret River’s Main Break the ideal place for Devon Howard or
Torren Martyn to tango?
And I would have been happy enough to watch Ryan Callinan or
Filipe Toledo do their foxtrot but… “The Box,” “Jack is
livestreaming The Box,” “Box…” kept popping up in the live comments
and so, as easy as two clicks of two artificial buttons there I was
in that Box’s channel and wow.
Magnificent.
Funner, intense, wonderful.
Never had a mistake been more pronounced in real time.
Jessi Miley-Cyrus is the commissioner of the World Surf League,
she makes the call, and she made an egregiously bad one for all to
see.
An abject disaster, one that will asterisk the
Margaret River 2020/21 final result forever, but only
for us, only in our section, because the League has its Wall of
Positive Noise™ and no mention of Jack in the Box from any official
channels nor will there be.
Which made me realize something, realize it even further when
Derek Rielly later wondered in the live comments, “Is there another
global sporting franchise that so deliberately refuses to broadcast
the (critical) opening minutes of its Final?”
The World Surf League despises its core fan base, its hooligans,
and wishes we would disappear but can’t sort a way to make it
happen. Can’t figure out a way to ban, bar, sweep away like
English, Scottish, Welsh football clubs did theirs in the 1990s by
sticking closed circuit cameras everywhere and spiking ticket
prices into the unaffordable range.
So long, naughty boys.
But the WSL is free and/or will be cheap if they ever build a
paywall around that Wall of Positive Noise™.
We watch with each other at home.
So what to do with this BeachGrit Firm?
Ignore, pretend it’s inconsequential and small, a lightly
annoying gnat that may never go away but also doesn’t matter.
Here’s a funny story.
Pre-Covid a very popular new social media application was
blowing up and the WSL wanted to partner. The app suggested that
the League broadcast an alternative feed with different voices on
its platform and had stumbled upon what it thought a perfect
counterpoint.
BeachGrit.
According to someone in the room, that offering was met with
pinched faces and a hard no.
The two entities parted ways without further discussion and
nothing came to fruition.
No one but no one knows how large a WSL viewing percentage The
Firm commands but let’s play with the numbers we have.
The final, ‘tween Jordan and Pip, commanded low-3k concurrent
views on the WSL’s Facebook Live. Let’s be charitable and double
that for 6.5k some-ish by including worldsurfleague.com too and
that with days of build-up, much media, millions of followers
across multiple social channels, high production value etc.
Jack Robinson collected 300 – 500 concurrent on his glitchy 209k
strong Instagram feed, 5% phone battery and dwindling, with zero
advertisement, zero forewarning, pure in-the-moment word of
mouth.
8%-adjacent.
Imagine if there had been some, any, attempt or care to draw a
real audience. I have no doubt that a few hours of Box would have
eclipsed the WSL’s entire final’s day, numbers-wise. I can also
say, our live commenting numbers are spiking like they shouldn’t
seeing we’re basically operating a fabulous sort of 1998 Netscape
technology.
https://www.instagram.com/p/COsWlIyA8Nx/
Ignore, pretend it’s inconsequential and small, a lightly
annoying gnat that may never go away but also doesn’t matter.
But what if English, Scottish, Welsh football hooligans had made
up a plurality, if not a majority, of the fans?
What then?
Do you think this terror keeps WSL CEO Erik “ELo” Logan awake at
night or does the Wall of Positive Noise™ allow him to sleep like a
baby?
While you’re thinking, a surprise is coming for Rottnest.
A little ultra hard surf candy.
More as the story develops.
