Are you a sports fan? If so, what is your favorite way to experience the game? Do you participate in person? Do you watch or listen to TV or the radio from the comfort of your home? Other enthusiasts Do you go to your friend’s house with other fans to cheer on your team?
How about a watch streaming party? They watch other people watch and discuss sporting events, but they don’t actually watch the games themselves. Does that sound appealing?
“Watching people watch the games. With 100,000 friends,” writes Rory Smith about how young soccer fans are ignoring the broadcast in favor of watching the games.
Once the lights are adjusted and the camera is rolling, the production team gives instructions to Joe Smith. Within five seconds, he’ll be live streaming to thousands of people. But Smith’s heart lies elsewhere. “Slate is definitely the best way to build a roof,” he mutters to co-host Jay Mottershead as the countdown hits his three o’clock. “It’s been years and they haven’t been able to top it.”
And they get aired. The broadcast endurance test took place in a basement studio with exposed brick and industrial lighting in the middle of Manchester’s painfully trendy Northern Quarter.
By the end, they will have been exposed to a variety of subjects, including: The rather alarming frequency with which Mr. Mottershead has nightmares. The decline in popularity of lemon curd. and the story of a man who goes to Mr. Smith’s gym just to read vintage Cars magazines.
Occasionally, their freewheeling and somewhat anarchic conversation is interrupted by recording a match between the soccer team they support, Manchester United, and the Danish champions, FC Copenhagen, which is probably the purpose of the evening’s activity. Ru.
After all, that’s what attracts over 100,000 people to the livestream over the course of four hours. But it’s the distractions, tangents, and stream of consciousness about the roof that keep them there.
Mr Smith is looking at the popularity of programs such as the one he hosts on Stretford Paddock, the Manchester United fan channel co-owned by Mr Mottershead and Mr Smith.
Mottershead said most viewers watch matches whether they are legal or illegal. “They turn down commentary and listen to us instead,” he says. They do this because they want a more narrowly focused product. For example, viewers in the Stretford Paddock only want the latest information about Manchester United and not news about other players playing at the same time.
And, crucially, they share this latest information with the compromising and biased mouthpieces of the mainstream media (retirees protecting their friends and business interests, vague but decidedly biased against their clubs). They want it to be conveyed in a way that is tainted by them, rather than by the media (which they see as a commentator with a background). – Wool fans like them. “We may have different opinions on things,” Mottershead said. “But we all want United to do well.”
Still, after more than six years leading surveillance efforts with Smith, Mottershead has come to believe that attracting fans is not just about satisfying their obsessions and affirming their prejudices.
He believes that what viewers want is simple. They want someone to watch the game with them.
student, Read the full article And please tell me the following:
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What’s your reaction to this article and the watch-along phenomenon? Do you want to watch other people watch live sports events? Why or why not? Which aspects of the watch-along described in the article seem most appealing to you?
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What is your favorite way to experience a live sporting event? Do you have a memorable experience watching, listening to, or streaming a game?
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Even if you’re not a sports fan, what Times sportswriter Rory Smith describes as the cousins of watching football, like the proliferation of gaming streams on Twitch and the way YouTube captivates kids. Have you ever seen an unboxing video?
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The Stretford Paddock Watchalong regularly attracts over 100,000 people to the four-hour livestream. Why do you think watch-alongs are becoming more popular among young sports fans? What do you think they reveal about sports in the digital age?
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Mottershead believes fans tune in to his shows for a simple reason. “They want someone to watch the game with them.” If you’re a sports fan, how would you describe your love of sports? Is the camaraderie and communal experience of watching a game as important as your love of the game itself?
We invite comments from students aged 13 and older in the US and UK, and aged 16 and older elsewhere. All comments are moderated by Learning Network staff, but please note that if your comment is approved, it will be made public and may appear in print.
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