Football Media Landscape

[riverholmes]

Thought this might interest others as a separate topic. The football media landscape has altered dramatically thanks to the internet. It’s the case for media generally, of course.

I’m far from being knowledgeable on this but it all seems very fragmented now. However, one thing is clear, the volume of football media content has grown immensely.

You have new broadcasters, online streaming, fan channels, club channels, podcasts and still have the online forums and websites chuntering on. And then there’s the small matter of the “content fruit machines” of social media pushing junk or bite size portions of this content on social media to the world, including children.

I wonder what people’s personal experiences have been and how they feel about some of these changes. I wonder where you think we are headed with football media and content.

The negatives and the bad examples are clear, I think. The control broadcasters have over fixture dates and timings has created an excess of coverage and disruption for fans. Broadcaster money is fuelling expansion and takeover of the game by tournaments like the Champions’ League (which should rightfully be renamed Elites League, as it has nothing remotely to do with champions any more.)

There is the torrent of mindless content now flowing. I constantly get pushed social media clips of a certain football show marked by its flirtatious banter and bon homie and I find myself equally enraged and fascinated by its utterly dull self-absorption and the participants complete lack of self-awareness. But I usually watch the clips, I admit. 

Incidentally, I suppose those clips are designed to enrage me and trigger feels of contempt. I’m sure, if I were to watch entire shows rather than just these spoon-fed clips, I’d see that the show isn’t as abhorrent as I think and the people are actually ok.

On the other hand, I’ve enjoyed seeing fan channels give a voice to fans, challenge clubs and their owners, in some cases. I’ve enjoyed seeing the mainstream media move through the stages of denial to contemptuous attack to co-option in response.

The new competition has brought improvements, shaking up legacy coverage from some of its tired practices. Nonetheless, commercial sponsorship models, manipulative and censorious channels like YouTube and co-option, I think, have meant that the promise of giving a true voice to fans hasn’t been realised, as many subjects about football’s governance are, apparently, off-topic.

I wonder what others have found negative and positive in developments.

 

Edited March 15 by riverholmes

[Upside Down]

It's more of a mine field than a landscape.

 

[Mattyblue]

Our crowds have totally missed the boom that has occurred across England this past decade (highest league crowds since the 1950s) - for obvious reasons.

However, as always, the authorities will kill the golden goose. We’ve seen it already with the collapse in midweek away followings (and crowds generally though masked as ST holders still get counted in figures) since the red button, and next season will see *five* live Championship games every weekend, including *every* opening game, last game and bank holidays.

The high watermark for EFL football has probably now been hit… we were just ahead of the curve, nice one Venky’s!